Major Themes in "Heart of Darkness"

1. Racism
Conrad does not exactly want to buy the world a Coke, but he does seem to have some
unconventional ideas about race -- at least, unconventional for the late nineteenth century. He
seems to be suggesting that there really is not so much difference between black and white --
except that this vision of racial harmony becomes more complicated when you consider that he
seems to be suggesting that black people are just less evolved versions of white people; the
black natives are primitive and therefore innocent while the white colonizers are sophisticated
and therefore corrupt. As with most issues in "Heart of Darkness", the differences between
black and white are so confusing as to be almost meaningless. And, in fact, maybe, that is just
Conrad's point.
2.Primitivism
As the crew make their way up the river, they are travelling into the "heart of darkness". The
contradiction, however, is that Marlow also feels as if he were travelling back in time. When
Conrad wrote this story, scientists were learning that Africa is the seat of human civilization,
and this knowledge is reflected in the fact that the enormous trees on the route down the river
are almost prehistoric. The paradox of the novel, however, is that by travelling backwards in
time, the crew do not move closer to the innocence and purity of the "noble savage" but
farther away from it. Conrad seems to claim that the Christian belief that prehistory was
untouched by obscurity or evil is a fallacy. Instead, there is "the horror". In contrast, its seems,
is the more advanced civilization of the colonizers and visitors.
3.Pervasiveness.of Darkness
Perhaps the strongest theme in the novel is that of darkness. Indeed, darkness seems to
pervade the whole work. Marlow's tale begins and ends in literal darkness; the setting of the
novel is often dark, such as when the steamboat is socked in by fog or when Marlow retrieves
Kurtz; dark-skinned individuals inhabit the entire region, and, of course, there is a certain
philosophical darkness that permeates the work. But within the tale darkness operates in
several ways. Moreover, darkness creates fear and conceals certain savage acts. It is too
enveloping. The character who most fully embraces the darkness is, of course, Kurtz. This
theme suggests that the light of civilization will someday return to darkness.
4.Uncertainty
Nothing in the novel is described in concrete terms. Shores are hazy. Land looks like a spine
sticking out from a man's back but is not described in topographical terms. Marlow is obsessed
with Kurtz before he even meets him, without a clear idea why. A sense of danger pervades the
entire trip, and it is mostly dictated by uncertainty. The natives do not seem inherently
threatening. On one occasion, they let fly a series of arrows, but these even look ineffectual to
Marlow. They are threatening because they might be poisoned. Similarly, Marlow has no clear
idea of what the natives might do to him if Kurtz gave them free rein. Kurtz himself is an
uncertain figure, ruled as he is by two separate impulses, the noble and the destructive. Above
all, the idea of "darkness" expresses the theme of uncertainty.
5. Imperial Authority
Whatever the conditions in Africa may be, all of the characters agree that they are different
from those of Europe. There is a feeling of anything-goes vigilantism that shifts the balance of
power from the stewards in a "civilized" state to whoever is most threatening. Kurtz is
physically quite a weak man, but he maintains enormous sway over the native population
through his understanding of their language and his cultural and communication skill. He
exploits their appreciation of him as an Other. Marlow's men use a much more simple means of
gaining authority, namely, firearms. This is the tragedy of imperialism in that the arrival of the
white man heralds a new order, but in the creation of that order, they retain the tools and the
authority. Black men in this book first appear as members of a chain gang, and they gain little
power after that scene.
6.Religion
Although there is controversy over whether Conrad is critiquing colonialism or not, it is clear
that he is critiquing religion. The two groups in the novel, the pilgrims and the natives, are
linked by having religious beliefs, and the pilgrims seem at least as bloodthirsty as the natives.
The rite in the woods that Marlow describes seems alien but certainly no more dangerous than
the ambush. One of the seemingly admirable characteristics of Kurtz, as presented by Conrad, is
that he seems just as compelled by African religion as by Christianity but seems beholden to
neither. Marlow genuinely admires his ability to independently critique religions. He may not
agree with Kurtz's evaluation, but he respects Kurtz's ability to have his own opinions in the
face of the various religious traditions he encounters.
