Reading imaginative literature in order to learn involves an orderly process. Follow these steps to get the most from your learning experience of a short story.

1) Read the text carefully, noting each character.
You should be able to identify each character and the essential qualities of each. 

2) Identify the major character(s)--those who seem to control the action or from whose perspective the story is told.
Distinguish between major and minor characters.  You will know more about major characters (your list of attributes or characteristics and simple data will be greater for the major characters).  Often, you will be able to identify a "protagonist" (whose affairs tend to move the story along) and an "antagonist" (whose affairs or interests seem to contradict the acts and the interests of the "protagonist").  Minor characters will be less fully developed and act in concert or motivated by the major characters.

3) Reconstruct the narrative line--"what happens." 
Be able to reconstruct the "story line," the chain of events that run sequentially from the first to the last (even though they may not be introduced sequentially).

4) Identify elements of the plot--"factors which influence the action." 
The late British novelist E. M. Forester in Understanding Fiction suggested a useful distinction between "narrative line" and "plot."  If you want to know the "narrative live," says Forester, ask "what happens."  If you want to know the plot, ask "why do things happen."  For Forester, plot is that set of events, characters, conditions, themes, and other elements both internal and external to the work that influence the narrative line to go the way it does.

5) Discuss the essential conflict. 
Common to all fiction is conflict.  That conflict may be a standoff between characters, a crossing of wills or goals, a battle between character and setting, even the struggle against ideas.

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1) Identify the point(s) of view through which the story is told. 
Stories are told by writers from one or more "points of view."  To determine the point of view of a story, ask, "Who is telling the story?"  If the story seems to move from one scene to another, following no single character, the story is probably "being told" from the "3rd person" point of view, sometimes referred to as the "omniscient author's point of view."  "Omniscient" means "to know"; in this case, it refers to the ability of the author to move in time and space from one venue to another, following first the actions of one character and then another.  If one character speaks throughout the story, relating the action in his or her own voice, the story is "being told" through the "1st person" point of view.

2) Explain how the author uses time.
A journalist reporting a "story" will usually follow a strict sequential progression of action, but a writer of fiction is not so constrained.  Authors may begin, for example, in "medias res," that is, in "the middle of things," or jump back and forth in time.  When this happens, the chronology of events is sometimes difficult to reconstruct sequentially, but the author has chosen to do so for some reason or special effect.  If this happens, ask yourself why the author has chosen to break with a strictly chronological or sequential progression of events.  What does the story gain from such development of time?

3) Explain how the author uses setting. 
Stories take place somewhere, but that "somewhere" can range from a specific historical place and time to the nebulous, shapeless mind of  a character.

4) Explain how the author uses perspectives (angles). 
Sometimes confused with "point of view," the perspective from which a story is told refers to the relative positions from which the details are revealed. In filmmaking, perspective would refer to the "camera angle."  Is the "picture" remote from the subject or "up close and personal."  Identify the different perspectives from which the story is revealed, and if the perspectives shift, ask yourself why the author orchestrates such shifts.  What does the story gain from these changes in perspective?

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1) Identify the author's use of irony (dramatic, situational, verbal). 
Irony refers to "the unexpected." "Dramatic irony" is a sense of the unexpected the reader experiences while watching the characters of a story act and react without the wisdom or broader knowledge of the reader.  "Situational irony" refers to the unexpected that comes as a shock to both readers and characters alike.  "Verbal irony," sometimes called  "double entendre," refers to the use of words with double meanings, usually meanings that have an important consequence or that are meant to reveal special information or character.

2) Identify recurring image patterns.
Images are impressions of one or more of the five senses.  We speak of "visual images," "auditory images," "tactile images," etc.  Words that have references to objects or entities that we experience sensuously (through the senses) project imaginative images that remind of us previous experiences or perceptions.  "Image patterns" are the recurring sets of related images that authors introduce in a story, usually for some reason like helping to develop a character or project a theme.

3) Explain the author's use of symbols.
While not all images are symbols, all symbols are images!  That is, some images have only their normal references as their meaning.  However, images that "take on" meanings beyond their normal references are called "symbols."  Authors use symbols to create implied meaning(s) in their stories.

4) Identify special uses of language like figures of speech, unusual diction and syntax.
Authors will often use language patterns that go beyond the normal terms or expressions most users of the same language would employ to "tell the story."  An author's unique use of words (diction) and sentence patterns (syntax) are the two elements that characterize his or her style.  When a writer chooses to make an unusual comparison (a figure of speech) or adopts unnatural terms to characterize a description, explanation, or the voice of a character, it is usually for some purpose.  Ask yourself why the author might be doing so.  Be able to support your interpretation or judgment with specific examples from the text of the story.

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1) Identify what seems to be the theme and how the author announces it. 
The theme of a story is the dominant message or claim that seems to emerge as the tale evolves.  As such, it can be stated as a complete statement, sometimes as a position or judgment; other times as an interpretation.  Sometimes the theme can be a single element (motif) like rain, for example, and all that rain can mean as we understand it from our own and others' experiences of it.  In other cases, the theme may be the promulgation of a certain value.  Themes usually are implied, but occasionally they are even announced by a character.  A character that serves throughout a story to seem to voice positions or attitudes, values or concerns of an author are special characters called "personas."

Themes can also be suggested by image patterns, symbols, features of a setting, and by the attributes and affairs of characters within a story.

2) Explain how elements above contribute to the theme.
Be able to cite specific passages from the text of the story to support your interpretation of an author's theme(s).

3) Identify contextual elements (allusions, symbols, other devices) that point beyond the story to the author's experience/life, history, or to other writings. The more you learn about an author or read from his or her works, the more comfortable you will be in analyzing implied meanings like interpretations.  What happens in an author's life can have a very strong influence on a writer's work, although you should be very cautious about insisting that every element of a short story have some reference to the author's life.  Like the author's personal experiences, historical events, personalities, and periods can be sources or influences on an author's works.  Watch for allusions to such elements and be alert to how they seem to affect both the plot and narrative line as well as character development.

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