English: Composition and Literature. William Franklin Webster
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intensity by limiting the number of characters.
For the same reason the time should be short. If all the incidents chosen are crowded into a short period of time, the action must be more rapid. The reader does not like to know five years have elapsed between one event and the next, even if the story-teller does not try to fill up the interim with matters of no consequence to the narrative. One exception must be made to this rule. In stories whose purpose is to portray a change of character, a long time is necessary; for the transformation is not usually the result of a day’s experience, but a gradual process of years. “Silas Marner” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” demand time to make naturally the great changes recounted. In general, however, the time should be short.
Simple Plot. Moreover, the plot should be simple. This is not saying that the plot should be evident. No one is quite satisfied if he knows just how the story will turn out. There are, however, so many conditions in a story that the accentuation of one or the subordination of another may bring about something quite unexpected, yet perfectly natural. Complicated plots have had their day; simple plots are now in vogue. They are as natural as life, and quite as unfathomable. In Davis’s “Gallegher” there is nothing complicated; one thing follows another in a perfectly natural way; yet there are many questions in the reader’s mind as to how the little rascal will turn out, and whether he will accomplish his mission. Much more cleverness is shown by the sleight-of-hand trickster, who, unassisted and in the open, with no accessories, dupes his staring assembly, than by him who, on the stage, with the aid of mirrors, lights, machines, and a crowd of assistants, manages to deceive your eyes. A story that by its frank simplicity takes the reader into its confidence, and brings him to a conclusion that is so natural that it should have been foreseen from the beginning, has a good plot. The conclusion of a story must be natural,—the result of the causes at work in the story. It must be an expected surprise. If it cannot be accounted for by the causes at work in the story, the construction is faulty. In the world of fiction there is not the liberty one experiences in the world of fact. There things unexpected and unexplainable occur. But the story-teller has no such privilege. Truth is stranger than fiction dare be. A simple, natural story, with few characters and covering but a short period of time, has three elements of success.
Paragraph structure, sentence structure, and choice of words are taken up in subsequent chapters. Of paragraphs it may be wise to say that there will be as many as there are divisions in the outline; and sometimes, by reason of the length of topic, a subdivision may be necessary. The paragraph most common in narration is the paragraph of details, the first form presented in the chapter on paragraphs. What needs to be said of sentences has already been said when treating of movement. Of words one thing may be suggested. Choose live words, specific words, words that have “go” in them.
It should be remembered that everything cannot be learned at once. The study of the whole is the principal occupation just now. Select the main incident; choose other incidents to be consistent with it; start out at once giving the conditions of the story; proceed now fast, now slow, as the thought demands, arriving at a conclusion that is an expected surprise, the result of forces at work in the story.
The questions are only suggestive. They indicate how literature can be made to teach composition. Some questions may seem hard, and will provoke discussion. To have even a false opinion, backed by only a few facts, is better than an entire absence of thought. Encourage discussion. The answers to the questions have not been suggested in the questions themselves. The object has been to throw the pupil upon his own thinking.
These questions upon the “Method of the Author” should not be considered until the far more important work of deriving the “Meaning of the Author” has been finished. Only after the whole piece has been carefully studied can the relation of the parts to the whole be understood. Reserve the questions for the review.
In what paragraphs is the main incident?
Can you find one sentence on the second page of the story that foreshadows the result?
How many incidents or episodes contribute to the story?
Do these help in the development of Ernest’s character? If not, what is the use of them?
Why are they arranged in this order?
Introduce into its proper place an incident of a scientist. Write it up.
Do you think one of the incidents could be omitted? Which one?
Are the incidents related in the order in which they occurred? Is one the cause of another?
Has the story a plot? Why do you think so? What is a plot?
Where are introduced the time, place, and the principal character?
What is the use of the description of “the great stone face”?
Why does the author tell only what “was reported” of the interior of Mr. Gathergold’s palace? Is it better so?
Are the descriptions to accent the mood of the story? or are they primarily to make concrete and real the persons and places?
Is there any place where the movement of the story is rapid?
Does the author begin at once, and close when the story is told?
Did you find any use of comparisons in the piece? (See top of p. 6, top of p. 19, middle of p. 22.) 3
Of what value are they in composition?
What is the main incident?
In relation to the whole story, in what place does it stand?
Do the other incidents serve to develop the character of “the gentle boy”? or are they introduced to open up to the reader that character? (Compare with “Wee Willie Winkie.”)
Do you consider all the incidents necessary?
Why has the author introduced the fact that Ilbrahim gently cared for the little boy who fell from the tree?
What is the use of the first two pages of the story?
Where does the story really begin?
How could you know the time, if the first page were not there? Is it a delicate way of telling “when”?
Notice that time, place, and principal characters all are introduced into the first paragraph of the real story.
Why does the author note the change in Tobias’s circumstances? Does it add to the interest of the story? Would you omit it?
Do you think this plot more complicated than that of “The Great Stone Face”?
What is the use of the description on p. 31?
What do you note as the difference between
(a) second line of p. 19, sixth line of p. 27, sixteenth line of p. 29, and (b) fourth line of p. 25, the figure in the complete paragraph on p. 40?
Note the successive stages by which the time is approached. (Compare with the beginning of “Silas Marner.”)
Can you feel any difference between the movement of this story and the movement in “The Gentle Boy”?
Is there any difference in the length of the sentences? (Remember that the independent clauses of a compound sentence are very nearly the same as simple sentences.)
Is there any difference in the proportion of verbs and verbals? What parts of speech have almost disappeared?
Why is the first paragraph needed?
Why could the incident in the first paragraph on p. 50 not be omitted? Do you find it later?
How many chapters could you divide the story into? What is the basis of division?
Why
Unless otherwise stated, all page references are to the Riverside Literature Series.