Literary Project for Grade 12 (25%)

Type of the Literature: Prose Fiction

Project Title: Literary Analysis

Type of the Project: Group Assignment

Points: 20 points for the writing and 5 points for the presentation

Title of the Book: Things Fall Apart

Author: Chinua Achebe

Links: http://marul.ffst.hr/~bwillems/fymob/things.pdf

https://mrskrabill.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/5/1/21518086/things_fall_apart--full_text.pdf

Literary Elements (to be analyzed): Characterization, Setting, Point of View, Plot, Theme

Figures of Speech (to be analyzed): Personification, Irony, Simile, Metaphor, Oxymoron,

Symbolism, Hyperbole

Date of Submission: January 4, 2022

Instruction: Read the aforementioned book and take your notes based on the following guiding
questions. Then make literary analysis using the elements and the figures of speech in your
respective groups. The project report should not be less than ten and more than fifteen pages.
Every student has to read and contribute to the project. Different strategies such as randomized
crosscheck will be made to assess your reading and writing. Aside from this project, your
planned and final exams will include questions regarding Things Fall Apart.

Guiding Questions

1. What are major events of the story? What main conflicts occurred throughout the story?

2. How was the setting (time, place and social context) presented in the story? (What time, at
which place and what kind of society)

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3. How do the characters change throughout the story? Who is the protagonist? Who is the
antagonist? Was there other kind of character? Describe.

4. What point of view used in the story? Why do you think the author choose this?

5. What is the central idea or the main focus of the story?

6. What figures of speech situated in the story? Which figure(s) of speech do you think frequent
throughout the story? Why do you think the author did this?

I. What is Prose in Literature?

Prose in literature refers to any written work that follows a basic grammatical structure. Prose
simply means language that follows the natural patterns found in everyday speech. The two main
types of prose in written literature are fictional and non-fictional. Kinds of prose include novels,
short stories, essays, letters, editorials, articles, and journals.

II. Elements of Fiction

1. Characterization is a means by which writers present and reveal characters – by direct

description, by showing the character in action, or by the presentation of other characters
who help to define each other.
1.1 Characters in fiction can be conveniently classified as major and minor, static and dynamic.
A major character is an important figure at the center of the story’s action or theme. The
major character is sometimes called a protagonist whose conflict with an antagonist may
spark the story’s conflict. Supporting the major character are one or more secondary or minor
characters whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters. Minor characters are
often static or unchanging: they remain the same from the beginning of a work to the end.
Dynamic characters, on the other hand, exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose,
behavior, as the story progresses.
2. Plot the action element in fiction, is the arrangement of events that make up a story. Many
fictional plots turn on a conflict, or struggle between opposing forces, that is usually resolved
by the end of the story. Typical fictional plots begin with an exposition, that provides
background information needed to make sense of the action, describes the setting, and
introduces the major characters; these plots develop a series of complications or
intensifications of the conflict that lead to a crisis or moment of great tension. The conflict
may reach a climax or turning point, a moment of greatest tension that fixes the outcome;
then, the action falls off as the plot’s complications are sorted out and resolved (the

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 resolution or dénouement). Be aware, however, that much of twentieth-century fiction does
not exhibit such strict formality of design.
3. Point of view refers to who tells the story and how it is told. The possible ways of telling a
story are many, and more than one point of view can be worked into a single story. However,
the various points of view that storytellers draw upon can be grouped into two broad
categories:
3.1 Third-Person Narrator(uses pronouns he, she, or they):
A. Omniscient: The narrator is all-knowing and takes the reader inside the characters’
thoughts, feelings, and motives, as well as shows what the characters say and do.
B. Limited omniscient: The narrator takes the reader inside one (or at most very few
characters) but neither the reader nor the character(s) has access to the inner lives of any
of the other characters in the story.
C. Objective: The narrator does not see into the mind of any character; rather he or she
reports the action and dialogue without telling the reader directly what the characters feel
and think.
3.2 First-Person Narrator (uses pronoun I):
The narrator presents the point of view of only one character’s consciousness, which limits

the narrative to what the first-person narrator knows, experiences, infers, or can find out by

talking to other characters.

4. Setting is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. The major
elements of setting are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the
characters. These elements establish the world in which the characters act. Sometimes the
setting is lightly sketched, presented only because the story has to take place somewhere and
at some time. Often, however, the setting is more important, giving the reader the feel of the
people who move through it. Setting can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that will
prepare the reader for what is to come.
5. Style is the way a writer chooses words (diction), arranges them in sentences and longer units
of discourse (syntax) and exploits their significance. Style is the verbal identity of a writer, as
unmistakable as his or her face or voice. Reflecting their individuality, writers’ styles convey
their unique ways of seeing the world.
6. Theme is the central idea or meaning of a story. Theme in fiction is rarely presented at all; it
is abstracted from the details of character and action that compose the story. It provides a
unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other
elements of a story are organized. Be careful to distinguish theme from plot – the story’s
sequence of actions – and from subject – what the story is generally about.

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7. Tone is the author’s implicit attitude toward the reader, subject, and/or the people, places,
and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style. Tone may be
characterized as serious or ironic, sad or happy, private of public, angry or affectionate, bitter
or nostalgic, or any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience.

III. Figures of Speech

1. Personification: Personification is a technique of giving human qualities to non-human

objects. Example: Lightning danced across the sky.

2. Irony: Irony always involves a contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another. The
contrast may be between what is said and what is meant (verbal irony), what is expected to
happen and what actually happens (situational irony) or between what a character believes or
says and what the reader understands to be true (dramatic irony).

3. Simile: A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects or concepts
are expressly compared with one another through the use of “like” or “as.” Simile is used as a
literary device to assert similarity with the help of like or as, which are language constructs that
establish equivalency.

4. Metaphor: A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike
things. As a literary device, metaphor creates implicit comparisons without use of “like” or “as.”
Metaphor is a means of asserting that two things are identical in comparison rather than just
similar.

5. Oxymoron: An oxymoron is a figure of speech: a creative approach to language that plays

with meaning and the use of words in a non-literal sense. This literary device combines words
with contradictory definitions to coin a new word or phrase. The word is derived from two Greek
words, namely “oxus” (sharp) and “moros” (dull). Common oxymoron examples include “pretty
ugly,” “only choice,” and “same difference.”

6. Symbolism: Symbolism can be an object, person, situation, event or action that has a deeper
meaning in the overall context beyond a surface understanding. When used properly, it can
enhance a piece of writing and provide further insight to the reader.

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7. Hyperbole: Is a figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic

effect.