Plot-making Devices in Children’s Fiction: A Semiotic Approach

Plot is a set of sequences of events within the framework of a causal system. The present study argues that “narrative ornament” is a phonetic or semantic element in excess of the plot; it is also for the aesthetic enrichment of the narrative, and if removed, it does not distort either the plot’s causal system, or the central core of the story. The counterpart of a “narrative ornament” is a “plot-making figurative device,” which cannot be removed from the plot. The aim of the present study is to introduce these figurative devices which are not purely aesthetic elements, but, rather, form the structure of the plot in children’s stories. The paper aims to find out if the definition of figures of speech can be semiotically generalized to plot-making figurative devices. In this regard, the study first describes the three elements in Peirce’s semiotics, i.e., “the sign, object, and interpretant”. Then, using a descriptive-analytical method, and making reference to a brief list of figures of speech, the article expands the definition of figures of speech to the semiotic definition of the plot-making devices. The present study for the first time highlights the narratological and non-rhetorical function of literary embellishment. Since the traditional poetry-related categorizations of figures of speech cannot be applied in the analysis of the narrative text, a study of figures of speech in narratives seems to be of great significance in literary criticism.