Structure is the skeleton on which a work of fiction is built. It is the arrangement of events in the story in a way that they generate interest, curiosity and tension.
The word Structure derives its meaning from simple words like instruct, construct, stratagem, streusel which incidentally means pastry topping.
Stratagem deals with the causes and reasons of the events in a story. Structure deals with the arrangement of the development of the story. A story may develop from the introduction of the characters to the conflicts they have, to the climax of the conflict and down to the resolution of the conflict.
Its stratagem may be from one location to another or from the introduction of the characters to their conflict/s, to the climax and resolution. So the arrangement of the events and the purposes they are made form the structure.
We observed last week that conflict is the main ingredient in plot. It is the conflict that presents in a story that kindles or generates interest. If this conflict is not strong enough to kindle interest, the plot is weak. So, a weak plot is one with a weak conflict or no conflict at all. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs call a weak plot, a ‘walkaway’ plot, in their book, Literature: Introduction to Reading and Writing.
Conflict generates such interest because once two forces are in opposition; doubt of the outcome will set in. Doubt, the cognoscenti say, will produce curiosity and tension. Readers once caught in the conflict of the story, live through the story, taking sides.
Conflict is part and parcel of Structure as seen in the second element of structure which is Complication.
Structure comprises five major parts: Exposition, Complication, Crisis, Climax and Resolution or Denouement.
Exposition
This presents everything that is going to be important in the arrangement of actions in the story. It is the layout or exposition of the main characters which include their backgrounds, characteristics, their goals, potentials, assumptions about life and even their limitations.
The writer who has the reader’s interest at heart may start off with exposition or delayed exposition, adding twists, false leads, intricacies, etc., in order to thrill the reader as his/her interest is caught.
New action or idea that comes into the story falls under exposition. Nonetheless, a time comes when exposition will have to come to an end and all presented issues would be thrashed, and would eventually come to an end, in a resolution.
Complication
This is the onset of the plot – the beginning of the major conflict. This is where or when the horns of the participants, the major characters, are locked. The protagonist and the antagonist with their different characteristics, values, likes and dislikes, idiosyncrasies, pursuits, etc., become engaged in a battle.
The Crisis
This marks the pivot, the turn or the divide of what has gone before and what will follow. It is marked by a decision or action to resolve the conflict. This is the crisis. Note however, that this decision or action never works!
This can be seen in the scene where the Ifa priest is called in to prescribe what would stop the evil that has befallen Kutuje, in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame. This is seen in Things Fall Apart in Okonkwo’s accidental killing of Ezeudu’s 16 year old son which the cognoscenti said was karma on Okonkwo for the murder of Ikemefuna, a boy who calls him father.
After this crisis which is a turn, a hinge, a separation of what has gone before and what is to follow, Okonkwo flees to his mother’s hometown, returning seven years later to an Umuofia where a white district commissioner holds sway, the book climbs into its climax.
Crisis ushers in the climax of a story in fiction.
Climax
This is the high point of the story in any fiction. Here, both the conflict and the consequent tension are at their greatest height, the peak.
The word climax means ladder in Greek. The story climbs to the peak, to the point of no return. From here, there’s no other height to attain, all that is left, is a crashing down.
In The Gods Are Not To Blame, it is the point where the Ifa priest who was brought in to bring solution, puts more fire and the broth froths over! He accuses king Odewale of killing the former king and under provocation calls him a bed sharer! Queen Ojuola tries to intervene. This marks the beginning of the end of the story. From here, there is no more rest for the troubled king of the troubled land of Kutuje until all is resolved.
In Things Fall Apart, it is the scene where Okokwo kills the head messenger. Nothing else can top it. It is the climax. What is left is a crashing down, a resolution of all actions.
In Purple Hibiscus, it is the sudden death of Kambili and Jaja’s father! A violent unkind man who hides under religion dying suddenly, nothing else can be higher than that in that story.
Resolution or Denouement
This is the sighing moment of the story, when all mysteries are resolved. It is the untying of the knots where the story comes to a conclusion.
And for Purple Hibiscus, it is the scene Kambili’s and Jaja’s mother closes the windows and confesses to her offspring that she killed their father!
It is the moment Alaka reveals his master is only a foster father to Odewale and tells the palace audience that a messenger who limps gave him a baby boy swaddled in white cloth. Even before the messenger arrives, the story is over, and the mystery unravelled.
In Things Fall Apart, it is when Obierika takes the District Commissioner to where Okonkwo hangs. Story comes to an end.
When you read a work of fiction, observe the ordering of actions, scenes, speeches and narration. How are these tools used to start and complete the story? Consider how the reordering of these elements could alter the story you are reading. Take for instance, Ola Rotimi’s play, The Gods Are Not To Blame, consider how different the outcome of the story would have been if the palace messenger had told Alaka or his master when handing them the baby prince, Odewale, that they should tell the child where he came from and what the oracle said about him.
Odewale wouldn’t have left his foster father’s land at all and wouldn’t have killed his biological father, king Adetusa, nor marry his mother, queen Ojuola.
Consider also the arrangement of the actions. What if Alaka’s visit came early in the story, when the subjects of Kutuje began to fall sick? If Alaka had come to tell King Odewale of his father’s demise, and Odewale had rejoiced in the presence of Alaka only, and Alaka had asked him why he rejoiced and at Odewale’s confession, Alaka had told him that his master was his foster father? Then, perhaps Odewale would have gone to find out about himself, and known that he actually killed the former king.
Consider how different the plot would have been?
There are many different ways of shaping a story.