Reference no: EM132296682 , Length: word count:400

Assignment - Unit Activity: Literary Elements

You may be asking, "What is a literary element?"

Here is a simple answer: Literary elements are the different parts that make up a story.

Some examples of literary elements:

• Setting - This is about the time and location of the story. Think about social conditions and even the weather. Setting helps set the mood.
• Characterization - This is about the characters in the story and how the author portrays them. This is how we get to know their personalities.
• Plot - This is the sequence of events in the story. How things play out in a story affects other events. The story is told in a certain order for a reason.
• Conflict - This is about the different struggles and challenges in the story. Conflicts can be internal, against another character or even against nature or things.
• Theme - This is the central message or life lesson of the story. This gives the reader a certain idea about life.
• Tone - This is about the author's attitude or feelings toward the reader or subject matter.
• Mood - This is about what the reader feels when reading the story. It's about the feelings and emotions brought out by the story.
• Imagery - This is about descriptive language that draws on the reader's five senses. The author can use details that give the reader ideas about taste, sound, sight, smell and touch.
• Point of View / Narration - This is how the author chooses to tell the story. It's the angle of the story. How is the author letting you see and hear what's taking place? Is the author using certain characters as the voice to tell the story? Or is the author using a separate narrator to tell the story?

FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT: You will be doing a literary analysis by discussing how a particular literary element was used in a story. Use complete sentences. These sentences should give specific examples from the story that highlight your chosen literary element (from above).

DIRECTIONS:

1. Choose a literary work.

• It can be any story or play you have read in school.
• It can be anything you have read on your own that you really enjoyed, like a particular book.
• STATE THE TITLE OF THE WORK.

2. Choose ONE literary element (listed above) and discuss how it shows up in the particular story you chose. Write 2-3 paragraphs about it using examples from the story.

• How is this particular literary element important to the story?
• How would the story be different if the literary element was changed in some way?