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Kinds of Obstacle.

80. The obstacle to the action of the chief character may be of many different kinds. It may be some physical thing, like a high stone wall, which bars the progress of an escaping prisoner, or a head wind, which, to the distress of two long-parted souls, delays a homeward bound ship. It may be an animal, like the lion in Christian's path or the dragon in Siegfried's. It may be another person, or a group of persons, who by malice or by chance thwart the desires of the hero. Finally, it may be simply a conviction in the mind of the actor himself which fights against his own bad impulses and hinders him from pursuing the path he had hastily chosen. The inward struggles of the hero in chapters XV and XVI of Tom Brown at Oxford are directed against an obstacle of this latter kind. The obstacle sometimes means more than appears on the surface. It may represent hidden laws and forces. For example, a fallen tree pinning a woodman to the ground represents a natural force. The woodman is fighting, not the tree but the law of gravitation. An outlaw surrounded by a sheriff's posse is fighting not merely a company of men, but the law of the land.

81.

Assignments in the Kind of Obstacle.

A. What is the character of the obstacle in Longfellow's Evangeline? in Scott's Lady of the Lake? in Hale's Man Without a Country? in Stevenson's Treasure Island? in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar? or in any other story that you have read?

B. Find a short story in one of the magazines; bring it to class. Be prepared to point out the place where the obstacle is

first introduced or hinted at. Let the class guess how the obstacle is overcome.

Development of the Plot.

82. Aristotle, writing more than two thousand years ago, laid down the principle that a plot should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. He meant that it should begin in a natural and effective way, should grow in interest up to a certain point (usually somewhat beyond the middle), and should come to a fitting conclusion. It will be helpful to consider these three parts, or stages, of the narrative in turn.

The Beginning.

83. In the first part of the narrative the characters are introduced, the place in which the action goes on is named and perhaps described, and the action itself is set going. It is often well to begin the action at once, - with the opening sentence if possible. The characters and the setting should be brought in as the action goes on and by means of the action. The narrative quoted on page 242 illustrates well a beginning of this kind. A beginning which prefaces the action by an elaborate description of the characters and the setting is usually tedious, and always less effective than it should be.

84.

Assignments on the Beginning.

A. What kind of story is predicted by each of the following beginnings, — humorously proposed by Robert Louis Stevenson in one of his letters to W. E. Henley? Do they give both setting and characters? Propose a fitting obstacle for each.

CHAPTER I.

The night was damp and cloudy; the ways foul. The single horseman, cloaked and booted, who pursued his way across Willesden Common had not met a traveller, when the sound of wheels

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CHAPTER I.

"Yes, sir," said the old pilot, "she must have dropped into the bay a little afore dawn. A queer craft she looks." "She shows no colors," returned the young gentleman, musingly.

"They're a-lowering of a quarter-boat, Mr. Mark," resumed the old salt. "We shall soon know more of her."

"Ay," replied the young gentleman called Mark, "and here, Mr. Seadrift, comes your sweet daughter Nancy tripping down the cliff."

"God bless her kind heart, sir," ejaculated old Seadrift.

CHAPTER I.

The notary, Jean Rossignol, had been summoned to the top of a great house in the Isle of St. Louis to make a will; and now, his duties finished, wrapped in a warm roquelaure and with a lantern swinging from one hand, he issued from the mansion on his homeward way. Little did he think what strange adventures were to befall him!

B. Each of the following sentences announces the first appearance of the obstacle. Supply an appropriate beginning for one of them.

1. Suddenly right in front of the three girls a viciouslooking tramp sprang from behind the big tree.

2. Their way was blocked by the flames. 3. He was halted by a sudden impulse.

4. The ice began to crack all about them.

5. The ladder would not reach.

The Middle.

85. After the characters and the setting have been introduced the obstacle usually appears. Then begins the clash of the opposing forces, which may take a variety of forms, according to the character of the chief actor and the nature of the obstacle. When the actor encounters the obstacle his first impulse, if he is a man of spirit, is to overcome it. He tries to break it down or to destroy it or to move it out of his path. Failing in

this, he attempts to get over or around it. These endeavors result in the incidents of the story.

As the struggle goes on, the interest grows more and more intense until it reaches its highest point, or, as it is sometimes termed, its climax. The actor puts forth his utmost endeavors. The reader waits with breathless expectancy. Something happens the most momentous thing in the story. The tension is then released, and the story, if it does not end at the climax, goes on to a fitting conclusion.

86.

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Assignments on the Middle.

A. In the following narratives where is the obstacle first brought into play? What is the climax, or the highest point of the collision? Where is the climax?

1. I will describe a single combat of a very terrible nature I once witnessed between two little spiders belonging to the same species. One had a small web against a wall, and of this web the other coveted possession. After vainly trying by a series of strategic movements to drive out the lawful owner,

it rushed on to the web, and the two envenomed little duelists closed in mortal combat. They did nothing so vulgar and natural as to make use of their falces, and never once actually touched each other, but the fight was none the less deadly. Rapidly revolving about, or leaping over, or passing under, each other, each endeavored to impede or entangle his adversary, and the dexterity with which each avoided the cunningly thrown snare, trying at the same time to entangle its opponent, was wonderful to see. At length, after this equal battle had raged for some time, one of the combatants made some fatal mistake, and for a moment there occurred a break in his motions; instantly the other perceived his advantage and began leaping backward and forward over across his struggling adversary with such rapidity as to confuse the sight, producing the appearance of two spiders attacking a third one lying between them. He then changed his tactics and began revolving round and round his prisoner, and very soon the poor vanquished wretch — the aggressor, let us hope, in the interests of justice—was closely wrapped in a silvery cocoon, which, unlike the cocoon the caterpillar weaves for itself, was also its winding-sheet.

- HUDSON: The Naturalist in La Plata, p. 193

2. And so the soldiers stand to their arms, or lie within instant reach of their arms, all night; being upon an engagement very difficult indeed. The night is wild and wet;

2d of September means 12th by our calendar: the Harvest Moon wades deep among clouds of sleet and hail. Whoever has a heart for prayer, let him pray now, for the wrestle of death is at hand. Pray, -- and withal keep his powder dry! And be ready for extremities, and quit himself like a man!-Thus they passed the night; making that Dunbar Peninsula and Brock Rivulet long memorable to me. We English have some tents; the Scots have none.

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