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In the following section, plot, character, setting, and theme will be defined and discussed.
The canon is a list of literary works deemed by widespread consensus to be of the highest aesthetic quality. Since the 1960s, there has been a consistent debate over the Western canon, largely due to the fact that most authors included in it are dead, white males. Opponents to the canon make the point that the canon, as it stands, does not reflect global, contemporary culture and should be updated.
The literary canon mentioned in this section refers to the ABCTE Recommended Literature List for English/Language Arts Candidates. Critics, scholars, and teachers have deemed the literary works in the canon classics, and they are the basis for the ABCTE English/Language Arts Test. Included on the list is literature of all genres from 600 BCE to the present.
Memorizing the plots and details of every literary work is not necessary, but having a working familiarity would be beneficial for the test and for teaching literature to middle school and high school students. Being familiar with a work means knowing the basic plot, characters, setting, and theme. The following sections will define plot, character, setting, and theme. Examples from short stories and novels will be discussed in relation to these literary elements.
The basis for any good story or drama is an interesting, well-developed plot. Plot is an author’s arrangement of events in a story or drama. The order in which events are presented varies from author to author.
The plot of a fictional work revolves around a conflict; otherwise the story would not be very interesting or suspenseful. Conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces in a fictional work. Usually, the character involved in the conflict is the protagonist, or the chief character of the story. Conflict may take a number of forms, as the following table indicates.
Conflict |
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Conflict |
Description |
Literary Example |
| Person vs. Nature | A struggle against the forces of nature. | In Stephen Crane’s short story “The Open Boat,” four men in a rowboat fight to survive in the ocean after a shipwreck. |
| Person vs. Man | A struggle against another person, usually the antagonist, or rival of the protagonist. | In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, a jealous Iago, the antagonist, sabotages Othello’s happiness with Desdemona. |
| Person vs. Society | A struggle between the protagonist and society as a whole. | In Lorraine Hansberry’s drama A Raisin in the Sun, the Youngers, an African-American family, face racial prejudice when they decide to move into a predominantly white neighborhood. |
| Person vs. Self | The protagonist has an inner struggle over conflicting actions or emotions. | In Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe struggles with the loneliness he feels on a deserted island. |
Rarely is there only one conflict in a story, instead a fictional work may have major and minor conflicts that are interrelated. For example, in “The Open Boat” four men battle the waves, the cold, their hunger, and their tired, worn-out bodies, but they also have inner conflicts. The captain feels responsible for the situation the men face, as noted in the following excerpt.
Similarly, in Daniel Defoe’s story, the character of Robinson Crusoe deals with loneliness, which is an internal conflict, and nature, which is an external conflict.
Crusoe fights to survive on an island, much like Crane’s characters battle the forces of nature on the ocean.
The conflict of a story is not immediately apparent because writers develop their plots in stages. The following diagram illustrates the stages of plot, although some authors opt not to follow this format.
As an example, let’s analyze the plot of Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger.
As noted previously, plots do not always follow this five-stage format, and modern writers may find the structure too confining.
For instance, Franz Kafka broke away from standard plot development with “The Metamorphosis”. The very first sentence of the story describes the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, waking up in the morning to discover he has turned into a large cockroach. Kafka opens with what would typically be considered the climax, and the rest of the story delves into Gregor’s deteriorating life, the problems his family incurs, and his eventual death.
Great works of fiction compel a reader to continue reading the story because of a well-developed plot that creates a feeling of suspense and anticipation. Character development, setting, and theme are elements of great literary works that will be discussed in the sections to follow.
In Henry Fielding’s novel Tom Jones, Sophia and Tom’s desire to marry is initially prevented because of their differences in family background. What type of conflict is this?
The unfolding of a story’s plot would not occur without characters, and the difference between a great work of literature and other stories is often an author’s ability to fully develop a character, a person in a fictional work.
Characterization is how an author reveals aspects of a character’s personality through action, dialogue, thought, or commentary by the author or another character. By paying close attention to the details an author provides about a character, a reader can better understand and enjoy a literary work.
Characters come in all shapes and sizes, and the following table indicates some of the different types of characters often found in literature.