7.Illness
Illness is a major factor in this novel. It appears in physical and mental forms. Marlow is hired
to replace a man who committed suicide, and another instance of suicide is announced by a
somber Swedish man. The first thing that Marlow does upon being hired is to to to the doctor,
who checks both his mental and physical health and provides a very gloomy prognosis. The
specter of ill health, or of one's body not standing up to the conditions, is a constant specter in
the novel. The mental health issue is particular to "Heart of Darkness", while the issue of wider
health continues in the tradition of Victorian novels, in which men often travel to Africa only to
come down with exotic diseases. In the end, it seems that Marlow is more mentally than
physically taxed, while Kurtz is clearly both.
8.Fear
The white pilgrims go into the interior in constant fear of their surroundings. Their
trepidation is so strong that they develop a paranoia of the wilderness -- its eerie silences and
sudden blinding fogs, its impenetrable darkness and shadowy savages. Being so far removed
from any vestige of civilization as they know it only adds to their sense of helplessness. Their
fear makes them do foolish things on impulse. Fear also contributes to their eventual madness.
It pervades the entire novel and seems to seep into the environment itself so that everything is
not only terror-inducing, but morally disturbing as well.
9. The Hollowness of Civilization
The novel depicts European society as hollow at the core: Marlow describes the white men he
meets in Africa, from the General Manager to Kurtz, as empty, and refers to the unnamed
European city as the "sepulchral city". Throughout the novel, Marlow argues that what
Europeans call "civilization" is superficial, a mask created by fear of the law and public shame
that hides a dark heart, just as a beautiful white sepulcher hides the decaying dead inside. In
the African jungle -- "utter solitude without a policeman" -- the civilized man is plunged into a
world without superficial restrictions, and the mad desire for power comes to dominate him. So
when Kurz suddenly finds himself in the solitude of the jungle and hears the whisperings of his
dark impulses, he is unable to combat them and becomes a monster.
10. The Absurdity of Evil
The novel is an exploration of hypocrisy, ambiguity, and moral confusion. It explodes the
idea of the proverbial choice between the lesser of two evils. As the idealistic Marlow is forced
to align himself with either the hypocritical and malicious colonial bureaucracy or the openly
malevolent, rule-defying Kurtz, it becomes increasingly clear that to try to judge either
alternative is an act of folly. The number of situations Marlow witnesses act as reflections of the
larger issue: at one station, for instance, he sees a man trying to carry water in a bucket with a
large hole in it. At the Outer Station, he watches native labourers blast away at a hillside with
no particular goal in mind. The absurd involves both insignificant silliness and life-or-death
issues, often simultaneously.
 Virginia Woolf As a Novelist
1. Introduction
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was extremely dissatisfied with the current form of the novel as
presented by the great Edwardians, Bennet, Wells or Galsworthy. So in 1908, Woolf determined
to "re-form" the novel by creating a holistic form embracing aspects of life that were "fugitive"
from the Victorian novel. A thoroughly talented writer, Woolf was a groundbreaker in this field.
She is best known for her novels, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). No
element of story, the world of outer reality not ignored, emergence of an art form, poetisation
of the English novel, stream of consciousness technique, the distinctive nature of reality, artistic
sincerity and integrity, and feminisation of English novel are the chief characteristics of Woolf's
art as a novelist.
2. No Element of Story
Woolf firmly believed that if the novelist could base his work upon his own feeling and not
upon convention, there would be no plot, not comedy, no tragedy, no love-interest or
catastrophe in the accepted style. Hence in most of her novels there is hardly any element of
story. Mrs. Woolf's formula for the novel was not humanity in action but in a state of infinite
perception. The novel in her hands is not just an entertainment, or propaganda, or the vehicle
of some fixed ideas or theories, or a social document, but a voyage of exploration to find out
how life is lived, and how it can be rendered as it is actually lived without distortion. Hence she
concentrates her attention on the rendering of inner reality and gives subtle and penetrating
inlets into the consciousness of her characters.
3. The World of Outer Reality not Ignored
Although Woolf's main purpose is to depict the inner life of human beings, she has not
ignored the world of outer reality, the warm and palpable life of nature. In fact, in her novels
we find that the metaphysical interest is embodied in purely human and personal terms, that
the bounding line of art remains unbroken, that the concrete images which are the very stuff of
art are never sacrificed to abstraction, but are indeed more in evidence than in the work of
Bennett and Wells. The essential subject matter of her novels is no doubt the consciousness of
one or more characters, but the outer life of tree and stream, of bird and fish, of meadow and
seashore crowds in upon her and lends her image after image, a great sparkling and many-
coloured world of sight, scent, sound and touch.
