Short story

• form of prose narrative that contains a clearly developed plot, but it is shorter than a novel. A short story has limited characters and settings.

Novel

• is fiction. It is a prose narrative that is longer than the short story and has a plot that unfolds through the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters. A novel has many different characters, many settings.

Author

• is the person who writes the story or the novel.

Narrator

• is the person who is telling the story. The narrator can be the first person or third person.
• The first-person narrator uses “I, we, us” while the third-person narrator uses “he, she, they”.
• The narrator can be female, male, or even a child. The author selects the type of narrator, and the selection of the narrator is important to the way that the story is told. Additionally, the choice of narrator impacts the reader’s interpretation of the plot of the story.

Characters

• The people in the story. Characters are not always human. 

Setting

• refers to the place, time, and atmosphere (weather and mood) in which the events occur.

Plot

• the events that happen in the story. Some main plots have subplots.
• The plot contains the Exposition, the Rising action, the Climax, the Falling action, and the Resolution.

Resolution

• the solution to the problems or the conflict in the story

Themes

• the issues or topics that are highlighted by the writer.

Motif

• recurring theme or idea in the entire story.

Conflict

• struggle between opposite ideas or forces in a story. the conflict is connected to the protagonist or the main character.

Types of conflict in a story

• Man versus Society
• Man versus Man
• Man versus Self
• Man versus Nature

CSEC prescribed list of Short Stories

1. “Berry”
2. “Raymond’s Run”
3. “The Day the World Almost Came to an End”
4. “The Two Grand Mothers”
5. “The Man of the House”
6. “Shabine”
7. “To Da- duh in Memoriam”
8. “Mom Luby and the Social Worker”
9. “Emma”
10. “Georgia and them there United States”
11. Min Tea
12. Black Out
13. Blood Brothers
14. The Boy who loved ice cream

THEMES

Childhood Experiences

Family Relationship

Friendship

Racism, Racial Prejudice, Class Prejudice Discrimination, and Struggles

Poverty

Religion

Women in society/ The treatment of women

The Role of the Elderly

Death/Dying