【正文】 i ndi cates our i nterpretati on and t hus ar r angem ent of t he happeni ngs. In t he worl d of r ealit y event s t ake place one aft er anot her i n t he nat ur al tem por al order , but i n the wor ld of fi cti on i t is the novel ist‘s desi gn t hat one part icul ar event occur af ter anot her part icul ar event. The ver y wor d ―pl ot ‖ im pl ies the novel ist ‘s r ebel li on agai nst he nat ural aw and hi s endeavor t o m ake m eani ngs out of t he happeni ngs that may ot her wi se be meaningl es. ―The happeni ngs‖ may or may not be real happenings.( So what pl ot i s ) A pl ot is a part icul ar ar angement of happenings i n a novel that i s aimed at r eveali ng t heir causal r elati onshi ps or at conveying the novel ist ‘s i deas. A pl ot i s ometi mes cal ed a st or y li ne. The most im port ant of t he tr adit ional pl ot i s t hat it shoul d be a pl et e or uni fi ed act ion, t hat i s, somet hi ng wit h a beginni ng, a m iddl e, and an end. 3. The dr amati c sit uati on i n a st or y. 4. The three part s of a plot: a beginni ng ( exposit ion) , a mi ddl e (suspense or a seri es of suspense … .f or eshadowi ng… cr isis –a m oment of hi gh t ension) , and an end( a cl imax, t he mom ent of great est tension… the concl usion—fal ing acti on, resol uti on or denouem ent) . Pl ot abeginni ng a mi ddle an end exposi ti on some other events cl imax (t he mom ent (suspense, a seri es of suspense, of gr eatest tensi on, f or eshadowing, crisis) t he conclusi onf al li ng act ion, r esol ut ion or denouement ) I. Read the st ori es of ?Rip Van Wi nkl e‘( Washingt on Ir vi ng) and ?David Swan‘ ( Nathani el Hawt hor ne) II. Q uesti ons: ( Fi ni sh r eading the t wo st ori es and poi nt out t he pl ots of the t wo st ori es, t he descri pti ve details, t he exposit on, charact er s) Rip Van Winkl e 1. Descri pt ive detail s: t he pl ot of the st or y? 2. What par t of the st or y sems l ike the exposit ion? 3. Wher e does t he dram at ic confl ict? 4. What i s the cli max of t he st ory? David Swan 5. the pl ot of the st or y? 6. How f ul ly does the aut hor dr aw the char act er s i n the st or y? ( Charact er t raits are t he quali ti es of a char acter‘ s personalit y. They are r eveal ed t hr ough a char act er‘ s acti ons and words and t hr ough descri pt ion) . 7. More works to do: somet hi ng about t he wr it er s of the t wo stori es. Chapt er Two Charact er I n t he i nt roducti on we have sai d t hat fi ct ion is an im age of peopl e i n acti on, m ovi ng t owards an undecl ared end. Thus char acter i s al ways invol ved in fi ct ion, even i n t he st or y of t he sim pl est acti on. Sometim es charact er i s at the cent er of our interest because in char act er we may se m any f acet s of t he people we m eet in our dail y l if e and even of our sel ves. Fi ct ional charact er i s al ways char acter in acti on and the charact er get s i nto acti on because it i s caught i n a si tuat ion of confl ict and he/she i s al ways pr ovi ded wit h m ot ivat ion: he/ she has suf fi ci ent r easons to act or behave as he /she does. The charact er is doi ng som et hi ng and the reader whil e readi ng fi ct ion wants t o know t he ―why‖ as wel as t he ―what ‖ of the af fair s. ( Som et imes a char act er‘ s mot ive for an acti on is not expl ai ned on accept abl e gr ounds, f or example, t he vil lain i n Adgar Al lan Poe‘ st or y ―The Tel l Tale Hear t,‖ and t hus t he r eader feel s cheat ed. I n this case, t he wri ter of det ecti ve fi ct ion who m akes t he crim inal am ere lunati c has cheat ed t he r eader by avoiding the pr obl em of m oti ve. ) And general y, the acti on i tsel f i s humanl y si gnif icant and it ends usual y i n a shi ft i n or cl ar if cati on of human val ues, as di splayed i n John Updi ke‘ s ―A amp。 P, ‖ and the m ot ivat ion of a charact er i n a st or y—one of t he answers to t he questi on ―why‖—is of fundam ental i mpor tance. I. What is Charact er? Closel y r el at ed wi th t he story i s t he char acter. Henr y Jam es sai d, “What is character but he det ermi nati on of i ncident ? What i s i nci dent but he il ust rati on of character?‖ (The Art of Ficti on‖) When we read a novel, we read about our fel ow beings, and t hat i s one of t he m oti ves in r eadi ng at al l. The “fel ow bei ngs” i n the novel is t erm ed char acters. By “fel ow bei ngs” i s meant not only “human beings” but also “other bei ngs, ” such as animals . Gee Orwel l uses anim al s to r epresent hum an bei ngs i n hi s novel Ani mal Farm. Lewis Car ol cr eat es m any l ovel y animal s i n hi s Ali ce’s Advent ures i n Wonderland that appeal to bot h chil dr en and adults. Orwel does not i nt end to convince the reader t hat animals can s peak human language or t hat he is a translat or betwen ani mal s and humans. No sensible reader, aft er readi ng Orwel l‘s Animal Farm, woul d go t o the pi gsty t o look f or a t al ki ng boar . This proves the agreed on f icti onal it y of charact er s in novels. So broadly, a character i s an i nvented personal ity t o resemble but never to equal a real person in li fe. I t i s not di fi cult t o see that charact er s in novels resemble people in r eal lif e in many ways. They have names used in t he same way our s are used, they have hat red and love, and t hey have desi res and fears. Above al, they act the way we act or t he way we can under st and (l ike or disli ke). But we must bear in mind that he char acters are not r eal persons, but merely i nvent ions, however ingenious. Compare t he physical li fe and spi ri tual li fe of the characters and ours. We have t o answer the nature‘s cal several tim es a day, but char acters sel dom do this, even i n the most real istic or naturali st ic novels. We have to l ive our li fe hour by hour and day