The University of Maryland

David Norris

The Critical 11:

                   1.  Setting--Where does the story take place?  This includes time.  For example:  Death Valley in the wintertime. 

2.  Mood--What is the prevailing feeling of the story as you, the reader, perceive it?  Is everything calm, or is there some sort of underlying tension in the air?

3.  Atmosphere--Setting plus mood equals atmosphere.  We could have the oppressive atmosphere of a prison on a hot, humid summer day.  Atmosphere is inside the story; tone is outside of it.

4.  Tone--This is the attitude of the author, as the reader infers it, in the work.  Have you ever spoken to a friend and asked, "What was her tone of voice when she said it?  Was she sad?  Was she angry?"  We look at an author's tone the same way.  Do not confuse tone with atmosphere.  The tone in our oppressive pow camp might be one of compassion.  We often see opposite feelings juxtaposed for effect.  It hurts more to cry after we have laughed, and the combination of the two can make us wonder at the absurdity of a situation or question our own values.

5.  Point of View--Who is telling the story?  Rarely is it the author; usually it is an assumed pov, an assumed eye and mind known as a persona.  Here are some pov's we frequently see:

               1.  First-person: participant or observer

               2.  Second-person 

                                  3.  Third-person omniscient 

                                  4.  Third-person selective omniscient 

                                  5.  Third-person objective, aka "fly-on-the-wall

Omniscient can record the minds of all the characters, selective omniscient can enter the minds of some of the characters but not all of them, and fly-on-the-wall cannot read the minds of anyone.

6.  Story--For most critics, story is the sequence in which the events occur as parts of a happening.  It is a chronological narration of those events.

7.  Plot--This is the sequence in which the author arranges the events.  Our narrative may open with a man and a woman standing beside a river, but the story began earlier in a hotel lobby where they first met.  Always stop to consider whether plot parallels story and if that aspect is significant or not.

8.  Character--What are the personalities of the people in the story?  Are they brave, cowardly, rude, bashful, impassioned, wise, foolish, etc.  Most often the outcome of a story is the plausible result of a character's personality.

9.  Motivation--Why do the characters behave the way they do?  What drives them:  greed, insecurity, conceit, love, loneliness, fear of the unknown?  Ad infinitum.

10.  Conflict--This is where we get tension.  Usually in a  story, we have a protagonist who strives to attain some goal, whether it be a large or small one.  And usually, something gets in the way:  fate, the supernatural, or the antagonist.

11.  Theme--What is the message of the work; what is its meaning?  Is there a certain idea, attitude, or perception expanded upon in the work?

 Closely related to theme are motifs and leitmotifs:

 Motif--a recurring phrase, situation, object, or idea that occurs in various artistic works. 

Examples in literature are rites of passage, unrequited love, man against woman, nature in conflict with technology, the disappearance of the American frontier.

Leitmotif--a recurring thematic element within a work, which through its repetition lends unity to the piece