Introduction to Prose

By KINGSLEY NNAMDI

​INTRODUCTION TO PROSE
CHARACTERIZATION, THEMES AND WRITING TECHNIQUES

Lesson Objectives

- Define prose and differentiate it from poetry and drama.

- Identify and analyze key narrative techniques in prose.

- Understand the role of themes in shaping a story.

- Explore characterization and how authors develop characters.

Prose is written or spoken language in its ordinary form.

Found in novels, novellas, short stories, essays, and biographies.

Unlike poetry (structured rhythm) and drama (script format).

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what is prose

The author reveals traits through actions, speech, and interactions.

Indirect

The author directly describes a character’s traits.

Direct

Characterization

Example

Direct
'Sarah was kind and generous.'

Indirect
'Sarah always shared her lunch with those who had none.'

Themes

The central idea(s) or message(s) in a story.

Common Themes:

- Friendship

- Power and Corruption

- Survival

- Identity and Self-Discovery

- Justice and Injustice

 The narrator addresses the reader as "you," making the reader a character in the story.

Second Person

The narrator is a character in the story and uses "I" or "we" to tell the story.

​First Person

Narrative Techniques (Point of view)
Who is telling the story?

The narrator is not a character in the story but knows the thoughts and feelings of one character. (Third Person Limited)

 The narrator knows the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all the characters in the story. (Third Person Omniscient)

Third Person

Narrative Techniques

foreshadowing

Hints about future events.

​“Lennie—if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush.”

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

imagery

A look into the past.

​flashback

Narrative techniques

Conversations between characters.

dialogue

Imagery: of mice and men

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river, the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the other side, the valley is covered with trees—willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.”