Plot is shaped by causal connections-historical , social, and personal-by the inter-
action between characters, and by the juxtaposition of events. In Strangerson a Train, the plot that unfolds is complex: one character directs the events and determines their order while the other character is drawn into the action against his will . The same ele- ments that enrich the plot of the film-unexpected events, conflict, suspense, flashbacks, foreshadowing - can also enrich the plot of a work of short fiction.
II Conflict Readers' interest and involvement are heightened by a story's conflict, the struggle between opposing forces that emerges as the action develops. This conflict is a clash between the protagonist, a story's principal character , and an antagonist, someone or something pre- sented in opposition to the protagonist. Sometimes the antagonist is a villain; more often , it is a character who represents a conflicting point of view or advocates a course of action dif- ferent from the one the protagonist follows. Sometimes the antagonist is not a character at all but a situation (for instance , war or poverty) or an event (for example, a natural disaster, such as a flood or a storm) th .at challenges the protagonist. In some stories, the protagonist may struggle against a supernatural force, or the conflict may occur within a chara cter's mind. It may, for example , be a struggle between two moral choices, such as whether to stay at home and care for an aging parent or to leave and make a new life.
• • Stages of Plot -• • . A work's plot explores one or more conflicts, moving from expositionthrough a series of complicationsto a climaxand, finally, to a resolution. During a story's exposition , the writer presents the basic information readers need to understand the events that follow. Typically, the exposition sets the story in motion: it establishes the scene, introduces the major characters, and perhaps suggests the major events or conflicts to come. ORDER AND SEQUENCE 199
Sometimes a single sentence can present a story's exposition clearly and economi- cally, giving readers information vital to their understanding of the plot that will unfold. For example, the opening sentence of Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" (p. 639)-"My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America"-reveals an important trait of a central character. Similarly, the opening sentence of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" (p. 419)-"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full,summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green"- introduces the picture,perfect setting that is essential to the story's irony. At other times, as in John Updike's "A&P" (p. 238), a more fully developed exposition section establishes the story's setting, introduces the main characters, and suggests possible conflicts. Finally, in some experimental stories, a distinct exposition component may be absent, as it is in Luisa Valenzuela's "All about Suicide" (p. 7) and Amanda Brown's "Love and Other Catastro- phes: A Mix Tape" (p. 127). As the plot progresses, the story's conflict unfolds through a series of complications that eventually lead readers to the story's climax. As it develops, the story may include several crises. A crisis is a peak in the story's action, a moment of considerable tension or impor- tance. The climax is the point of greatest tension or importance, the scene that presents a story's decisive action or event. The final stage of plot, the resolution or denouement (French for "untying of the knot"), draws the action to a close and accounts for all remaining loose ends. Sometimes this reso, lution is achieved with the help of a deus ex machina (Latin for "god from a machine"), an intervention of some force or agent previously extraneous to the story-for example, the sudden arrival of a long,lost relative or a fortuitous inheritance, the discovery of a charac- ter's true identity, or a surprise last,minute rescue. Usually, however, the resolution is more plausible: all the events lead logically and convincingly (though not necessarily predict- ably) to the resolution. Sometimes the ending of a story is indefinite-that is, readers are not quite sure what the protagonist will do or what will happen next. This kind of resolu- tion, although it may leave some readers feeling cheated, has its advantages: it mirrors the complexity of life, where closure rarely occurs, and it can keep readers involved in the story as they try to understand the significance of its ending or to decide how conflicts should have been resolved.
• • -• .• Order and Sequence A writer may introduce a story's events in strict chronological order, presenting each event in the sequence in which it actually takes place. More often, however, especially in rela- tively modem fiction, writers do not introduce events chronologically. Instead, they present incidents out of expected order, or in no apparent order. For example, a writer may choose to begin in media.~res (Latin for "in the midst of things"), starting with a key event and later going back in time to explain events that preceded it, as Tillie Olsen does in "I Stand Here Ironing" (p. 299). Or, a writer can decide to begin a work of fiction at the end and then move back to reconstruct events that led up to the final outcome, as William Faulkner does in "A Rose for Emily" (p. 224). Many sequences are possible as the writer manipulates events to create interest, suspense, confusion, shock, or some other effect. Writers who wish to depart from strict chronological order can use flashbacks and foreshadowing.A flashback moves out of sequence to examine an event or situatio n that 200 CHAPTER I] • PT.OT
occurred before the time in which the story's action takes place. A character can remember an earlier event, or a story's narrator can re�create an earlier situation. For example, in Alberto Alvaro Rfos's "The Secret Lion" (p. 180), the adult narrator looks back at events that occurred when he was twelve years old and then moves further back in time to con sider related events that occurred when he was five. In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" (p. 3 28), the entire story is told as a flashback. Flashbacks are valuable because they can substitute for or supplement formal exposition by presenting background readers need to understand a story's events. One disadvantage of flashbacks is that if they interrupt the natural flow of events, they may be intrusive or distracting. Such distractions, however, can be an advantage if the writer wishes to reveal events gradually and subtly or to obscure causal links. Foreshadowing is the introduction early in a story of comments, situations, events, characters, or objects that hint at things to come. Typically, a seemingly simple element a chance remark, a natural occurrence, a trivial event-is eventually revealed to have great significance. For example, a dark cloud passing across the sky during a wedding can foreshadow future problems for the marriage. Foreshadowing allows a writer to hint pro vocatively at what is to come so that readers only gradually become aware of a particular detail's role in a story. Thus, foreshadowing helps readers sense what will occur and grow increasingly involved as they see the likelihood (or even the inevitability) of a particular outcome. In addition to using conventional techniques like flashbacks and foreshadowing, writers may experiment with sequence by substantially tampering with-or even dispensing with chronological order. (An example is the scrambled chronology of "A Rose for Emily.'') In such instances, the experimental form enhances interest and encourages readers to become involved with the story as they work to untangle or reorder the events and determine their logical and causal connections. In recent years, the Internet has given a new fluidity to the nature of plot, with readers actually able to participate in creating a story's plot. For more on such innovations, see page 124.
t/. CHECKLIST Writing about Plot
What happens in the story?
Where does the story's formal exposition section end? What do readers learn about characters in this section? What do readers learn about setting? What possible conflicts are suggested here? What is the story's central conflict? What other conflicts are presented? Who is the protagonist? Who (or what) serves as the antagonist? Identify the story's crisis or crises. Identify the story's climax. How is the story's central conflict resolved? Is this resolution plausible? satisfying? 201
Which part of the story constitutes the resolution? Do any problems remain unre solved? Does any uncertainty remain? If so, does this uncertainty strengthen or weaken the story? Would another ending be more effective? How are the story's events arranged? Are they presented in chronological order? What events are presented out of logical sequence? Does the story use foreshad owing? flashbacks? Are the causal connections between events clear? logical? If not, can you explain why?
