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LITERATURE ACADEMY: Focus on Midnight's Children
The Plot Diagram
What is a Plot?
Plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story, or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story.
Elements of a Plot (The 5 Keys in Midnight's Children)
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Exposition
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Rising Action
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Climax
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Falling Action
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Resolution
Example
The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham
In The Razor’s Edge, Larry Darrell returns from World War I disillusioned. His fiancée, friends, and family urge him to find work, but he does not want to. He embarks on a voyage through Europe and Asia seeking higher truth. Finally, in Asia, he finds a more meaningful way of life.
In this novel, the plot follows the protagonist Larry as he seeks meaningful experiences. The story begins with the exposition of a disillusioned young man who does not want to work. The rising action occurs as he travels seeking an education. The story climaxes when he becomes a man perfectly at peace in meditation.
Midnight in Action
In groups of four, create a plot diagram explaining the sequence of events that took place in the novel, Midnight's Children. You will be given 15 minutes to discuss and 2 minutes to present each.
Reflection Point
In MIdnight's Children, Saleem Sinai was born on the stroke of midnight of India's independence. What is the connection of Saleem Sinai's life in the plot to India's age?
Point to Ponder
Why did the author choose to tell the plot of the story in three books e.g. book 1, book 2 and book 3 instead of chapters?
PLOT
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