ENGL264:INTRODUCTION TO PROSE

Engl 264 concentrates on prose in the second semester.

Six short stories and a novel will be studied for Engl 264.
Prose work to be studied this semester are Torn Veil: Mabel Dove
Danquah, The Letter: Tsitsi Dangarembga, The Necklace: Guy de
Maupassant, Possessing the Secret of Joy: Chika Unigwe, A Rose for
Emily: Wlliam Faulkner, The Girl Who Can: Ama Ata Aidoo and a novel ,
Money Galore: Amo Djoleto.
 Definition of Prose

• The word prose originated from the Latin one "prosa" meaning straightforward discourse.
• Prose is loosely defined as text written with the pattern of ordinary or everyday language
without a metrical structure, such as in the case of traditional poetry.
• though some works of prose make use of rhythm, Verse is normally more systematic or
formulaic, while prose is closer to both ordinary, and conversational speech
• In view of this, Samuel Taylor Coleridge insists in his definition of prose and poetry that;
“prose is —words in their best order; poetry,—the best words in their best order.”
(Quoted in Hall 62).
• the predominant quality of prose is its absolute fidelity to the truth of life and its
exposer of the most important events of the contemporary society.(Forster,1965)
 Types of Prose
• 1. Nonfictional Prose:
• A literary work that is mainly based on fact although it may contain fictional elements
in certain cases. Examples are biographies and essays.
• 2. Fictional Prose:
• A literary work that is wholly or partly imagined.
• treats essentially events, incidents, and experiences that affect human beings and
which is open to various interpretations by the reader.
• may exaggerate or distort facts or the story may be completely an invention of the
writer. (It depends on the style of the writer and or what the writer wants to achieve).
• is meant to educate or entertain or to do both. Examples are novels and short stories.
Types of Prose

• 3. Heroic Prose:
• A literary work that may be written down or recited and employs many of the
formulaic expressions found in oral tradition. Examples are legends and tales.
• 4. Prose Poetry:
• A literary work which exhibits poetic quality using emotional effects and heightened
imagery but are written in prose instead of verse.
Types of fiction

• There are three main types of fictional prose

• Short story
• Novella
• novel
• Short story
• Can usually be read in one sitting (about half hour to two hours).
• Contains about 1,000-20,000 words and not more than 25-30 pages
• focuses on a few characters, has a limited number of environments, and just one
sequence of event.
Types of fiction

• Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.

• Usually tries to leave behind a single impression or effect.
• Density, concentration, and precision are essential elements of good short-story
writing.
• Novella
• is longer than short story and tend to run about 20,000-50,000 words and 60-
120 pages.
• have complex plot and more characters than short stories,
Types of fiction
• The novel
• is a work of fiction that contains over 50,000 words and 120 pages.
• there is no limit to the length of novels: they can be as long as their authors want them to be.
• The term denotes a prose narrative about characters and their actions in what is recognizable
in everyday life.
• usually have more than one plot and many more developed characters, environments, and
events.
• Characters have room to evolve and the author can introduce digressions and commentary
without undermining the form.
• The story can be enriched with subplots and complications that add perspective, dynamism,
and interest to the novel
Elements of prose
• five elements of prose fiction:
• Plot, Setting, Character, Point of View, Theme style
• Plot, or storyline, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of
fiction.
• “the plot in a …narrative work is constituted by its events and actions, as
these are rendered and ordered towards achieving particular emotional and
artistic effects” (Abrams, 1989, 159)
• It is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story.
• Usually, plot has a beginning, middle, and an ending.
Elements of prose
There are five essential parts of plot:
1) Exposition (introduction) - Beginning of the story; characters, background, and setting revealed.
2) Rising Action - Events in the story become complicated; the conflict is revealed.
3) Climax - Turning point of the story. Readers wonder what will happen next; will the conflict be
resolved or not? Main character receives new information, acts on this information (makes a choice
that will determine whether or not objective is met).
4) Falling action - Resolution begins; events and complications start to fall into place. (These are the
events between climax and denouement).
5) Resolution (Conclusion) - Final outcome of events in the story.
Elements of prose
• Plot techniques
• 1. Suspense - feeling of excitement or tension the reader experiences as the plot unfolds.
Writers create suspense by raising questions in the reader's mind.

• 2. Foreshadowing - a hint or clue about an event that will occur later in the story.

