LITERARY ELEMENTS IN THE SHORT STORY

In this coursework, we had decided to select a short story entitled The Nightingale written by Hans Christian Andersen. After analysing the story, we had identified the literary elements in the short story, such as theme, plot, setting, characters, moral values and literary devices. Apart from that, we also identified the writers mood and opinions. Theme

The theme for this short story is greed. It is clearly shown by the selfish desire for wealth and possessions by the Emperor. He is rich and has almost everything that people ever wanted. But still, he never felt contented with what he has.

Plot 1) Exposition The story began with the introduction of the emperors kingdom. His kingdom is admired by many travellers from every country in the world. So, some of the travellers wrote books describing all the wonderful things in the emperors kingdom. Some of the books came into the emperors hand. Consequently, the emperor learned that the greatest wonder in his kingdom is the nightingale. Therefore, he ordered for it to be brought to him. 2) Rising Action The poor little girl who works at the palaces kitchen is the only one who knows the whereabouts of the nightingale. Therefore, the lord-in waiting asks for her help. She is willing to help him and brought him to the forest where the nightingale is. After the nightingale is found, the lord-in waiting asks for her presence in the court. The nightingale agrees and appears at the court and delighted the emperor. The emperor is so fond of her and decided to keep the nightingale in captivity.

3) Climax The emperor of Japan, who has heard of the nightingale, sent a bejeweled mechanical nightingale to the emperor. The emperor is fascinated by it and therefore loses interest in the real nightingale. Consequently, the real nightingale escapes to the forest and is banished from the empire. 4) Falling Action To the emperors astonishment, his beloved bejeweled mechanical nightingale eventually breaks down due to overuse. This has caused great sorrow to the emperor. Five years later, the emperor falls ill and is not expected to live. 5) Resolutions As the emperor is dying, the real nightingale learns of the empero rs condition. The nightingale decided to return to the palace and sing to the emperor. Due to the real nightingale, the dying emperor is now recovered.

The emperor received a bejeweled mechanical nightingale and fascinated by it and therefore, he loses interest in the real nightingale. The real nightingale escapes to the forest.

The nightingale appears at the court and delighted the emperor. The emperor kept the nightingale in captivity. The emperor heard that the greatest wonder in his kingdom is the nightingale. He orders for it to be brought to him.

The bejeweled mechanical nightingale breaks down due to overuse. The emperor falls ill.

The real nightingale learns of the emperors condition and returns to the palace. The emperor recovers.
Diagram 1 : Plot of the story

Setting o The setting of a short story is the time, place and society in which it happens. Authors often use descriptions of landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting (Wheeler, 2010). For the time setting, it comprises of evening, night, morning, Sunday, five years later and a year later. As for the place setting, the event in the story took place in China, palace, garden, forest, the city of the empire, palaces kitchen, sea-shore as well as the palaces court. The society setting on the other hand consists of Chinese community, peasant, learned men, palaces workers, music lovers and noblemen.

Characters The main characters of this short story are the emperor as the antagonist and the nightingale as the protagonist. There are many minor characters in this short story that made the story even interesting to read. The minor characters are the lord-inwaiting, artificial nightingale, poor little girl, the footmen & chambermaids, fishermen, gardener, travellers, the emperor of Japan, the Imperial nightingale-bringer-in-chief, the music-master ,royal physician and watchmaker. The most interesting character in this short story is Death which is an entity which tries to take away the emperors life.

Moral values Moral values refer to the lessons that can be learned from a story. It also depicts the good habit that must be followed in daily life. There are many moral values that can be found from this story. The first one is to always feel contented with what we have. This value is contrary to the emperor because he never felt contented with what he has even though he has almost everything that people ever wanted. The next moral value is to appreciate what we have before it is too late. We as human beings should

appreciate everything that we have in life because we never know how significant something is to our lives until we lost them. Apart from that, we should also be kind to people. By being kind to others, it will help in creating a good rapport. Not only that, people also tend to love being around with us. Therefore, being kind is indeed a good habit to be followed in daily life. Besides, we also need to know that there are more important things in life than wealth and possession. There are many valuable things in life compared to wealth and possession. For example, family, trust and etc. Lastly, we should also never let greed for riches control us. It is important to get in mind that by being greedy, it will cause a lot of negative consequences as greed is self-destructive and self-harmful.