4. Emergence of an Art Form
In Woolf's novels we find a rare artistic integrity and a well-developed sense of form. To
communicate her experience she had to invent conventions as rigid or more rigid than the old
ones that she discarded. And this she does in her best novels of the middle and the final period
-- Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The waves and Between the Acts. In each case a small
group of people is selected, and through their closely interrelated experience the reader
receives his total impression. Moreover, certain images, phrases, and symbols bind the whole
together. So there are certain resemblances between them in structure or style. Apart from
these general resemblances each of these novels is a fresh attempt to solve the problems
raised by the departure from traditional conventions. So it is observed that each of her novels
grows out of the preceding one and we see the germ of her later work in her predecessors.
5. Poetisation of the English Novel
Woolf represents the poetisation and musicalisation of English novel. Among the English
novelists she is foremost in lyrical technique. She sets out on a quest for mediating form
through which she could convey simultaneously picture of life and manners and a
corresponding image of minds. She aims at conveying inner life and this could be best done in
lyrical manner. Hence it is found that in order to enrich her language, she uses vivid metaphors
and symbols which are peculiar to poetry. Her language is the language of poetry, her prose
style has the assonances, the refrains, the rhythms and the accents of poetry itself. The
equilibrium between the lyrical and narrative art shows how Woolf brilliantly achieves the
telescoping of the poet's lyrical self and the novelist's omniscient point of view.
6. Stream of Consciousness Technique
To the novelists of the new school, human consciousness is a chaotic welter of sensations
and impressions; it is fleeting, trivial and evanescent. According to Woolf, the great task of the
novelist should be 'to convey this varying, unknown and uncircumscribed spirit'. His main
business is to reveal the sensations and impressions to bring us close to the quick of the mind.
He should be more concerned with inner reality rather than outer. This is called 'the stream of
consciousness technique'. Woolf has successfully revealed the very spring of action, the hidden
motives which impel characters to act in a particular way. She takes us directly into the minds
of her characters and shows the flow of ideas, sensations and impressions there.
7. The Distinctive Nature of Reality
The reality that Woolf deals with has a distinctness about it. Jean Guiguet'scomments on this
are worth noting. "Her reality is not a factor to be specified in some question of the universe: it
is the Sussex towns, the London streets, the waves breaking on the shore, the woman sitting
opposite her in the train, memories flashing into the mind from nowhere, a beloved being's
return into nothingness; it is all that is not ourselves and yet is so closely mingled with ourselves
that the two enigmas -- reality and self -- make only one. But the important thing is the nature
or quality of this enigma. It does not merely puzzle the mind; it torments the whole being, even
while defining it. To exist, for Virginia Woolf, meant experiencing that dizziness on the ridge
between two abysses of the unknown, the self and the non-self."
8. Artistic Sincerity and Integrity
Woolf has her own original vision of life and she has ever remained truthful to her vision.
This truthfulness and artistic integrity is due to her perfect detachment from all personal
prejudices and preconceived notions. Literary traditions and conventions, or social and political
problems of the day -- nothing could deter her from writing according to her vision, according
to the ideal which exists in her mind with uncommon artistic sincerity and integrity. In the
words the Bernard Blackstone, "She observes new facts, and old facts in a new way; but she
also combines them, through the contemplative act, into new and strange patterns. The outer
is not only related to; it is absorbed into the inner life. Mr. Woolf believed in the power of the
mind and she she makes her reader think."
9.Feminisation of English Novel
Woolf was a woman and naturally in her novels she gives us the woman's point of view. That
is why we find her relying more on intuition than on reason. We also find in her a woman's
dislike for the world of societies churches, banks and schools, and the political, social and
economic movements of the day have hardly any attraction for her. As a sheltered female of
her age she had hardly any scope to have any knowledge of the sordid and brutal aspects of
life. Thus we find that her picture of life does not include vice, sordidness or the abject brutality
of our age. So it may be inferred that Mrs. Woolf thus represents the feminisation of the English
novel.
10.Conclusion
Woolf's novels, through their nonlinear approaches to narrative, exerted a major influence
on the genre. While Woolf's fragmented style is distinctly modernist, her indeterminacy
anticipates a postmodern awareness of the evanescence of boundaries and categories. Her
characters are definitely convincing in their own way, but they are drawn from a very limited
range. Being a woman of her times she avoids the theme of passionate love. Her work has a
rare artistic integrity. She is the poet of the novel. Above all, Woolf's greatest achievement is
that in her novels the stream of consciousness technique finds a balance. She is one of the most
forceful and original theorists of the 'the stream of consciousness' novel.
