Understanding Short Stories

5 Important Elements of a Short Story

A short story is a short work of fiction. As you know, fiction is prose writing about imagined events and characters. Prose writing differs from poetry in that its organization and presentation are independent of verses, meters, or rhymes.

Novels are another example of fictional prose and are much longer than short stories. Some short stories, however, can be pretty long. If a short story is a long one, say fifty to one hundred pages, we call it a novella.

American literature contains some of the world's best examples of the short story. Readers worldwide enjoy the finely crafted stories of American writers such as O. Henry, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Mark Twain, and Edgar Allen Poe.

What makes these authors such remarkable short story writers? They are masters at combining the five key elements into every great short story: character, setting, conflict, plot, and theme.

Before viewing the video "The Story of an Hour." read Kate Chopin's short story, which will be analyzed. 

"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin is about Louise Mallard, a woman in a traditional Victorian marriage who receives the news that her husband was killed in an accident. After her grief subsides, she begins to see opportunity and freedom in her future.

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O'Flaherty; February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904), an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background, such as Zelda Fitzgerald, and she is one of the more frequently read and recognized writers of Louisiana Creole heritage. She is best known today for her 1899 novel The Awakening.

From 1892 to 1895, Chopin wrote short stories for children and adults that were published in national magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, The Century Magazine, and The Youth's Companion. Her stories aroused controversy because of her subjects and approach; some critics condemned them as immoral.

Her major works were two short story collections and two novels. The collections are Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Chopin also wrote two novels, At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), set in New Orleans and Grand Isle. The characters in her stories are usually residents of Louisiana, and many are Creoles of various ethnic or racial backgrounds.

Five Elements of Fiction: Plot, Setting, Character, Point of View, and Theme

Analysis of a Short Story- Including an Analysis of "The Story of an Hour"

To view the video transcript, click HERE.