Character Type |
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Character Type |
Description |
| Protagonist | The main character around which the central conflict revolves. Usually, the reader is intended to sympathize with the protagonist. |
| Antagonist | The person or thing in opposition to the main character, although not all stories have an antagonist. |
| Round | A fully developed character with both good and bad features that are exposed in the story. Round characters have the complexities of real people. |
| Flat | An undeveloped character with only a few outstanding features. |
| Character Foil | A character whose traits help illuminate the protagonist, like metal foil reflects light. For example, Sancho is a foil to Don Quixote in Cervantes’ novel. |
| Dynamic | A character who experiences internal changes |
| Static | A character who does not change. |
Characters can fit into more than one category, and more often than not that is what occurs. For example, the character of Elka in Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story “Gimpel the Fool” is an antagonist to Gimpel, her husband, and she is also a round character. Through the use of actions, dialogue, and commentary from other characters, Singer develops a deceitful, physical, and sharp-tongued character.
The characters created by Charles Dickens tend to be round and dynamic, as well. For example, Ebenezer Scrooge is a round character; his many unpleasant attributes are exposed and developed through the author’s descriptions, attitudes of other characters, and Scrooge’s cruel actions. The following passage describes Scrooge before the ghosts visit him.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, gasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
Scrooge is also a dynamic character because by the end of the story he has a change of heart due to his experiences with the ghosts, as shown by the following passage.
He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.
In contrast to Scrooge, who changes dramatically from the beginning of the story to the end, Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s nephew, and Tiny Tim maintain consistent attitudes throughout the story, so they are flat and static. Since the story focuses on Scrooge, Dickens gives little space to the development of minor characters, whose purpose in the story is to highlight Scrooge’s bitterness and cruelty.
In the case of Scrooge, the actions of the ghosts instigate a change in attitude virtually overnight. However, with some characters, change results over time as a character matures and faces different experiences.
The character of Scout, from Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird , is a round dynamic character that changes gradually over the years. Early in the novel it becomes apparent that Scout is a remarkable young girl because of her intelligence, confidence, and kindness.
When the story begins, Scout is a typical five-year-old oblivious to the evils of the world. As the story unfolds, Scout witnesses the evils of racial prejudice in the world around her. Scout learns from her father that sympathy and understanding can offset some of the pain in the world. At the story’s close, Scout has become a character of great depth, an eight-year-old girl full of wisdom and compassion.
Paying close attention to the details an author provides about characters in a fictional work allows the reader better insight into the character’s motivations and actions.
Which of the following characters is the protagonist in George Orwell’s novel 1984?
Another important element in a piece of literature is the setting, or the time and place that the fictional work occurs. The setting of a story can cause characters to act in particular ways, and it can push the plot in a certain direction. Setting is more than a physical surrounding; it also includes the ideas, customs, and beliefs of a certain period of time.
Setting is made up of the following elements:
Setting plays a crucial role in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter by establishing a dark and unforgiving atmosphere. The events of the story occur in a Puritan community of Boston in the early seventeenth century, where adultery and an illegitimate child bring scorn and consternation. After being escorted out of the prison to be publicly condemned, Hester briefly remembers the life she had in England. The following quote from the novel is when she realizes again where she is.
Lastly, in lieu of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market-place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and leveling their stern regards at Hester Prynne, _ yes, at herself, _ who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!
The Scarlet Letter would not be relevant in any other setting because the religious environment and the historical period drive the plot of the novel and influence the actions of the characters.
This type of integral setting, which is essential to the plot of a story, occurs in the adventure stories of Jack London, as well. Call of the Wild takes place during the 1890s when gold is discovered in the Klondike region of Canada. Buck is stolen from a comfortable home in California because strong dogs are in demand for pulling sleds in the Canadian wilderness. The story follows Buck’s progression from a domestic dog into a more wild one, and without the wilderness as the setting, the plot would have nowhere to go.
The following colored headings indicate literary works with integral settings.
Desert Island Setting
- Island of Dr. Moreau, H.G. Wells
- Lord of the Flies, William Golding
- Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
- The Swiss Family Robinson, John David Wyss
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
War Setting
- The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
- The Iliad, Homer
- In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway
- Night, Elie Weisel
- Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
Futuristic/ Fantasy Setting
- Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein
- 1984, George Orwell
The literary works listed above have settings that are integral to plot and character development, but in some literature, setting is almost irrelevant. A backdrop setting provides a place and time for a story to develop, but the setting itself is of little importance to plot development.
