According to Gustav Freitag, in literature, there is a specific way in which plot develops, and it is portrayed as a pyramid of five actions. In this pyramid, there is a basic conflict which is followed by multiple complications until the conflict reaches its breaking point, and then after the conflict is clear, the issue will then either resolve or not. This method has been used for years, however, there is a method of storytelling that does not follow this pyramid, and it is known as a digital story. Digital stories do not follow Gustav’s pyramid exactly, and often tend to leave information out of the story itself. Whereas in traditional stories detail is essential to the plot, and what keeps the reader going, this lack of information present in digital stories tends to leave the readers’ interest constantly peaked since it is unknown what will occur next. In the story “Escapes”, the reader is presented with a great deal of information on Lizzie’s life. The reader is shown almost immediately the conflict in which this story surrounds, and how it will affect this young girl’s life. “My mother was a drinker. Because my father left us” (pg. 252). Short and to the point, the issue clear, and the reader knows what to expect moving forward, at least for the most part. Lizzie must deal with her mother’s drinking and how this child handles the situation. At first, the complications are innocent, the mother is seen drinking out of the same mug constantly, and will not let her daughter drink from it despite the fact it is her favorite mug. However, when Lizzie and the mother are on the way to a magic show, it becomes more clear that the mother’s drinking has progressed. “It was here where my mother put her little glass, the glass often full, never, it seemed, more than half empty” (pg. 254.) The mother arrives to the show with drink practically in hand, and from here on out the conflict keeps building until finally, as Gustav stated, the issue explodes, and we are now presented with the mother completely drunk in front of a large crowd of people pleading with her husband, who is not there, to stay for the children. In this moment, we as a reader can recognize the mother’s pain since we have followed her story,
What is alcoholism and how does it severely affect people? It is a chronic condition characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette’s father Rex, is an alcoholic. We assume he enjoys drinking when on page nine, Jeannette recalls her father smelling of whiskey. “As he held me close, I breathed in his familiar smell of Vitalis, whiskey, and cigarette smoke. It reminded me of home.” While it is concerning that young Jeannette knows what whiskey smells like, it is not concerning enough until page fourteen, paragraph six. “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation. There was what Mom
Mary begins the story as a doting housewife going through her daily routine with her husband. She is content to sit in his company silently until he begins a conversation. Everything is going as usual until he goes “ slowly to get himself another drink” while telling Mary to “sit down” (Dahl 1). This shocks Mary as she is used to getting things for him. After downing his second drink, her husband coldly informs her that he is leaving her and the child. This brutal news prompts the first change in Mary, from loving wife to emotionless and detached from everything.
The editors of “Flash Fiction” asked themselves the question, “How short can a story be and still truly be a story?” (11). With this in mind, they settled on a maximum word count of 750, with a minimum of 250. They debated keeping it as “one story to a page, just a little book of little stories,” but soon realized that, without the turn of a page during a story, the reader is easily bored (13). Instead, they allowed the stories to begin and end naturally in the book’s layout.
As the book follows the life of Jeannette, her dream starts out as a fantasy of hope for her father. When her father was sober he was her best friend. Yet he developed a drinking problem right before Jeannette was born, that developed and worsened over the span of her life. Her mother accounts that when they lost a child, his drinking started,
Shortly after the incident, Jeannette turns ten years old. Her father asks her what she wants for her birthday and she tells him she is scared to tell him. Finally, she asks him if he could just promise her he would stop drinking as a gift for her birthday. Jeannette explains that “‘Mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we’d have the extra money’” (Walls 117) if he stops drinking. Her father then gets upset thinking Jeannette is ashamed of him. Although, he keeps her promise and stops drinking, but it did not last long.
Jeannette wanted the readers to comprehend why alcohol is an issue in society and the harm and dangers that comes their way. Leaving Jeannette’s family in total despair because of their father under possession of alcohol. Alcoholism is an issue in society and to this day the issue hasn’t been resolved. Ergo discussing the topic to children as well as teenagers will not resolve the issue but will raise awareness. As well as fiction can teach the young minds that alcoholism is an issue and can encourage them to put a stop to it.
When an alcoholic is alone, the drinking can be done the way he/she wants to
Firstly, Every hardship and obstacles she endured throughout her childhood helped Jeannette to become a successful adult.Jeannette’s parent were very unpredictable, her mother was self absorbed in her hobbies, and her father was an interminable alcoholic. Even though her parent neglected and gave less attention to Jeannette,
“Intertextual dialogue deepens and enriches the reading experience, bringing multiple layers of meaning to the
Jeannette’s father was a heavy alcoholic. He would often claim he was researching information for the prospector leave the house and come back drunk. After he arrived home he would get into fights with Rose Mary, over simple things which involved name calling and sometimes violence. In one of the fights
The narrative perspective helps us discover the underlying moral of the story– that is its argument about how we ought to and ought not to believe or behave (Sellnow 2017). Part of the narrative perspective is the viewer’s narrative rationality which refers to the assessment of good reasons used to persuade masses of the moral (Sellnow 2017). Another element in this perspective is its coherence defined as plausibility. Often times viewers will better agree with a moral whose story is believable and characters relatable. And the more believable and relatable the more the story resonates and that connects to its fidelity or the degree to which the values in a story ring true (Sellnow 2017). Under a narrative lens several different aspects are examined such as the actions and conditions that create the active and static events, the setting, characters that based on their depth are either round or flat. With predictable characters being flat and the unpredictable round.
Narratives have massive importance in the driving of big ideas about how we view our world. They use many different techniques, to either subtly or plainly plant ideas into our minds. The author can point out big problems in our world, and by making it relevant to the consumer, lead them to think more about what is going on around them. They can turn something that doesn’t make sense to someone and by changing something very simple, make it more relevant.
Kelly J. Mayes defines plot in The Norton Introduction to Literature as the way the author sequences and paces the events so as to shape our response and interpretation. Every piece of literature contains a plot pattern that follows Freytag’s pyramid. This pyramid consists of an exposition, rising action, a climax, falling action, and a conclusion. Though each story displays this pattern of organization, authors use many different literary devices to differentiate their work and to acquire the response they want to achieve from their audience. The author of “The Jewelry,” Guy De Maupassant, correctly followed Freytag’s Pyramid and used varied literary devices to create a suspenseful read for the audience.
All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero’s Journey. Understanding these elements and their use in modern writing is the object of our quest. Used wisely, these ancient tools of the storytellers craft still have tremendous power to heal our people and make the world a better place (xxvii).
With so much information being publish is no surprise that readers seek the main idea of what’s going on not necessary the full story. During the 1920 so many writers’ publishing articles, stories and novels that people had a hard time keeping up. Then the reader’s digest came along summarizing the information but that also got out of control for to many digest where being publish.