Plot is a literary term. It is the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another. The events may form a pattern. That pattern may be a sequence, through cause and effect, or how the reader views the story, or simply by coincidence. (For example, at the start. a puppy hunged by a tree branch. At the middle, someone sees that puppy is about to fall. At the end, someone saves the puppy.)
In his "Poetics", Aristotle considered plot ("mythos") the most important element of drama—more important than character, for example. A plot must have, Aristotle says, a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the events of the plot must causally relate to one another as being either necessary or probable.
Of the utmost importance to Aristotle is the plot's ability to arouse emotion in the psyche of the audience. In tragedy, the emotions are fear and pity, emotions which he considers in his "Rhetoric".
Gustav Freytag considered plot a narrative structure that divided a story into five parts, like the five acts of a play. These parts are: exposition (of the situation); rising action (through conflict); climax (or turning point); falling action; and resolution.
The climax is the most dangerous and exciting part of the plot. For example, if you were on a rollercoaster, the highest part would be the climax.
The climax usually near to the end of the story, because the whole story has been building up to it (rising action). In an action drama it is the point when the hero or heroine looks like s/he is about to lose, and is in the greatest danger.
Conflict is very important in fiction. Every work of fiction needs a conflict, or problem. There are five basic types of conflict. In modern times, a new one, "Person vs. Technology", has been used.
Person vs. Self is when a character is facing his own fears, confusion or philosophy. Sometimes the character tries to find out who he or she is, and comes to realize it or change it. Sometimes the character struggles to find out what is right or wrong. Although the enemy is inside the character, they can be influenced by outside forces. The struggle of the human being to come to a decision is the base of this type of conflict.
Person vs. Person is when the hero is fighting another person. There is usually more than one time that the hero meets the enemy. For example, if a child is being bullied, that is person vs. person conflict. An example is the conflict between Judah and Messala in "".
Person vs. Society is when the hero's main source of conflict is traditions or ideas. The protagonist is basically fighting what is wrong with the world he lives in. Society itself is often treated as a single character, just as another person is in person vs. person conflict. An example in literature would be "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë.
Person vs. Nature is when a character is fighting against forces of nature. Many films focus on this theme. It is also found in stories about trying to survive in places far away from humans, like Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire".
Person vs. Supernatural is when a character is battling supernatural forces. Sometimes, this force is inside themselves, it is internal. Such stories are sometimes used to represent or criticize Freud's theory of id vs. superego. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is a good example of this, as well as "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley and "Christabel" by Samuel Coleridge. It is also very common in comic books.
Person vs. Machine/Technology places a character against robot forces with artificial intelligence. "I, Robot" and the "Terminator" series are good examples of this conflict.
1095
Oak Lawn, Illinois
Oak Lawn is a village in Cook County, Illinois, USA. It is a suburb of Chicago.
1607
500s BC
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels that come from old life forms that decomposed over a long period of time. The three most important fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
Oil and gas are hydrocarbons (molecules that have only hydrogen and carbon in them). Coal is mostly carbon. These fuels are called fossil fuels because they are dug up from underground. Coal mining digs up solid fuel; gas and oil wells bring up liquid fuel. Fossil fuel was not much used until the Middle Ages. Coal became the main kind of fuel with the Industrial Revolution.
Most of the fuels people burn are fossil fuels. A big use is to make electricity. In power plants fossil fuels, usually coal, are burned to heat water into steam, which pushes a fan-like object called a turbine. When the turbine spins around, magnets inside the turbine make electricity.
Crude oil can be separated to make various fuels such as LPG, gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, and diesel fuel. These substances are made by fractional distillation in an oil refinery. They are the main fuels in transportation. That means that they are burned in order to move cars, trucks, ships, airplanes, trains and even spacecraft. Without them, there wouldn't be much transport.
People also burn fossil fuels to heat their homes. They use coal less for this than they did long ago, because it makes things dirty. In many homes, people burn natural gas in a stove for cooking.
Fossil fuels are widely used in construction.
All fossil fuels come from the periods in Earth's history when the Earth had huge tropical forests. In those periods, plants lived, grew and died, faster than they decayed. In other words, they were times when much of the dead vegetation did not entirely decompose. Instead it became coal and related substances such as peat.
The times of the great wetlands which produced coal and peat were in the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian), continuing in the first part of the Permian; the Jurassic and Eocene periods. Virtually all the worlds' coal dates to those periods.
Most air pollution comes from burning fossil fuels. This can be reduced by making the combustion process more efficient, and by using various techniques to reduce the escape of harmful gases. This pollution is responsible for causing the earth to get warmer, called global warming. They are also non-renewable resources, there is only a limited amount of coal, gas, and oil, and it is not possible to make more. Eventually all the fossil fuels will be used. Some scientists think that coal will have run out by 2200 and oil by 2040.
Renewable energy sources like biomass energy such as firewood are being used. Countries are also increasing the use of wind power, tidal energy, and solar energy to generate electricity. Some governments are helping automobile makers to develop electric cars and hybrid cars that will use less oil.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are an ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They were the first American team in the NHL, in 1924. They have won six Stanley Cup championships, and they lost against the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals after winning in 2011.
In their early years, the Bruins won three Stanley Cups: 1929, 1939, and 1941. Ralph "Cooney" Weiland won the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion in 1930. Aubrey "Dit" Clapper was also a star player around this time. Then Eddie Shore came along, a huge star in the league on defense. Shore won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player (MVP) four times: in 1933, 1935, 1936 and 1938. Only Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky have won it more often. Cecil "Tiny" Thompson was the team's star goaltender.
In the 1940s and 1950s the Bruins had new stars. Milt Schmidt and Bill Cowley were great centers and both won scoring championships and MVP trophies. They were helped by Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer on wing, and Frank Brimsek replaced Thompson in goal.
The 1960s were not so good for the Bruins. Schmidt retired to become the team's coach and the team did not have many stars. They finished in last place six times out of seven years and did not make the playoffs eight straight seasons. Left wing John Bucyk was their best player.