 Character Sketch of Mrs. Ramsay
1. Introduction
Mrs. Ramsay is a superwoman. She is the central figure and the most important character in
"To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf. She is about as close as Virginia Woolf ever got to
Angelia Jolie. Her primary goal is to preserve her youngest son's sense of hope. She acts as a
unifying force in the novel. She is a beautiful, charitable, hospitable, sympathetic, match-maker
and humorous matron. She is a symbol of female principle. She is the lovely star at the centre
of the Ramsay family, and at the heart of the novel. She dominates the novel not only during
her life time but even after her death with no less importance. Her unexpected death leaves the
Ramsay family without its anchor.
2.A Unifying Force
Mrs. Ramsay is the centre around which action and movement are built. She is definitely
radiating through the entire novel and impregnating all the other characters. From the very
beginning of the novel she is structurally and psychologically a cohesive force and thus becomes
the source of unity in it. It is none but Mrs. Ramsay who is seen to be holding together almost
all the characters and incidents of the novel. In the novel a large variety of people with their
own ideas and eccentricities are found. And very remarkably Mrs. Ramsay with her great tact,
sympathy and understanding holds them together. This unifying and cohesive force of Mrs.
Ramsay is superbly revealed in the course of the dinner party towards the end of the first part
of the novel. In this scene she very nicely performs the duty of connecting different individuals
to each other.
3. Her Personal Charms and Attractiveness
Mrs. Ramsay was, no doubt, advanced in age and the mother of the eight children, still she
possessed great physical charm and attractiveness. There are frequent references and
appreciation of her beauty in the novel and one of the great secrets of her personal appeal
unmistakably lies in her physical charm. Her charm elicits high admiration not only from the
male members of the circle of her friends but also from women who are equally fascinated by
her. Mrs. Woolf tells us how Mr. Bankes feels about her charm while telephoning to her. "He
saw her at the end of the line, Greek blue eyed, straight ..... The graces assembling seemed to
have joined hands in meadows of asphodel to compose that face." And her husband says,
"Indeed, she had the whole of the other sex under her protection."
4. Her Charming and Graceful Manners
Sheer physical charm alone cannot account for so much of appeal and attractiveness. Beauty
without grace and dignity cannot have so much influence on others. She has abundant feminine
graces. She is polite and cultured in her manners, and kind and considerate in her
temperament. She is absolutely free from all egotism and is never in a mood to assert herself.
She is a wonderful hostess who loves to create memorable experiences for the guests at the
summer home on the Isle of Skye. Hence her graceful manners and kind disposition combined
with her extraordinary physical charm cast a healthy spell on all who came in contact with her.
5. Symbol of the Female Principle
Mrs. Ramsay may also be taken as a symbol of the female principle in life. Probably that is
why she has never been called by her first name in the novel as Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs.
Dalloway. This symbolism seems to be evident when we have a peep into her mind in the
dinner scene. Woolf tells us "Again she felt, as a fact without hostility, the sterility of men, for if
she did not do it nobody would do it ...." She wants men and women to be united and become
fruitful like herself. At the intellectual level she offers her protection and inspiration to both
science and art -- to Lily the painter, to Bankes the botanist, to Carmichael the poet, to Tansley
the scholar and above all to her husband the philosopher. For all this, critics like James hold the
view that Mrs. Ramsay has been treated as a symbol and has not been individualized by the
novelist.
6. Her Kind and Sympathetic Nature
The most outstanding trait of Mrs. Ramsay's character is her compassion for the poor and
the unfortunate, the great concern and consideration for the children and infinite sympathy for
the unhappy and neglected souls. In the very first few chapters we find her busy in knitting
stocking for the sick son of the Lighthouse-keeper. We find her going to the town to help the
poor and the needy. As regards the grown-ups, she has all sympathy for Charles in spite of all
his egotism and idiosyncrasies. She is a source of inspiration to Lily. She is kind and sympathetic
to Carmichael, the poet whose life has been shattered by a shrewish wife. She tries her best to
smoothen the widowed life of Mr. Bankes, the botanist. Above all, she is a constant source of
inspiration to Mr. Ramsay, her husband. She knows that he is absolutely dependent on her for
sympathy and understanding.
