English 320:  The Short Story

Feedback on Option 1 of the Out-of-Class Essay for Spring 2002 Mid-Term Exam

The task in Option 1 was the following: 

Using the scheme explained in our Glossary of Critical Terms, classify the plot of one of the following stories in terms of the characterization of the protagonist.  (Along the way you might ask whether or not the story you are focusing on is an initiation story.)  Then explain how the story exploits plot-type it embodies in the service of its particular thematic ends.

The stories eligible to be chosen among for carrying out this task with were:

The first thing we have to do in approaching such a task is to analyze the task into its logical elements and get clear about how these elements logically relate to each other.  Unless we do the first, we have no way of knowing whether we have completed the task.  Unless we do the second, we have no way to devise a coherent strategy for organizing the various parts of our essay.  (Before reading further, reflect on the last three sentences to see how the second and third must be true.)

The logical elements of the assigned task

What then are the logical elements of the task imposed in this assignment?  On the face of things, there are two:  (A) we have to classify the plot of the story we pick according to a certain scheme, and then (B) we have to come up with some explanation of how the plot type we see the story as exemplifying serves the story's theme.  When we reflect on these two tasks, though, we notice that each of them in turn entails a number of subtasks.

In order to classify the plot according to the scheme in question, we have to of course first make sure we understand what that scheme is.  If we consult the link given in the assignment for an explanation of that scheme, we find that it embraces four possible plot types

Type 1:  Trial or temptation withstood
Type 2:  Challenge failed (or Stagnation)
Type 3:  Progress (or Growth)
Type 4:  Fall (or Degradation)

But how do we determine which plot type is at work in any given story?  If we study the page that lays out this typology, we notice that we have to answer two different questions.  (The plot type, we say, "depends on two criteria.")  These are

Criterion 1:  whether the protagonist is a static or dynamic character.

Criterion 2:  whether this fact (whichever it is) qualifies as a good thing or a bad thing -- as worthy of our approval or admiration or celebration, or as worthy of our condemnation or regret.

So, before we can get any further, we need to be sure that we are clear on how we decide whether a character qualifies as "static" or "dynamic".  What are the tasks here?

Before you can classify the characterization of the protagonist as static or dynamic, you have to know enough about the particular meanings of these terms in this particular context not to be distracted by other meanings that these terms carry elsewhere in our language.  And you have to see how the sense in which we are using each term here is ethically neutral.  (The ethical question is what we separate out in Criterion #2, above.  It doesn't come into our decision on Criterion #1.)

We notice, too, that, before we can determine whether a character has undergone a change in character, or not, we have to be able to distinguish which traits of a character (a personage that plays a role in the story's action) count as "character traits" (traits of personality) and which traits count as "external to character".   (This is something discussed in the article on character and characterization.  See especially the discussion in the box there labeled "Why these distinctions are so important to keep in mind".)

Only now -- i.e., having made sure we understand the key constituent notions involved in the notions of "static character" and "dynamic character" -- are we ready to approach the task itself of deciding whether the protagonist of the story we are examining qualifies as a static character or a dynamic character.  What do we have to do in order to reach a decision on this question?  (We could say:  "what is the form of the procedure for doing this?")  A little reflection will show that we are dealing here with an issue of comparison and contrast.

  1. We have to form a conception of the character (in the psychological/ethical sense of the term) of the protagonist before the episode that functions as the climax of the plot.
    • Note that, in order to do this, we have to undertake the task of analyzing the plot to determine which episode constitutes its climax.  That is:  making this determination is a logically prior subtask.
    • And, of course, we already have to know how to go about forming a conception of a character's character!   If we're foggy on what's involved in doing this, 
      • we need to review our editors' discussion of "characterization."  
      • We'd want to review carefully the particular questions they present following the stories they have chosen to put in the chapter they devote to this topic.  
      • And we'd want to go over again the article in our glossary on "Character and characterization".

      In general, we'll need to examine the protagonist's actions, in the situations with which s/he is confronted, in order to infer the motives behind them.  

      Then we need to infer what assumptions and values the disposition to be moved in these ways are "expressions of."

      We try to conceive the character's sensibility and priorities in terms of "traits of character."

      We ask ourselves how these traits can best be thought of as relating to each other.  (For example:  do some logically subsume others?) 

  2. We have to form a conception of the protagonist's character as displayed in the climactic episode of the plot OR as evident in the story's dénouement.
  3. We have to compare these two pictures of the protagonist's character.
    • If they are different in some significant respect, we have a dynamic character.
    • If they are basically the same, we have a static character.

