How do you find the heart of a story?

Answer 1

The key points are the things that you have to know in order to understand the story. They're the main plot points. You find them by asking yourself "Is this an essential piece of knowledge?" as you read. Things like the character passes a bluebird are not likely to be important unless the book is about the search for a bluebird, for example. Anything that moves the plot along is probably a key point.

Answer 2

The "heart" of a story is the theme, or the message that the author is trying to convey. A short story or poem will usually have one theme, while a book may have several themes.

The theme, or heart of the story is not the same thing as the plot. The plot is what happens in the story - the theme is what message you should take away from the story.

Here are some things you can do to find the heart of the story: The heart of the story is the lesson that the author offers or what the author wants you to take away from the reading experience.

• Look at the title - sometimes the author will give you a clue to what message he is trying to convey by giving the story a telling title.
• Look for repetitions - are there any symbols or patterns that the author repeats? These will give you a clue about the theme.
• Look for allusions -
• Look for details and ask yourself "What message is the author trying to send by including this detail or fact?"
• Look at the main character - is this character someone with whom the author wants you to identify, or are you supposed to dislike the character? Is the author sending you a message by the way the character acts?
• Look at the conflict - often, the things that oppose the characters are the author's way of getting a point across.
• Look for generalizations - try to generalize from the actual events of the story to broader topics.

It is a matter of identifying patterns.

Answer 3

Analyze a story by breaking each component apart. Look at each character and the setting. Determine if the characters react differently depending on the setting.