analysing prose

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ANALYSING PROSE: WHAT YOU NEED TO ANALYSE/ COMMENT ON 1.HOW HAS THE ATMOSPHERE BEEN CREATED/ SETTING BEEN CONSTRUCTED 2.CHARACTERISATION 3.NARRATIVE VOICE/ TECHNIQUE & POINT OF VIEW 4.NARRATIVE TONE & PACE OF NARRATION 5.TYPE OF PLOT & TIME FRAME 6.LANGUAGE & FIGURES OF SPEECH 7.TYPES OF SHORT STORIES

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Page 1: Analysing prose

ANALYSING PROSE:WHAT YOU NEED TO ANALYSE/ COMMENT ON

1. HOW HAS THE ATMOSPHERE BEEN CREATED/ SETTING BEEN CONSTRUCTED

2. CHARACTERISATION3. NARRATIVE VOICE/ TECHNIQUE & POINT OF VIEW4. NARRATIVE TONE & PACE OF NARRATION5. TYPE OF PLOT & TIME FRAME6. LANGUAGE & FIGURES OF SPEECH7. TYPES OF SHORT STORIES8. THEMES

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1. SETTING & ATMOSPHERE:HOW ARE THEY CONSTRUCTED

• USE OF SOUNDS, COLOURS, ELEMENTS OF NATURE, SHAPES, TEXTURES: REPETITIONS OF THESE ASPECTS

• ELABORATE DESCRIPTIONS: USE OF ADJECTIVES, ACTION VERBS

• STATIC OR DYNAMIC SETTING: LOTS OF MOVEMENTS OR BEING DESCRIBED LIKE A FROZEN SCENERY

• PATHETIC FALLACY: WHERE THE CLIMATE/ NATURAL ENVIRONMENT REFLECTS THE MOOD OF THE CHARACTERS (E.G. RAINY WEATHER WHEN THE MAIN PROTAGONIST IS SAD)

• WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THE SETTING/ ATMOSPHERE TO THE THEMES IN THE STORY OR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLOT?

• CAMERA ANGLE/ TECHNIQUES: ZOOMING, WIDE SHOT, CLOSE-UP, SEMI-CLOSE OR PANNING

• TRY TO DEFINE THE SETTING: e.g. futuristic, apocalyptic, urban, rural, industrial, claustrophobic etc.

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2. CHARACTERISATION• Direct v/s Indirect: Direct or explicit characterisation: The author literally tells the audience what a character is like. This may be done via the narrator, another character or by the character themselves.Indirect or implicit characterization: The audience must infer for themselves what the character is like through the character’s thoughts, actions, speech (choice of words, way of talking), physical appearance, mannerisms and interaction with other characters, including other characters’ reactions to that particular person.• Static v/s DynamicStatic or flat or 2 dimensional character: personality/ traits remain the same throughout the story.Dynamic or round or 3 dimensional character: evolves (consciousness, values, morals, motivation, consistency, credibility• Stereotypes/ Stock Characters: do the characters represent

categories of people (e.g. social class, specific community/ culture/ nationality/ race, etc.)

• Contrast: Hero/ villain; Foil; Protagonist/ antagonist; Alter-ego; Main/ sub-characters

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3.NARRATIVE VOICE/ TECHNIQUE & POINT OF VIEW

• FIRST PERSON NARRATION: use of ‘I’ pronoun; narrator is a character in the story, usually but not always the main protagonist

• SECOND PERSON NARRATION: e.g. writing a poem about someone; use of ‘you’ pronoun• THIRD PERSON NARRATION: - Third person, omniscient narration (narrator can enter the

consciousness of characters and be omnipresent) - third person objective narration (narrator can only narrate what can be

seen in the physical environment; cannot explicitly reveal characters’ thoughts)

- third person limited narration (narration only follows the point of view of one character)

• DUAL/ MULTIPLE NARRATION: different characters relate different parts of the story• STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: narration completely follows the conscious and subconscious

thoughts of the protagonist; usually first person narration; narration may be fragmented, with subconscious thoughts overlapping conscious observations of the physical environment.