So, summing up:  to decide what type of plot the author has designed, we need first to see what result we get when we apply Criterion 1, and then we need to see what we get when we apply Criterion 2 to that result.  (That is:  Criterion 1 is "logically prior to" Criterion 2.  Put another way:  Question 2 arises only after we have an answer to Question 1.  Or:  "Issue 2 is logically subordinate to Issue 1.")  Specifically:

Once we have figured out what type of plot we are confronted with, the assignment requires us to have something to say on a subsequent question -- a  question of the form "so what?"  Specifically, the assignment says you are to "explain how the story exploits plot-type it embodies in the service of its particular thematic end."  If we look at this task, we see that it, too, breaks down into a couple of subtasks.

We have to formulate some description of the overall theme of the story, or at least a picture of some important dimension of its overall theme.

To do this, of course, we have to understand what sort of thing we are referring to by the term "theme."  

We'd want to have a sense of how "theme," in a short story, is like the "moral," in a fable or tale, in that can be described as the "point" or "overall reason for being" of the story.  Both involve generalizations from the particular situation depicted in the fictional situation to other potential situations that qualify as "different instances of the same type of case."

We'd want to have a sense of how "theme" (in a short story) and "moral" (in a fable or tale) are nevertheless importantly distinct sorts of thing, in that "theme" tends to be considerably more complex and nuanced than "moral".  One way to put this might be to say that a story's "theme" embraces interwoven set of particular issues that it seems designed to invite the reader to reflect on, together with some perspective from which these issues might be regarded as important.  The "type of case" that a short story will instantiate is typically more specific than the type of case covered by the moral of a fable or tale.  

For instance, the moral of "Godfather Death" might not be so simple as (say) "you can't cheat death."  If we pay attention to the details of its unfolding, we might say be inclined to say it is committed to the view that, despite our individual wish to live forever, there is a mysterious judgment of a divine power according to which it is just that everyone die, since it is better for all the living that the quantity of the living remain constant (we are invited to speculate as to why this might be), and that the condition of anyone's being able to be born into the world is that someone else leave it.  But this general lesson is a far simpler thing to arrive at and contemplate than the sort of reflection that a short story will typically invite us to arrive at on the basis of our vicarious absorption in the kind of situation it constructs for us to imagine and project ourselves into.  

Consider Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues."  This story has to do with the pressures that can lead us to want to simplify the lives of the people we care about, so that we can reduce our anxieties for their safety.  But it also has to do with the importance, for anyone (and hence for those who care about anyone in a reflective way) to have the dignity of being responsibility for conducting his or her own life.  More particularly, the story is concerned to get us to appreciate how difficult our concern for others can make it for us to discern what is at stake, for them, in their choices -- i.e., exactly how and why these choices are tied up with their idea of self-respect.  At the same time, it invites us to notice how this same concern might eventually enable us overcome our preference for shaping them into behaving in ways comfortable to us, and to make the effort to see how the risks they take might be justified in terms that we ourselves could come to understand, even when they have become so frustrated with the "guilt trips" we have worked on them that they have withdrawn from the attempt to get us to listen to their view of the matter..  We might say that this story is about some agonizing dilemmas we face when we deeply care about people (our siblings, our children, our really close friends):  how can we "be there" for them when their deepest needs take them in directions that spook us?  Sometimes, this story suggests, it can be that, if we can find the courage to imagine how what strikes us as "simply" frivolous and dangerous might be serious and admirable (though no less dangerous), we may be able to find the resources to support our loved ones in their (to us) alarming deviation from what we are comfortable with, to endorse and encourage them in the path they choose that is so different from the one we have chosen for ourselves.  And the story has to make us care about this truth (if it is a truth), by getting us to care about the narrator's struggle to come to terms with his fears for his bother Sonny's choices in life.  This is the sort of thing we mean by a story's "theme."

We have to come up with some account of how the author's choice of this particular plot type contributes to the reader's appreciation of what we have called attention to the story as concerned with on this level of theme.

The logical relationships among the logical elements of the assigned task

 If we now look back over what we've noticed about the logical elements (subtasks) we've broken the (overall) assigned task into, we can see that we've already noticed some important facts about the logical relationships among them.  It now remains to bring these into focus.  Let's try here to spell this out here in fairly full explicitness.  First, though, let's be sure we keep a couple of things in mind.

Now let's give it a try:

We need, first of all, to grasp the plot structure of the story as a whole 
[so as to =>]
isolate the climactic episode within the plot 
[so as to =>]
(1) formulate a conception of the character of the protagonist before this moment.  
[To do this we need to]
determine the protagonist's actions, in the successive situations with which s/he is confronted 
[in order to =>]
infer the motives behind these actions 
[so that we can =>]
infer what assumptions and values the disposition to be moved in these ways are "expressions of" 
[in order to be on a footing to=>]
conceive the character's sensibility and priorities in terms of "traits of character"
[to put us in a position to be able to  =>]
 
ask ourselves how these traits can best be thought of as relating to each other.  (For example:  do some logically subsume others?) That is:  we want to go from a "list of traits" (previous step) to a grasp of the "structure of traits" that comprise the protagonist's character.
[We need to do this in order, in turn, to =>]
(2) formulate a conception of the character of the protagonist before this moment.  
[To do this we need to]

go through the same process as before.

