Literary Elements: Magic of Literature

How does knowing about literary elements impact understanding a story?

            The literary elements of a story give a well written book substance, which ties the story all together and gives it meaning. Anyone who knows how to read, can read a story. But what they take away from that story is important and represents what makes reading the magical thing that it can be. All of the different literary elements work hand in hand with one another. The elements of character and point of view run in parallel because a story can be told from different perspectives based on the characters. The point of view will often stir up the emotions of the readers about the characters based on the feelings they have when reading the story. These feelings all could be altered based on the point of view the story could be told in. Also, characters can be affected based on the place the story takes place in. The place and the characters give the story credibility and can often cause the reader and the character and/or place to relate to one another. When the reader can relate to the character, which lives or travels to a place that moves the story along, it gives the book feeling. And this feeling is what brings the book to life and will really capture the reader and bring them into the story. This is the goal of literature, in my opinion. The other elements of time, plot, mood, theme, and symbol also tie into the feeling of the story, but often this is done through the characters and through the place. As you can see, the elements work together to bring girth to the stories that people grow to love upon reading. Without these elements, a book would have no meaning, and without meaning, why would anyone want to read them?