Structure in Literature | Definition, Types & Examples

The Hero's Journey is strongly drawn from Carl Jung's psychoanalytic literary analysis, and consequently often overlaps with another structure based somewhat on Jung's works: alchemical structure. These stories metaphorically follow the mythical processes of alchemy, in which characters are repeatedly tested and refined; stories with this structure include many fantasy stories, such as Rowling's Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, and L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz.

Chronological Structure Example

A chronological structure follows events as they happen in a story: the exposition followed by rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. This structure works well for narrative essays and short stories, but less well for more complex and longer works. Flashbacks are a literary technique wherein vital scenes happen out of order in a story for a reason (for example, in a mystery wherein who really committed a crime is revealed, or in a story where someone is haunted by an unknown part of their past).

Three-Act Structure Example

The three-act structure is based on the commonly used three-act formula of plays and films. It follows the typical Freytag's Pyramid, but with some elements from a Fichtean Curve. The first act is the setup: it contains the exposition and some rising action through the inciting incident, or a moment that thrusts the characters into the plot and reaches a mini-climax. The second act is the confrontation: it contains more rising action as the plot deepens and culminates in a turning point that sets up the climax and resolution to come. The third act is the resolution: it covers the climax, falling action, and denouement. Star Wars is again a good example of this sort of structure.

A similar, yet slightly different, way of separating structure is the seven-point structure, which also has three phases but is slightly more specific about what these stages contain. The first contains the exposition and an inciting incident and culminates in a crisis. The second contains the midpoint, at which the protagonist decides to take action, and another crisis that brings the protagonist to their lowest point. Finally, there is a turning point wherein the protagonist receives what they need to complete their goal, and finally the resolution. Star Wars again fits this structure, as do many Hero's Journey stories.

Compare and Contrast Example

Compare and contrast structures are used most often in essays rather than in narrative. They identify similarities (comparisons) and differences (contrasts) between two or more separate things. When organizing a compare and contrast essay, a writer may focus on one item at a time, switching back and forth between the two. Conversely, they could focus on comparing both items first and contrasting second, or vice versa.

However, comparison and contrast can actually be used quite well in the narrative. One of the oldest structures in storytelling is chiastic (or symmetrical) structure, where an entire story can form a chiasm in order to highlight both comparisons and contrasts between the story's beginning and end and center around one turning point. This structure is utilized by most narrative books in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament's three synoptic Gospels, as well as by, yet again, Harry Potter.

Six of the seven books are deliberately paralleled in order to be compared and contrasted with one another.

In Harry Potter, each individual book has a chiastic structure, and so does the entire saga, with the first book and final book deliberately compared and contrasted with each other in various narrative elements.

Cause and Effect Example

Cause and effect is again most often used to structure an essay, but can complement the narrative and is especially clear in chronological stories. This structure makes it clear that the next point or plot point stems from the proceeding one. For example, "because you wanted to learn more about structure in literature, you are reading this lesson."

Inductive and Deductive Structure Examples

Inductive and deductive structures are again the structures most common in essay writing. The structures have their bases in inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive structure focuses on the facts or the evidence first, and uses that to create a broader conclusion; hence, a news article wherein a reporter covers the facts of a trial and concludes that the case was mishandled has gone from specific evidence to a broader conclusion and therefore is inductive.

Deductive structure is the reverse: it states a thesis, or broad conclusion, and presents evidence to support this viewpoint (without ignoring contradictory evidence). An editorial where a reporter posits that a case was mishandled and then provides evidence on how is using deductive structure. Many literary analysis essays are based on deductive structure.

There are various ways to arrange these elements, including a Fichtean curve, which combines exposition and rising action in a series of mini-climaxes the Hero's Journey, which draws from Jungian psychology and is about a hero going on a quest, chronological structure, which tells a story primarily in the order of events as they happen, and the three-act structure, which is common in the theater. Other structures include compare and contrast, which points out similarities and differences and can be used both in narrative and essays, cause and effect, in which an event directly causes another, and inductive and deductive structures. Inductive begins by summarizing the evidence and climaxes in a conclusion, while deductive states a thesis outright and then pinpoints specific evidence to back up the thesis.