week 02 (02/22)

TAKE NOTES:

1.What is the difference between a protagonist and an antagonist?

  

In classical and traditional literature, the protagonist is the main character of the story while the antagonist is the character or group of characters who oppose the protagonist. Both words come from the Greek language, "protagonist" means first combatant, and "antagonist" means opponent or competitor. In the simplest terms, the antagonist is the bad guy to the protagonist's good guy.

In literature, the antagonist may oppose the protagonist physically, as in battle or a fight, in a clash of wills or rivalry. In some cases, however, the delineation between protagonist and antagonist is not always as clear. There may be times when the antagonist may in fact be the protagonist, a character who fights against their own emotions, desires and inner conflicts. Examples of such characters include William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus."

2.What are protagonists versus antagonists in literature?

In many stories, the line between hero and villain is not clear-cut. In some cases, a story has no clear-cut antagonist. Sometimes, it is a situation or an inner conflict that stands in opposition to a protagonist, rather than another single character. The main character of a story may not be heroic or admirable, and yet that person is still regarded as the protagonist. The word "protagonist" comes from the Ancient Greek word "protagonistes," meaning "one who plays the first part."

A protagonist is the main character in a work of fiction, while the antagonist is the person who stands in opposition to the protagonist. The protagonist is sometimes referred to as the hero of the story, while the antagonist is often referred to as the villain.

3.What is the meaning of the word antagonist?

An antagonist typically contrasts the protagonist's qualities and provides conflict for him. The antagonist is critical for a story's plot development, climax and story resolution because of his contradiction to the main character. In some cases, the antagonist can also be the protagonist if the character causes his own moral or inner conflict. Some examples of antagonists in a story are President Snow to Katniss in the "Hunger Games" series, the Joker in "Batman" and Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars."

4.What are major and minor characters?

The major characters of a story are the protagonist, who is central to the main plot, and the characters around whom the various subplots revolve. The minor characters are comprised of all the other characters in the story who are of lesser importance. Minor characters generally serve a purpose as a plot device or as part of the setting, and once that purpose has been served, the reader generally does not expect to encounter them again, whereas the reader always expects to encounter major characters again until the resolution of conflict has been achieved.
These major characters are more complex and conflicted than minor characters, displaying nuanced personalities which evolve over time, rather than the mostly static and stereotypical personalities of minor characters. Minor characters are often stereotypical and two-dimensional because this ensures that they do not stand out or draw too much of the reader's attention, making them easily forgettable.

5.What is a plot in a short story?

Story writing and storytelling revolve around the details of a story. Instead of simply writing the facts of a story, a writer must work to make the events happen in a way that makes sense according to how the characters function. For example, a story that simply says an older person died and his wife died shorty after is not a true story. A story that says an older man died and his wife soon died of grief gives an answer to the reason behind why the wife died. The way that a plot is organized is dependent on the type of short story that is written. Writers can choose to lay out the plot in the beginning of the story, allowing readers to have insight into the characters' lives throughout the story. Mystery writers often choose to leave specific plot details out until the end or the middle of the story to help keep readers guessing and to keep the mystery of the story alive.
The plot that is contained within a short story is the reason why the characters in the short story do the things that they do. It is a sequence of casual events that occur that are able to answer the questions about why the characters make the decisions they make and do their physical actions.

6.Round vs Flat, Static vs Dynamic?

Round characters are revealed to have many different sides or characteristics. Flat characters are sort of monotone (good, bad, mean, etc.) and aren't revealed in depth to the audience. 

Dynamic vs. Static Characters Characters experience varying amounts of change over the course of a story. Two types of characters are

 • Static characters that do not experience basic character changes during the course of the story.
   Static characters stay the same throughout the plot; they don't change their ideals, thoughts, or      beliefs. 

• Dynamic characters that experience changes throughout the plot of a story. Although the change  may be sudden, it is expected based on the story’s events. A story’s characters fall within a range—  from very static characters that experience no change to very dynamic characters that undergo one or  more major changes. 
 Dynamic characters change throughout the plot; the can go from holding one idea (maybe believing  in God) to another idea (to not believing in God).

7.Raymond Carver  瑞蒙·卡佛

1938–1988

Raymond Carver was one of a handful of contemporary short story writers credited with reviving what was once thought of as a dying literary form. His stories mainly take place in his native Pacific Northwest region; Carver was born into a poverty-stricken family at the tail-end of the Depression. The son of a violent alcoholic, he married at 19, started a series of menial jobs and his own career of 'full-time drinking as a serious pursuit', a career that would eventually kill him. Constantly struggling to support his wife and family, Carver enrolled in a writing programme under author John Gardner in 1958. He saw this opportunity as a turning point.

Rejecting the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s, he pioneered a precisionist realism reinventing the American short story during the eighties, heading the line of so-called 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists'. Set in trailer parks and shopping malls, they are stories of banal lives that turn on a seemingly insignificant detail. Carver writes with meticulous economy, suddenly bringing a life into focus in a similar way to the paintings of Edward Hopper. As well as being a master of the short story, he was an accomplished poet publishing several highly acclaimed volumes.

After the 'line of demarcation' in Carver's life - 2 June 1977, the day he stopped drinking - his stories become increasingly more redemptive and expansive. Alcohol had eventually shattered his health, his work and his family - his first marriage effectively ending in 1978. He finally married his long-term parter Tess Gallagher (they met ten years earlier at a writers' conference in Dallas) in Reno less than two months before he eventually lost his fight with cancer.