Literary Devices Literary devices refers to specific aspects of literature, in the sense of its universal function as an art form which expresses ideas through language, which we can recognize, identify, interpret and/or analyze (Ellogovna, 2012). Literary devices collectively comprise the art forms components as well as the means by which authors create meaning through language. Literary devices also help readers to gain understanding of and appreciation for their works. It also provides a conceptual framework for comparing individual literary works to others. The literary devices found in the short story are imagery, personification, onomatopoeia, polysyndeton, simile, hyperbole and metaphor. As for imagery, it refers to the use of words and phrases to create mental images for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize and therein more realistically experience the authors writings (Literary Devices, 2010). In the short story, the example can be found in the excerpt as follows:The emperors palace was the most beautiful in the world. It w as built entirely of porcelain, and very costly, but so delicate and brittle that whoever touched it was obliged to be careful. In the garden could be seen the most singular flowers, with pretty silver bells tied to

them, which tinkled so that everyone who passed could not help noticing the flowers. Indeed, everything in the emperors garden was remarkable..

For personification, it refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals. In the short story, the example can be found in the excerpt as follows:gain imperial favor by your charming song.

Onomatopoeia is a literary device that refers to sound words whose pronunciation to the actual sound/noise they represent (Literary Devices, 2010). In other words, it refers to words whose very sound is very close to the sound they are meant to depict. An example of it can be found in the following excerpt:The street-boys sang, Zi-zi-zi, cluck, cluck, cluck,

As for polysyndeton, it refers to the process of using conjunctions or connecting words frequently in a sentence, placed very close to one another, as opposed to the usual norm of using them sparsely, only where they are technically needed (Literary Devices, 2010). An example of it can be found in the following excerpt:And as she sung, the emperor fell into a sweet sleep; and how mild and refreshing that slumber was! For simile, it refers to the practice of drawing parallels or comparisons between two unrelated and dissimilar things, people, beings, places and concepts. By using simile, the reader will be able to understand the sentiment the author wishes to convey better. In the short story, the example can be found in the excerpt as follows:and Death nodded like a Chinaman to all they said

Hyperbole is a literary device that refers to a larger-than-life effect and overly stresses a specific point. Such sentences usually convey an action or sentiment that is generally not practically/ realistically possible or plausible but helps emphasize an emotion (Literary Devices, 2010). In the short story, the example can be found in the excerpt as follows:-

The walls and floors of porcelain glittered in the light of a thousand lampsthese bells tinkled so loudly that no one could speak to be heard.

As for metaphor, it refers to a meaning or identity attributed to one subject by way of another. An example of it can be found in the following excerpt:Now there was great sorrow

Writers mood Writers mood refers to the feeling the reader gets from the writing (Tone,Mood, Atmosphere & Voice : Creating them in your writing, 2010). Mood can be created in descriptions of the surroundings, feelings of the characters and actions that take place. Choosing appropriate words for different events will create the mood that is right for a particular scene. For this short story, the writers moods are impressed, happy, scary, touched, spiteful, sad and thankful. In the beginning of the story, the writers mood tends to be impressed. The excerpt below clearly managed to let the readers to be impressed. ..which they admired very much, as well as the palace and gardens; but when they heard the nightingale, they all declared it to be the best of all.. Apart from that, the writer also tends to let the readers to feel happy as shown in the following excerpt:..for it pleased him to find such a beautiful description of his city, his palace, and his garden.. As the story started to progress, the writers mood tends to be scary. This is due to the fact that the emperor warned the lord-in-waiting to bring the nightingale even though the lord-in-waiting told the emperor that he could not find it. The following excerpt shows the writers mood :..and half the court ran with him, for they did not like the idea of being trampled upon

Other than that, the writer also managed to let the readers feel touched. It is clearly shown in the following excerpt:that the tears came into the emperors eyes, and then rolled down his cheeks.. After the Emperor received the artificial nightingale, the writers mood tends to be spiteful. The following excerpt managed to let the readers feel spiteful:What strange conduct, said the emperor, when her flight had been discovered; and all the courtiers blamed her, and said she was a very ungrateful creature.. As the story started to resolved, the writers mood tends to be sad. It is clearly shown in the following excerpt:Now there was great sorrow, as the bird could only be allowed to play once At the end of the story, the writers mood tends to be thankful as shown in the following excerpt. Thanks, thanks, you heavenly little bird

Opinions This short story depicts the act of being greedy. The emperors greed for wealth and possession causes him to lose the greatest wonder in his kingdom, the nightingale. Apart from that, the emperors inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for himself has left him far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. He then faces the consequences by falling ill. Therefore, being greedy is not to be followed as it is self-destructive and self-harmful.