How
to Understand the Plot
Plot refers to the events of the story or the series
of actions that make up the story are referred to as the plot. Basically, the plot is what happens in the
story.
Three important ways to
understand the Plot:
A: Parts of the Plot.
Traditionally, it is divided into five parts.
1.
Introduction: The reader meets the characters and
discovers the setting. Reader interest is aroused here. The conflict that
drives the story’s action is discovered at the end of the introduction, with
the initiating incident.
2.
Rising action: Builds up the story (the longest
part)— a series of steps that lead to the climax. You get more information
about conflict and character here.
3.
Climax: Here, the reader finds out what happens to the
conflict, or how the conflict might be resolved. The story may not yet be
finished, but the reader now has a good understanding of what way it is going
to go.
4.
Falling Action: The plot begins to wrap up in this
section of the story, which is usually brief.
5.
Denouement/Conclusion/Resolution: This part follows
quickly after the climax and provides the last pieces of information for the
reader. “Denouement” is French for “unknotting”; you may therefore think of
denouement as the “unknotting” or “untangling” of the plot. Other words for
denouement are conclusion or resolution (think about it as the resolution of
the climax). However, not all conclusions provide resolution.
B: Five Types of Conclusions/Resolutions.
There are
five types of conclusions and they have a variety of names:
1. Expository
Happy: All loose ends are tied up and explained and the ending is happy.
2. Expository
Sad: All loose ends are tied up and explained and the ending is sad.
3.
Surprise or Twist: Something happens that the reader does
not expect at all.
4.
Unresolved/Indeterminate/Cliffhanger: The reader is left
with questions and has to, in part, supply the ending him or herself. Some
loose ends are left to dangle.
5.
Anti-Climax: A dull or disappointing ending to
something after increasing excitement. For example: After the weeks of
preparation, the concert itself was a bit of an anticlimax. In connection to a
story or novel, it means an ending that doesn’t measure up to the plot events
that precede it (the ending is anti-climactic).
C: Plot Diagram:
This is also known as Freytag’s Pyramid, the story diagram or plot diagram, was invented
in 1864 by Gustav Freytag to visually represent the five plot parts and their
relationship with one another. Modern stories may or may not tidily fit
Freytag’s Pyramid. This diagram was
invented to purposely explain the plot in more detailed manner. Here is a
diagram for more details:
Online Reference:
12th August 2016