For example, in Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace,” a young woman loses a friend’s necklace and spends many years of her life paying for her mistake. The setting is irrelevant because the jewelry could have been lost in any city at any time.
Another example of backdrop setting is in Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In the story, a family traveling to Florida has an accident on a deserted road and is unfortunately discovered by an escaped convict. The only requirement for setting in this story is a deserted location, which could be a desert or a dark alley just as well as a dirt road.
In some literary genres, such as science fiction and gothic stories, setting plays an important role in directing plot and characters. Paying close attention to setting details leads to an improved appreciation and understanding of a literary work.
Which story is set in Nigeria during the 1890s?
Which of the following authors frequently used Mississippi as the setting for his stories?
It is important to understand that the theme of a literary work is subjective. Every reader connects with literature differently because everyone has distinct perspectives. Therefore, more than one theme can be derived from a single literary work, as shown with Melville’s short story.
In literature, a major theme may be apparent to most readers, while a deeper theme awaits readers willing to analyze a story. If a theme is too obvious, then it might be perceived as childish or too simplistic. However, if a theme is too obscure, readers may find the work confusing or lacking significant meaning. Modern art, for example, is often accused of having meaning that is too ambiguous.
For example, C. S. Lewis’s children’s novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe appears at first glance to be a fantasy story about the adventures of four children who visit the magical land of Narnia. From that level, an obvious theme might be that forgiving others is an important part of life. Aslan, the lion, forgives Edmund for aligning with the White Witch and endangering the inhabitants of Narnia.
However, a closer examination reveals that the theme of the story is humanity’s redemption. Aslan, a Christ figure in the story, sacrifices his own life in order to save Edmund’s, which is a common theme found in literature, as well as popular movies.
Understanding and appreciating literature involves analyzing plot, setting, characters, and theme; readers willing to go beyond the obvious and delve into the more abstract qualities of a literary work will be greatly rewarded.
What is the theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby?
The final element of fiction to be addressed in this section is theme. The theme of a literary work is the central idea or universal truth about society, human nature, or life. Writers rarely make a direct statement about theme; instead they rely on an implied theme to relay their message. The reader, through the actions, dialogue, and descriptions provided in the literary work, must infer implied themes.
The theme of a literary work differs from the subject. The subject of a fictional work is the topic about which the author has chosen to write, such as nature. The theme expresses the author’s opinion about that topic, such as “man should respect the power of nature.”
An author’s theme can be inferred by asking the following questions:
More than one theme exists in most great literary works, such as Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener.” The narrator, a lawyer, hires Bartleby to copy and proofread legal documents. Eventually, Bartleby refuses to do the chores related to his job by responding, “I would prefer not to.”
The lawyer’s curiosity about his strange scrivener leads him to ask Bartleby about his life and background, to which Bartleby responds, “I would prefer not to.” After refusing to work or to leave the building, Bartleby is imprisoned and later dies of starvation. The only information the lawyer discovers about Bartleby is that he once opened and sorted the letters of dead people in the Dead Letters Office.
Consider the questions listed above in order to ascertain the theme of Melville’s story. At first pass, the reader may feel sorry for Bartleby, just as the lawyer felt sorry for him. Thus, a possible theme might be that society should treat people with compassion.
However, Bartleby’s repeated statement, “I would prefer not to,” suggests that Bartleby for the first time, and perhaps too late in his life, decides to take control of his situation. Possibly, Bartleby realizes that if he had taken control of his life instead of isolating himself in unfulfilling jobs, his life might have been more rewarding. Bartleby’s repeated response of “I would prefer not to” is his final, desperate attempt at control. Thus, another possible theme for this story might be “don’t wait until it is too late to control your life and your destiny.”
The lawyer’s final statement about the scrivener seems to support the theme that it is a tragedy when lives, like dead letters, lead nowhere.
A positive spin on the theme from the story might be that all lives can be meaningful if people connect with others just as the lawyer attempted to connect with Bartleby.