7.As a Match-maker
Even Mrs. Ramsay's mania for matchmaking leans to virtue's side. This reveals another
aspect of her essentially feminine character. Out of her great sympathy for all she is keenly
interested in establishing peace and harmony among people. She feels for the lonely life of a
widower, she is concerned about the future of an old maid. That is why she wants Lily to marry
Mr. Bankes. She is not going to mind even if Lily marries Charles. Her joy knows no bounds
when she comes to know that Paul and Minta are engaged. It is a matter of pride for her for
bringing them together. Of course she cannot be blamed if their marriage is a failure. In fact,
essentially feminine as she is, she wants men and women to unite and become fruitful like
herself.
8.Sense of Humour
Virginia Woolf uses the shortfalls and eccentricities of her characters to create a spirited, wry
kind of humour that makes the novel so enjoyable to read. Mrs. Ramsay possesses a good
sense of humour too. Her sense of humour is suggested by her fantasy about Joseph and Mary.
When she covers 'that horrid skull' to the satisfaction of both cam and James, it also nicely
reveals her sense of humour besides her sympathetic understanding. We find her laughing in
good humour when she thinks about Minta marrying a man with a gold watch and a wash-
leather bag. Mrs. Ramsay's sense of humour perfectly conveys Woolf's use of stream of
consciousness to capture the emotions that lurk withing the human heart.
9. Dominates Even After Death
We feel the imposing physical presence of Mrs. Ramsay only in the first part of the To the
Lighthouse. After that she is no more in the land of the living. Even then she pervades the
whole book. Her influence on other important characters -- especially on Lily Briscoe -- is really
very great. It is only to fulfill one of Mrs. Ramsay's cherished wishes that Mr. Ramsay
undertakes the journey to the Lighthouse. And it is the vision of this departed soul that inspires
Lily Briscoe to take up her brush again to complete her great picture. James Hafley is quite
correct when he remarks that Mrs. Ramsay dead is more powerful than Mr. Ramsay living.
10.Conclusion
Mrs. Ramsay might have some little flaws in her character such as her susceptibility to
flattery. It might be that she wanted to be appreciated while helping others or doing some good
deed. But with her extreme civility and goodness, with her irresistible charms and dominating
personality, she is a unique character. Hence E.M. Forster's views that "she could seldom so
portray a character that it was remembered afterwards on its own account, as Emma is
remembered...." seems untenable to us. We may conclude by quoting the apt remarks of Joan
Bennett: "Mrs. Ramsay, Mrs. Dalloway, Eleanor Pargiter, each of the main personalities
in Between the Acts, and many others from her books, inhabit the mind of the reader and
enlarge the capacity for sympathy. It is sympathy rather than judgement that she invokes, her
personages are apprehended rather than comprehended."
 The Essential Elements of a Short Story
Introduction
A short story is a piece of prose fiction intended to be read in a single sitting and designed to
produce a single effect. It emerged from earlier oral story telling traditions in the 17th century.
Edger Allan Poe is commonly known as the father of modern short story. Other famous short
story writers include; Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, Mark Twain, O.Henry, Ernest Hemingway,
Oscar Wilde, Guy de Maupassant and William Faulkner etc. A short story has a limited setting,
and usually focuses on on plot, one conflict, one event, one main character, and one central
theme. It is significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel. Unlike drama, it has no
limitation of stage and evolution of characters.
1. Single Effect
A short story is intended to be read in a single sitting to produce a single effect. "Single
sitting" means not much longer than an hour. The single effect which might be called the single
emotional effect, impression or feeling, is the most important part of the definition of the
modern short story - and it comes directly from the great short story writer, Edgar Allan Poe.
Some of his own short stories serve as good examples of the single effect he was talking about.
These stories include "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat". An
excellent example of a short story with a memorable single effect is Shirley Jackson's famous
story "The Lottery".
2. Setting
Setting means the time and place that form the background for the story. Locale, time of
year, time of day, elapsed time, atmosphere, climate, geography, eras of historical importance,
environment, population, and ancestral influences are the specific elements that setting
encompasses. There are two types of setting; backdrop setting and integral setting. Backdrop
setting emerges when it is not important for a story, and it could happen in any setting such as
A.A. Milne's story "Winnie-the-Pooh" could take place in any type of setting. Integral setting is
when the place and time influence theme, character, and action of a story. Beatrix Potter's
short story, "The Tail of Peter Rabbit", is an example of integral setting in which the behaviour
of Peter becomes an integral part of the setting.
