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cigarettes, tiny restaurants — maps of opening businesses, but most of them are very frequently close without this final resolution and leave readers to construct the 1
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Afghanistan painted on their windows — all poor.” He tsk’ed his tongue and sighed. “Anyway, meaning of the story’s end on their own.
interlaced with backstreet aid agencies. “Many we’re getting close now.” DIFFERENTIATION chapter 1
of your brothers in this area, yar. They are 2003 While plot may follow a chronological sequence, particularly in realistic fiction and
drama, sometimes writers deliberately present events in a manner that requires readers Connections to Self
to assemble them into a cohesive pattern. A story may begin in medias res, a Latin Ask students to identify, in a journal or
Plot term meaning “in the middle of the action” — that is, just as an important event is about Section 1 / Elements of Fiction in small groups, movies, books, graphic
to take place. Homer’s Iliad, for example, opens not in the first year of the Trojan War
Essentially, plot is what happens in a narrative. Yet plot is more than a series of events but after nine years of fighting. Writers may also employ flashbacks to describe events novels, etc., that make use of in medias res
because authors must arrange conflicts and resolutions to create logical patterns of that have taken place before the story begins, or foreshadowing to hint at things that or flashbacks. Ask students to identify the
Analyzing Short Fiction
cause-and-effect and to develop characters’ relationships with each other. The conflicts will happen later in the story. function of this structural choice, and then
share their observations with their small
characters experience often arise because of these relationships, so character and plot The basic plot of “The First Day” is pretty straightforward: a mother takes her groups.
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go hand in hand. This means readers must understand not just what is happening but daughter to the first day of kindergarten; the daughter is refused admission to one
also why it’s happening as well as how plot elements work together to create meaning. school and has to go to another, where another parent helps the mother fill out the
Additionally, a plot must be believable even though it does not have to be realistic. necessary forms; the mother leaves her daughter at school, telling her to pay close
A conventional narrative, especially in short stories, typically involves five main attention to the teacher. That’s pretty much it. Along the way, however, we gain insight DIFFERENTIATION
stages: into the mother and daughter as characters, we learn about the challenges they face Scaffolding
from the time they leave home until they part, and we experience the daughter’s
climax If your class completed the fairy tale plot
discovery of her mother’s inability to read. The daughter, who is the narrator and activity in the “Differentiation: Scaffolding”
protagonist, tells us about her first day of school as a flashback. The exposition also
rising action falling action foreshadows a change in the daughter’s opinions of her mother by telling us the events note on p. 10, you can continue the activity
by providing students with a list of value
she’s about to relay occurred “long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother.”
turning point
Additionally, the exposition establishes the importance of the first day of school to both words. In small groups, ask students to
align the values and possible motivations
exposition denouement characters: the daughter wears new clothes and shoes, and the mother has given extra of characters with the plot points that they
time and attention to braiding the daughter’s hair. As we take a closer look, we also have identified. Ask students to share with
inciting incident resolution
sense early on how the daughter’s nervousness hints at her innocence in the beginning the whole class.
• Exposition: This opening section of a story provides background information about of the story, and we become aware of the potential learning experiences ahead of her
the characters, the setting, and the basic situation. The exposition also describes as she leaves home to venture around the city with her mother.
the nature of key conflicts generally creating an unstable situation. During the rising action of the story, the complications begin when the daughter DIFFERENTIATION
• Rising action: After an inciting incident or event, the conflict and complications the recognizes none of the children around her as she and her mother near the first school.
main character experiences begin to build. Upon arrival, the physical condition of Seaton Elementary disappoints her, and then, of Mode of Expression
• Climax: The climax occurs when the emotional tension or suspense of the plot course, they learn she will not be allowed to attend this school based on where they Ask students to do the following, from the
reaches its peak. It may include a turning point where the fortunes of the protagonist live. We witness the daughter’s increasing anxiety as her mother challenges the school last paragraph on p. 11: “Take a moment
improve or worsen. Building to the climax usually occupies most of a story, and staff and insists they admit her daughter. Eventually, however, the mother realizes her and identify the additional complications
what follows is comparatively brief. efforts are futile, and the pair sets out again, this time to find the correct school, the mother and daughter experience when
• Falling action: This section details the result (or fallout) of the climax or turning Walker-Jones Elementary. Take a moment and identify the additional complications the they arrive at Walker-Jones. How do the
point. In this phase, conflicts often get resolved. mother and daughter experience when they arrive at Walker-Jones. How do the characters’ immediate responses differ, and
• Denouement (pronounced day-noo-mah): This French word means “untying the characters’ immediate responses differ, and how do both characters’ interactions with how do both characters’ interactions with
knot.” In this often very brief phase, the conflict has been resolved, and balance is others contribute to internal and external conflicts? For example, you have probably others contribute to internal and external
conflicts.” You may wish to ask students to
restored to the world of the story. Fairy tales often abbreviate this phase further: noticed how the daughter picks up on her mother’s anxiety about the less-familiar revisit their earlier storyboards to help them
“And they lived happily ever after.” Traditionally, the denouement was also used to location of Walker-Jones. She recognizes that its distance from her mother’s church answer this question. They may also wish
tell “the moral of the story,” but writers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries creates a conflict for her mother even as she herself experiences fear over everyone to flesh out the storyboards a bit more to
fully explore the range of responses.
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chapter 1 / Elements of Fiction 11

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