Unit One: Descriptive and Narrative Prose

What is Descriptive Prose?• Introduces characters and setting• It creates suspense or sustains a mood• It gives a picture of something essential

to a piece of literature• Awakens our senses• Explores the qualities of people, places,

things, or events• It calls on us to respond physically and

emotionally

Narrative Prose• Prose that tells a story

• Includes setting• Includes plot• Includes character

• Introduction• One or more complications• Climax• Conclusion

Descriptive Prose• Prose that describes characters or setting

or both

Narrator’s Point of View• The narrator is the story’s teller• The narrator’s angle of vision or

perspective affects the story’s telling• First person• Omniscient• Limited omniscient• Objective point of view or shifting point of

view• May be gendered

First Person Point of View• Use of I or me

− “I saw” or “I heard”• Storyteller is one of the characters

− main character or − Minor character

• Storyteller is inside the story

p. 104

Third Person Point of View

• Use of he or she• Storyteller is an observer• Storyteller is outside the story• Free to introduce information to the

reader where and when they choose

p. 105

Types of Third Person Point of View• Omniscient Point of View, p. 105

• Use of he or she• Storyteller is godlike observing all• Storyteller is above the events

• Limited Omniscient• Inside the head of usually one

character--“limited” to one

Shifting Point of View• Point of view can shift from one

character to another• As an interpreter, recognize this shift

so you can make it clear to your audience.

• Point of view can be from an objective third party

p. 108

The Gender of Narration

• Does the narrator’s voice have gender qualities? How can make this clear to an audience?

• Do male and female narrators speak differently? How can I distinguish this for an audience?

p. 111

Narrative Prose• Plot, p. 103• Setting, p. 103• Motivation

• What does your character want?• What makes your character do what he/she

does?• Character Placement, p. 115

• Diagram where each character looks whenever he/she speaks