Having knowledge about different literary elements is essential for a reader to have. Readers with this knowledge are able to understand the depths and complexities of different stories. Without these elements, it is impossible for a story to exist.
Characters are the first piece of the complicated pieces of literature. They are what bring the story to life, as well as what makes the story progress and move. They can be static and dynamic, and learn lessons as the story moves along. Without characters, it would be very difficult for a story to have a moral or lesson to be learned by the readers.
Characters can also give the story a point of view, which is another crucial literary element. A story can be told from the perspective of one of its characters, a first person narrative. With this perspective, the audience only knows as much as the character in the story and is subjected to the story’s events with a character’s prejudices, morals, and beliefs attached to them. A story can also come from a third person view, with an all knowing narrator that can let the audience in on the character’s innermost thoughts and feelings, as well as tell the audience about events the characters in the story do not yet know about. Know the point of view that the story is being told from is crucial for the reader- it tells them a lot about how the story is being presented and will prompt them to make decisions on what to believe.
Time, when used in storytelling, is a powerful tool. It can speed up a character’s development, and it can draw out important actions taking place for effect. Time also affects the characters, and can give back story and depth to them, as is shown commonly in flashbacks. Time can also instill feelings in the reader, such as suspense. For example, when an author draws out the most climatic scene within the story; it makes that section of the text a real page turner.
Knowing the place in which a story takes place means a lot more than just the geographical location, it can also mean the period a story takes place in as well as make a story believable. The place in which the characters of a story interact can tell the reader a lot about the characters that they might not be finding out through just their interaction. Simply put, the place in which a character interacts with within a story can give the readers ideas as to what their motives, morals, and values are without even knowing about the characters.
Plot is a very obvious literary element that readers need to know in order to make sense of a story. It is the sequence of events that the story’s characters experience, causing then to go through dynamic changes. Without a plot there is no story. A book would just contain a bunch of characters in various places doing nothing.
Mood, as I am going to describe it, is the result of all of the literary elements put together. The mood of a story is the feeling that it imposes on the reader. A story’s plot, characters, setting, etc, all contributes to the mood of a story. Those elements stimulate the imagination and put an image in the reader’s head. For a reader to understand the mood of a story means that the reader understands the way the language interacts with the setting and characters and creates a feeling for the reader to feel and tie in with the events taking place.
Symbols are incredibly important for readers to understand while reading stories. Symbols can help to develop the story’s tension and resolution, as well as put the reader in touch with a meaning that is not directly stated within the text. Things like color are commonly used as symbols, and can tell a reader a lot about a character. For example, a character wearing white may be interpreted as being a pure character, but a character wearing red may be interpreted as a lustful character with bad intentions. If a reader can tap into these different kinds of hidden meanings, they will be able to take away much more from the story and learn more about its characters and their motives.
Last but not least, theme is the culmination of all these different literary elements. It pulls from the plot, characters, setting, symbols, etc. The theme of a story is the main topic of story and what the author has to say about it. If a reader does not know how to use all the literary elements put together, they will not be able to fully understand the true meaning and theme of the story; which, when you really think about it, is the entire point of reading a book.
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