In line with those definitions, short story is a story of about two thousand words or fewer. The reader usualy reads a short story in a single sitting, and
though it has an immediate and concentrated impact and the reader pauses a moment and savor its emotional and intellectual effect, they can rarely recall all
its detail.
23
Resuming the statement above, it can be said that short story is divided into two categories, according the total of words and the value. Therefore, it can
be concluded that short-short story is more suitable for students because its word is not too much. Therefore, the students are assumed not to be stressful to find
the idea of the story. In addition, short story can be read in one sitting, which means the reader only needs a short time to finish their reading.
3. The Elements of Short Story
As mentioned on the previous definition, short story is kind of fictional narrative in prose. This that means short story is not real story and tells the events
in the past. All the elements of a story work together to convey feeling and embody meaning. Generally, in the short story, there are six elements. Typical
features of short story include the following:
a. Plot
Plot is the arrangment of events that make up a story. A story’s plot keeps
the readers turning pages: we read to find out what will happen next. For a plot to be effective, it must include a sequence of incidents that bear a significant causal
relationship to each other. In other word, a plot refers to a series of interrelated events, during which some conflict or problems are resolved. Plot can be looked
at for purposes of discussion as if isolated from the people concerned with those events and that conflict or problem.
24
Referring the statement above, plot is a sequence of events in a story that is correlated to each other. Then, the plot should has sequences to make the reader
23
Jerome Beaty, et al., The Norton Introduction to Literature, Eight Edition, New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2002, p. 401.
24
DiYanni, op. cit., p. 43.
know where is the part of introduction, problems and resolution of the story. Therefore, the reader can understand the story easily.
b. Character
Character is someone who acts, appears, or is referred to as a playing a part in a literary work. The most common term for the character with the leading
male role is hero or good guy. The leading female character is the heroine. A character is sometimes called antihero because she is not heroic in stature or
perfection. An older and more neutral term than hero for the leading character, a term that does not imply either the presence or the absence of outstanding virtue is
protagonist, whose opponent is the antagonist. The major or main character is a person who takes more part in the story. This character also becomes the reader’s
focus – everything story about him. Then, minor character is no longer takes part
in the story. This character is not as important as a mean character.
25
According the statements above, it shows that a character is the feature of an actor in the story or moral quality of person. In the short story an actor just has
one character that is major character, and the supporting character is minor character. The character can be known through what an actor does in the story.
c. Point of View