3. Plot
Plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. There are five
main elements in a plot. The first is the exposition. It is the beginning of the story where
characters and setting are established, and the conflict is introduced. The second element is the
rising action which occurs when a series of events build up to the conflict. It is during this part
of a story that excitement, tension or crisis is encountered. The third element is the climax. It is
the turning point of the story and is meant to be the moment of highest interest and emotion.
The fourth element is the falling action. Events and complication begin to resolve and the result
of the actions of the main characters is put forward. The last element is the resolution. It is the
end of a story and ends with either a happy or a tragic ending. The short story usually has one
plot.
4. Conflict
Conflict is essential to plot. In involves a struggle between two opposing forces. A conflict
may be internal or external. A struggle with a force outside one's self is called external conflict
whereas internal conflict is a struggle within one's self. There are four kinds of conflict. The first
is "Man Vs. Man" in which the main character combats with his physical strength against other
person. The second one is "Man Vs. Circumstances". In this conflict the leading character strives
against fate, or the circumstances of life. The third one is "Man Vs. Society". The hero toils
against ideas, practices, or customs of other people. The last one is "Man Vs. Himself". In this
conflict the protagonist struggles with himself/herself' with his/her own soul, ideas of right or
wrong etc. In a short story, there is usually one central conflict, or one dominant conflict with
many minor ones.
5. Character
There are two meanings for the word character; the person in a work of fiction and the
characteristics of a person. Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly central to
the story with all major events having some importance to this character. This person is called
the protagonist while the character who opposes the actions of the protagonist is the
antagonist. Characters are found in three forms; individual, developing and static. An individual
character is round, many sided and complex in personality. In short stories, protagonists are
typically individuals. A developing character is a character who grows throughout the story
while a static character is a stereotypical character who is two-dimensional or flat.
6. Point of View
Point of view is the angle from which the story is told. There are five basic points of view;
(i) Innocent Eye - The story is told through the eyes of a child.
(ii) Streams of Consciousness: The story is told so that the reader feels as if he is inside the head
of one character and knows all his thoughts and actions.
(iii) First Person - The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts
closely with the protagonist or other character.
(iv) Omniscient Objective - the story is told in such a way that it appears as though a camera is
following the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what s seen and heart.
(v) Omniscient Limited - The story is told in such a manner that the reader can see the thoughts
and feeling of characters if the author chooses to reveal them to him.
7. Theme
The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the author's
underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the author's
thoughts about a topic or view of human nature. The theme of a short story is simply its
meaning. It is the main idea explored in the story by the writer. For example, in "Story of an
Hour" by Kate Chopin, the theme is about a woman who has lost her freedom and identity to
her husband and marriage. In Jack London's "To Build a Fire", the theme is about a protagonist
who freezes to death because he panics and is unable to problem solve. In Ernest Hemingway's
"Hills Like White Elephants", the theme is about an unplanned pregnancy, and the decision to
abort the pregnancy.
8. Short Story and Novel
Short stories are shorter than novels. Technically a short story is anywhere between 1,000 to
20,000 words. Short stories are structured differently. These have a single plot line. However,
novels have time to explore the full three-act structure.. These usually have sub-plots. A scene
in short stories operates with a centripetal force of concentration. But a scene in novels spins
off a good deal of its energy looking not only backward and forward in the text but also
sideways, outside the text, and towards the material world. Short stories, like poetry, seek to
focus time, the novels, being more like history, seek to explore it. Short stories focus one main
character. However, novels have room to explore the lives of several major characters.
9. Short Story and Drama
Drama is written for the stage and the dramatist is bound by the conditions of the stage. The
short story writer has not such limitations. His complete immunity from the conditions of the
stage, gives to the short story a freedom of movement, a breadth and flexibility. Another
difference between the two is to be found in their methods of characterization. In the drama
the character of the individual unfolds itself before us, as the action develops and scene
follows. No such evolution of characters is possible in the short story. In the dram the dialogue
plays an important part in characterization. The story is developed through dialogue. The short-
story writer does not suffer any such limitation. He may or may not introduce dialogue. Finally,
the drama is objective or impersonal; the short story can be both objective and subjective.