• 3. Flashback - a section of the story that is interrupted to tell an earlier event in a

character’s life.
•
• 4. Surprise ending - an ending that catches the reader off guard with something
unexpected.
Elements of prose
types of plot
Simple Plot
• the incidents are presented in a simple straight forward manner.
• events and incidents are presented in a chronological order as one event leads
to the other and the subsequent event is dependent on the preceding one.
• the incidents or events are closely knit and are strung together.
• in most cases, presents the adventure of one character, usually the hero, from
the beginning to the end. Examples are Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe,
Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones and Flora Nwapa’s Efuru.
Elements of prose
• Complex Plot
• more complicated than the simple plot.
• The story does not run chronologically from the beginning to the end.
• In many cases, the story is presented in a disjointed manner and the reader will
have to rearrange it to form a logical sequence.
• In some novels, there is a subplot which is a second story that is complete and
interesting in its own but is integrated in the main plot in such a way that it forms
part of the main story. E.g. Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease.
Elements of prose
• Theme
• It is “the general vision of life or more explicit proposition about human
experience that literature conveys.”(Alternbernd and Lewis 1966, 79)
• the sum-total of the idea that the novel gives about life.
• Central message, the central dominating idea, "moral of the story,"
and underlying meaning of a fictional piece.
• may be the author's thoughts on the topic or view of human nature.
• Without a theme, the story lacks meaning or purpose .
Elements of prose

• Sometimes the theme is stated, sometimes it is only implied. In other stories, the
theme may be a direct refutation of a traditional theme.
• A story's title usually emphasizes the theme.
• Various figures of speech (symbolism, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole,
irony etc.) and narrative techniques may be utilized to highlight the theme.
Elements of prose
• Characterization
• refers to the way an author creates and manipulates the characters in the work to explicate
his/her theme.
• A character is a participant in the story and is usually a person, but may be any personal identity,
an animal or an entity whose existence originates from the fictional work.
• four methods of presenting a character: -1. Actions or thoughts of the character. 2.Conversations
the character engages in. 3. conversations of other characters about a third character. 3.Author's
own opinion, which might be overt, or may be implied.
• The author is usually careful in the selection of characters and ensures that the role of each
character is clear.
• Some characters are used and dispensed with while others are active participants in the story
from the beginning to the end. The former are the minor characters while the latter are the
major characters.
Elements of prose
• Types Of Characters
• There are different types of characters and the author decides the ones to use depending on
the message and the effect she/he desires to create.
• Flat/static Characters
• One-dimensional characters
• remain the same in the course of the story from the beginning to the end.
• do not undergo significant changes during the course of a story.
• are not affected by circumstances around them and are usually very rigid in their belief.
• usually tragic characters because they are prepared to pursue any goal they believe in to its
(perceived) logical conclusion even at the risk of losing their lives. A good example of a flat
character is Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
Elements of prose
• Round/ Dynamic Characters
• grow in the course of the narration or deteriorate by the end of the story.
• growth is usually from innocence to maturity and they adapt to situations
accordingly.
• Fully developed personalities that are affected by the story's events
• are most convincing because they resemble real people by being consistent,
motivated, and life-like.
• respond to changes in their environment and react differently to different
situations. Nwoye in Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Meka in Ferdinand Oyono’s
Old Man and the Medal are example of round characters.
Elements of prose
• Stereotype characters
• exhibit particular attributes/tag by which a particular individual, group, or race is
known. The tag may or may not be true.
• The writer creates such characters for special effects or to make a point.
• stock characters
• closely related to the stereotype but here the character is a true representation
of a particular group especially a profession.
• In most cases, stock characters are created for satirical purposes. For instance,
soldiers and some other related professionals are associated with force and
brutality
• A writer might therefore create such character(s) to draw attention to their
brutality, viciousness, cruelty and the irrationality of most of their actions.
Elements of prose
• Setting
• form of description of time, place, weather, furnishings and other elements
• Consists of 1.Place - Geographical location; where is the action of the story taking place?
• 2) Time - Historical period, time of day, year, etc. when is the story taking place?
• 3) Weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc.?
• 4) Social conditions - What is the daily life of the character's like? Does the story contain
local colour (writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a
particular place)?
• 5) Mood or atmosphere – What feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Cheerful
or weird etc.?
Elements of prose
Setting
important in fiction because the story being told in a particular work must take place in a
particular location and at a particular period.
• usually included to help give a sense of reality and credibility to the plot of the story.

• Identifiable through looking out for the mention of some identifiable locations and dates

• Sometimes it is difficult to identify setting in the work

• pointers such as names of the characters, issues they discuss and other events in the work help in
identifying the setting of a story.
Elements of prose
• Point of View
• Refers to “the mode (modes) established by an author by means of which the reader is
presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, settings and events which constitute the
narrative work of fiction” (Abrams 1957,165).
• In other words, point of view reveals the position from which the events are presented by
the writer and observed by the reader.
• helps the reader to empathize with specific characters and the understand certain ideas
• There are several variations of Point of View
• 1) First Person –
• Story told by the protagonist or a character who interacts closely with the protagonist or
other characters;
Elements of prose
• speaker uses the pronouns "I", "me", "we".
• Readers experience the story through this person's eyes and only know what he/she knows and feels.
• narrator speaks directly from his or her own experience.
• may be an observer, the protagonist or a minor character but the narrator seems to be standing a little to one
side, watching a story that mainly concerns him/herself or someone else as it unfolds.
• has an advantage of revealing intimately to the reader the character’s growing response to his experience and
environment as portrayed through the progression of the narrative.
• firsthand account of the narration produces an intimacy that helps to further captivate the interest of the
reader.
• helps to reduce the communicative distance between the reader and the experiences of the characters, as
portrayed in the story.