[Having done (1) and (2) above, we are now on a footing to =>] 
compare and contrast our conception of the protagonist's character before and after the climax 
[in order to enable us to =>]
(3) decide whether the protagonist is a static or a dynamic character [i.e., apply Criterion 1] 
[in order to =>]
(4) decide whether this state of affairs counts as good or bad [i.e., apply Criterion 2].  
[This puts us on a footing to =>]

(A) classify the plot in terms of the characterization of the protagonist -- i.e., say whether we have an instance of Trial or temptation withstood OR Challenge failed (Stagnation) OR Progress (Growth) OR Fall (or Degradation).  [Now we are ready to =>]

(B) explain how this choice of plot type helps serve the story's overall theme.  
[To do this we need to]
form and state some notion of the issues we figure the story is designed to get us to think about by getting us to imaginatively saturate ourselves in the protagonist's predicament and to reflect on the implications of his/her deliberate or default choices.
[Only when we've done this will we be on a footing to =>]

figure out one or more ways in which the story's plot type helps to put these issues on the table.

Let's pause to consider what we've done.

We broke the assigned task down into its logical elements (its constituent tasks) and 

we got clear about how these tasks logically relate to each other.

Doing this two-fold analysis of the topic, in other words, provides you with a checklist for critically reading your latest draft, with a view to discovering opportunities for making it more systematic and complete, and (as a consequence) more deeply insightful.

In the meanwhile, it enables you to devise a provisional scheme for organizing your initial drafts.

Designing a provisional scheme of organization for your essay

Once we have a clear idea of all the things we need to do, and of how they logically relate to each other, we're in a position to figure out various broad ways that it might make sense to organize the essay we'll eventually end up with.  Here's a simple and straightforward one that might be a good one to work with at least at the outset.

Introduction 
Typical function:  to generate the question that the thesis of your essay is the answer to, and then state that claim.

How (here):  

Briefly (!!!) summarize the plot of the story (implicitly raising the question, "what sort of plot type do we have here?"), and then

conclude your introduction with a statement of your thesis.  Examples:

  • "We have here a plot of the "fall" type -- an apt choice in light of the story's theme."
  • "Reflecting on this plot -- in which the protagonist withstands a difficult test or trial -- leads us to take stock of the story's theme."
  • "In this plot, the protagonist ends up changing in a way that we find admirable, and if we start thinking through why we feel this way, we start to come to grips with issues that probably led X to write the story in the first place."
  • "The protagonist here fails realize what the real root of her problem with her family is.  When we start to notice why -- and why we find this funny, rather than tragic -- we begin to get clearer about the story's overall theme."
Body 
Typical function:  to explain (clarify) and demonstrate/defend your thesis.

How (here):

Show why the plot of the story is of the type you claimed it to be.

Explain how the protagonist is a dynamic or a static character, as the case may be

How:  Compare/contrast the protagonist's character at the outset with his/her outset after the climax.

Show how this state of affairs redounds to the credit or to the discredit of the protagonist.

Explain your answer.

Explain how this choice of plot type helps raise the issues that you see the story as designed to put on the table.

Lay out what you see as the thematic concerns that strike you as having motivated the construction of the story.

    Explain how this choice of plot type helps to raise these issues.

Conclusion 
Typical function:  to indicate the importance of the thesis (now proved) by explaining some difference the thesis makes.  (I.e., raise the question "so what?" about the thesis.)
Here:  no need to do this, since an overall thesis of the form we've been working with in this hypothetical organizational scheme already contains within it a component about the significance of its kernel component.

An alternative way of organizing your carrying out of the overall task imposed in the assignment would be to assign different parts of it to the thesis and conclusion.

The introduction would introduce your thesis by  briefly summarizing the plot of the story, and then concluding with a statement of your thesis.  But in this scheme, your thesis would cover only part of the overall task of the assignment.  Examples:

  • "We have here a plot of the "fall" type."
  • "Here the protagonist withstands a difficult test or trial."
  • "In this plot, the protagonist ends up changing in a way that we find admirable."
  • "The reader understands that the protagonist fails to realize what the real root of her problem with her family is."

The body would then have the task of clarifying and defending this more limited thesis, by explaining how the protagonist is a dynamic or static character (as the case may be), and showing how the story solicits our evaluation of this state of affairs.

The conclusion would complete the assigned task by explaining what the significance of this authorial decision regarding plot type is.  (That is:  it raises the question "so what?" about the thesis just demonstrated.)  It would do this by laying out what you see as the more general issues the story seems to be designed to get us to think about, and by explaining how in particular this choice of plot pattern contributes to raising or framing these.

You may also find it profitable to work your way through the corresponding feedback memo for the other topic option on the out-of-class essay.