When summarizing the major events in a literary text, which plot elements should be included in a logical order?

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. These are events between

the introduction and climax.

• Conflict - Essential to plot, opposition ties incidents together and moves the plot. Not merely

limited to arguments, conflict can be any fOfI1)of struggle the main character faces. Within a short

story, there may be only one central struggle, or there may be many minor obstacles within a

dominant struggle. There are two ~ of conflict:

o Internal- Struggle within one's self.

• Character vs. Self - Struggles with own soul, physical limitations, choices, etc.

o External - Struggle with a force outside one's self.

• Character vs. Character - Struggles against other people.

• Character vs. Nature - Struggles against animals, weather, environment, etc.

• Character vs. Society - Struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of others

3) Climax - Turning point of the story. Readers wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved

or not? Consider the climax as a three-fold phenomenon:

• Main character receives new information.

• Main character accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree with it).

• Main character 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