Autopsy on Our Short Stories (Getting Ready for Our Essays)

1. Setting: Where and when is the story set? Setting represents both the physical location but also the time (i.e. past, present, future) and the social and cultural conditions in which the characters exist.
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2. Character: A person or animal or really anything personified. There can be one main character or many, and often there are secondary characters, but not always.
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3. Plot: The events that happen in a story are called the plot. In a plot you typically find an introduction, rising action, a climax, the falling action, and a resolution. Plot is often represented as an arc.
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4. Conflict: Every story must have a conflict, i.e. a challenge or problem around which the story is based. Without conflict, the story will have no purpose or trajectory.
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5. Theme: Idea, belief, moral, lesson or insight. It’s the central argument that the author is trying to make the reader understand. The theme is the “why” of the story.