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4. TONE & PACE (RHYTHM) OF NARRATION

• FAST PACE: extensive use of action verbs (e.g. ran, jumped, paced, darted, skidded, etc.); chain of events; use of short & abrupt sentences, at times more phrases than sentences; use of adverbs denoting fast pace and actions (e.g. quickly, swiftly, abruptly, fast, etc.); use of exclamation marks (‘!’); use of monosyllabic or disyllabic words.

• FOREBODING TONE: warning about forthcoming events.• SLOW PACE = LAMENTING TONE: use of suspension marks; long sentences; long

words; elaborate descriptions.• UNCERTAINTY: use of rhetorical questions and interrogation marks (‘?’); tentative tone

(using words such as maybe, probably, possibly, it could be that, perhaps, etc.).• OTHER TONES: solemn, humorous, confident, lacking confidence, romantic, mocking,

compassionate, bitter, sarcastic, angry, frustrated, despair, determined, poetic, regret, satirical, etc.

• HOW DOES THE PACE/ TONE OF NARRATION CONTRIBUTE TO THE THEME(S) & PLOT OF THE STORY?

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5. TYPE OF PLOT & TIME FRAME

USUAL PLOT OF NARRATIVE PROSE FOLLOWS THIS PATTERN:

DEVIANT PLOTS BELOW (THE PURPOSE IS USUALLY TO

CREATE SUSPENSE):

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5. TIME FRAME

Note: Although Flashback is the most common narrative technique used to depart from linear narration, non-linear narration can also be created through the Flash-forward technique (e.g. premonitions and Deja-vu). FRAME STORY: See http://literarydevices.net/frame-story/

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6. LANGUAGE & FIGURES OF SPEECH • FIGURES OF SPEECH/ LITERARY DEVICES: http://literary-devices.com/

Note: You do not need to memorise this endless list of literary devices, but you should at least be familiar with the most popular ones (as per manual). When pointing out the use of a particular literary device in an extract, also comment on its purpose (e.g. to emphasize or defamiliarise a concept, to strengthen an idea or emotion, to stress on a theme, to create an atmosphere, etc.). In other words, you should try to explain why a particular figure of speech or literary device has been used and what effect has been created/ achieved through it.• FOR FURTHER TECHNIQUES OF LANGUAGE ANALYSIS, SEE MANUAL UNIT 1, PG. 18

– 22• SOUND PATTERNS: - alliteration (repeated sounds & syllables – anywhere in words)

- consonance (consonants repeated)- assonance (vowels repeated)- rhyming words & ends of sentences

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7. TAXONOMY OF THE SHORT STORY• EVENT-PLOT: THERE IS A BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END, NEATLY TIED UP AT THE CONCLUSION.

• CHEKOVIAN: RANDOMNESS, INEXPLICABILITY, AND HAPHAZARD ELISION DOMINATE—THE TAILORED CONCLUSION IS ABANDONED.  THERE’S A REFUSAL TO JUDGE, EXPLAIN OR SHAPE THE MATERIAL.

• MODERNIST: OBSCURITY DOMINATES.

• CRYPTIC/LUDIC: THE MEANING TO BE DECIPHERED LIES BENEATH AN APPARENTLY STRAIGHTFORWARD TEXT.

• MINI-NOVEL: TRIES TO DO IN A FEW PAGES WHAT A NOVEL DOES IN HUNDREDS.

• POETIC/MYTHIC: THE STORY APPROACHES LYRIC POETRY.

• BIOGRAPHICAL: INTRODUCING REAL PEOPLE INTO FICTION

OR DESCRIBING FICTIVE EPISODES OF REAL LIVES.

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THEMES

• WHEN READING THE SHORT STORIES IN UNIT 3 OF THE MANUAL, TRY TO IDENTIFY THE MAIN THEMES OF EACH SHORT STORY.• TRY TO RELATE THESE THEMES TO THE LITERARY ERA/ MOVEMENT

DURING WHICH THE STORY HAS BEEN WRITTEN, TO THE LIFE AND COMMON THEMATIC CONCERNS OF THE AUTHOR (LOOK FOR THE AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY), AND TO THE SOCIO-POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE STORY.• TRY ALSO TO FIND COMMON THEMES BETWEEN THE SHORT STORIES AND

THINK ABOUT HOW SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT THE TREATMENT OF THESE THEMES ARE IN THE SHORT STORIES.