characters that are somehow connected with each other.
20
It means that short story is a work of fiction, so it involves the imagination. In other words, short story is
not really happen in life and it can be read in a short time. Moreover, short story typically shows character in dramatic scenes, in
moments of action, and in exchanges of dialoges. The short story has traditionally been more concerned with revelation of character through flashes of insight and
shocks of recognition than early fictional forms.
21
Considering the statements above, short story is defined as a short fictional narrative in prose about life which concentrates on a simple problem and an
effect. In addition, the short story is a fiction that can be read in short time which aims to entertain readers as a part of pleasure.
2. Types of Short Story
According Dr. Henry Guntur Tarigan, types of short story are divided into two types as the following:
22
1. Types of short story based on total of words: a. Short-Short Story
It is the story consists of fewer than 5000 words or consist about 16 pages which can be read in 15 minutes.
b. Long-Short Story It is the short story which has 5.000 until 10.000 words: the minimum
word is 5.000 words and the maximum word is 10.000 words. This type of short story consist about 33 pages and can be read in 30 minutes.
2. Based on the value of literature, short story can be divided as the following: a. Literature Short Story
b. Funny Short Story
20
Gillian Lazar, Literature and Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 73.
21
Robert DiYanni, Literature, Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2004, p. 41.
22
Henry Guntur Tarigan, Prinsip-prinsip Dasar Sastra, Bandung: Angkasa, 1985, p.176.
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
An author’s decisions about who is to tell the story and how it is to be told are among the most important he or she makes. In a story with an objective point
of view, the writer shows what happens without directly stating more than readers can infer from its action and dialogue. It is the method of narration that
determines the position, or angle of vision, from which the story is told.
26
In conclusion, point of view is important for the writer and the reader because the reader can be known who is telling the story. Moreover, it is an
attempt to understand the relationships that exist between the narrator and the
25
Beaty, op. cit., p. 102 –103.
26
Beety Mattix Dietsch, Reasoning and Writing Weel A. Rethoric, Research Guide, Reader and Handbook, Ohio: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003, p. 429.
characters and events in the story. Therefore, it will make the reading more rewarding. Furthermore, the story can be seen more logically and can be easier
interpreted.
d. Setting
Setting is also defined as the location of the story occurs. Basically, setting is an environment for the action and the characters. Setting is sometime
minimized by the writer to emphasize other elements of the story. In certain stories the reader will not be aware of all setting, because the writer has never
specified the time or place of the story.
27
In summary, setting is the place that the actions in the story happen. Seting is also important thing in a story since it make reader easily to know where the
places and the times are taken for the story.
e. Symbol
One of the chief devices for bridging the gap between the writer and the reader is the symbol. It is something that stands for something else: a flower, for
example, may be seen as symbol of a particular state. Symbols are generally figurative. We must remember that symbol do not disappear from the story, our
memory, or our response once their meaning has been sucked out of them.
28
From the above statement, it can be defined that symbol is another important element of short story. It can enable the reader to interpret easily the
meaning of the story. Symbols also help the reader to solve the gap with what the writer means from the story.
f. Theme
Theme is related to the other elements of fiction that are plot, character, point of view, setting, symbol, more as a consequence than as a parallel element
27
Larry M. Sutton, Journeys: an introduction to Literature, Boston: Holdbrook Press, Inc., 1971, p. 6.
28
Beaty, op. cit., p. 186 –187.
that can be separately. In other words , a story’s theme is its idea or poin
formulated as a generalization of the story. The theme of short story is its implied view of life and conduct. To be clear about theme, the readers should
distinguish it from plot and from subject, what the story is generally about.
29
In conclusion, theme should illustrate what attitude should take toward any statements of the story. Theme can be as a general idea of story. However, this
generalization should have relation with all the features of the story.
4. The Advantages of Using Short Story in Learning
There are many advantages of using short story in learning activities. Its practical length means they can usually be read entirely within one or two class
sessions. It is also less daunting for a foreign reader to tackle or to reread on his or her own, and are more suitable when set as home tasks. Students get that feeling
of achievement at having come to the end of a whole work, much sooner. Moreover, it offers greater variety than longer texts. A teacher can choose very
different short stories, so that there is a greater chance of finding something to appeal to each individual’s tastes and interests.
30
According to Mary Alice Burgan, the short story is interesting. Usually it is “realistic,” and usually its setting is the modern world which the students know.
And the modernity of the short story as a form which has only recently been accepted in its own right not only makes it interesing, but make it interesting in a
certain way. The readers are all relatively familiar with the idea that the most important experiences of life occur on the inside; heroic action, painted on a grand
scale, is interesting to us only so long as it gives us intimations for hero’s inner
action goes. Furthermore, a hypothesis about the essential nature of the short story does not pretend to be completely definitive, but it is suggestive.
31
29
DiYanni, op. cit., p. 85.
30
Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater, Literature in the Language Classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 196.
31
Philip Applemant, et al., On Teaching Literature, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979, p. 38
–39.
In addition, a form of short story is more realistic than the tale, and the main event is written in greater fullness. According to William Faulkner, he has
put the case well in an interview with students at the University of Virginia: “In a
short story that’s next to poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can’t. You have
less room to be slovenly and careless. There’s less room in it for trash. It’s got to
be absolutly impeccable, absolutly perfect.
32
Therefore, short story is stronger. The readers can remember almost all, the details. Yet, if the readers are strongly impressed, they may read the story
again immediately. Other advantages in teaching the short story is because it has no strict conventions and it is short enough to be talked about in terms of its
organic, natural and formal principles. Concerning teaching and learning, Penny Ur suggested some procedures in
teaching simple past tense by using short story. First, it can be used for listening comprehension and slot-filling; oral. The teacher should tell the students a story
which has plenty of action and be easily comprehensible to the students. Get them focus on past forms by asking occasionally for a translation of an irregular form,
or by stopping and getting them supply the verb. After that the teacher has to finish, ask the students recalling some of the sentences in the past that were
mentioned in the story.
33
In line with the statement above, teaching short story has also allowed the teacher to integrate the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing,
produce a lot of interesting language activity. In this case, the teacher reads aloud a short story and the students listen to it. After that, the students are asked to retell
the story and write down the answers of the questions about that story.
32
X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, Literature : An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, San Francisco: Longman, 2010, p. 15.
33
Penny Ur, Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 213.
Furthermore, it is also stimulate reflection, bring out different opinions, and energize absorbing thought process.
34
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that through the short story students will enjoy because the story has a sensible and practical idea of
what can be expected. Then the setting of story is familiar with the students. Thus, the setting makes interesting for them and easy to understand what the story
about. Meanwhile, a good story offers elasticity for evocative stretching that moves students toward interesting language use. Thus, good literature, while
promoting language learning, also inspires emotion, provides models and materilas for teaching foreign language.
Besides, almost every word needs the students’ care to find the meaning of
the short story. So, the students also care with the sentences that use simple past tense because short story often uses it. Therefore, it make students more familiar
with the formula or rules of simple past tense. Moreover, the short story can be used to retain students’ vocabulary of regular and irregular verbs because the
students will find many past verbs in the short story.
5. The Disadvantage of Using Short Story in Learning