•
Elements of prose
2) Third Person

• Story told by a narrator who sees all of the action;

• speaker uses the pronouns "he", "she", "it", "they", "his", "hers", "its", and "theirs".
• This person may be a character in the story.
• two types of third person point of view
• a) Limited point of view
• funnels all action through the eyes of a single character;
• readers only see what the narrator sees.
• limits narration to what can be known, seen, thought, or judged from a single character's
• perspective.
• narrator does not present the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Elements of prose
• b) Omniscient /eye of God point of view
• God-like narrator
• knows and sees everything, and can move from one character's mind to another. Authors
can be omniscient narrators by moving from character to character, event to event, and
introducing information at their discretion.
• can tell the reader things that the main character does not know, or things that
none of the characters know, or things that no human being in the fictional world
could ever know.
• goes beyond the characters' knowledge and experiences as it allows the writer to
explore and describe the thoughts and feelings and the environment in the work.
Elements of prose
• 3) Innocent Eye/Naive Narrator –
• Story told through child's eyes;
• narrator's judgment is different from that of an adult.
• 4) Stream of Consciousness
• Story told so readers solely experience a character's thoughts and reactions.
Elements of prose

• 5) Multiple Point of View

• usually a number of voices/narrators who move the story forward, each
contributing to and passing judgment on the action.
• There may or may not be a central narrator;

• has the advantage of allowing the reader to “hear” the story from different
perspectives and angles..
 Style
• is how a literary work is written and interpreted.
• refers to language conventions used to construct the story.
• A fiction writer may manipulate diction, sentence structure, phrasing,
• dialogue, and other aspects of language to create his or her style.
• Incudes language, mood, tone, atmosphere, point of view etc.
• helps in realizing the theme of a story.
• Language
• is the vehicle or channel of communication in all genres of literature
• Includes the tactical choice of grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence
• and paragraph length etc.
Atmosphere
• defined as the mood which is established by the totality of the literary work.

• the general feeling we get when we are reading a particular story.

• could be violence, harmony, peace, horror etc.

• evoked in a work through the writer’s manipulation of language.

• writers use their descriptive ability to convey or heighten the intensity of

• atmosphere in work.
•
• Tone
• closely related to atmosphere.
• refers to the writer’s attitude to the idea/subject presented in the work.
• influences the perception of the ideas and events explored in the work.
• In real life, we say that it is not necessarily what is said but how it is said – the tone in
which it is said.
• could be one or a combination of two or more of any of the following: contempt,
condemnation, hostility, admiration, censure, commendation, exhortation etc.
• discernable, most of the times, in the attitude of the writer to particular characters .
 summary
• Analyzing novels/ short stories
1 Theme
What is the passage about? Is it about a decision a character takes, a revelation that he / she
comes to, or an event and what that reveals? Or does it reveal a person’s circumstances and
character or something else? Beginning / Ending: Is there anything striking about either or both of
these? Is the passage narrated chronologically, or does it look forwards or backwards at any point?
In either case, why is this done? What does it achieve?e.g. different stages of a journey, a
progression of thought, something else?
2 Style
How are we being invited to read this passage? With empathy, experiencing the thoughts and
feelings of the character or narrator? Critically, with judgment? With curiosity? Something else? Is
the attitude of the narrator significant? What is the narrator’s attitude to
• style
• his / her subject? whose point of view is the passage told? Does this change in
the course of the passage? If so, what effects are gained from this change?

• Language
• What part does description play? Does it provide setting, add to atmosphere, tell
us about the characters, or what? How are diction or images used, and what
effect do they create? Do they enhance or create meaning? Is there anything
unusual about punctuation, sentence length, complexity?
• Characters
• Is there a central character? What do we learn about him / her? How do we learn
this – through other’s comments, through description, through interior
monologue? What? Is there anything significant about his / her relationship to
us / the other characters in the passage? How do we feel about him / her?
• Prose work to be studied this semester are TORN VEIL,THE LETTER, THE NECKLACE, POSSESSING
THE SECRET OF JOY, A ROSE FOR EMILY, THE GIRL WHO CAN AND A NOVEL , MONEY GALORE
 End
Thank you