Climax in literature?

[BlsdMama]

Climax? Is itsy the moment where the decision hangs in the balance or it the second:glare: that everything is decided? So for examples with Rikki Tikki Tavis is climax the moment the mongoose jumps down the hole or is it the moment he surfaces? Adam Andrews feels its that teeter totter moment before you know who won, the second when suspense is to the highest. Do you agree or disagree and, if you can, support what you believe please do so. Thank you for the assistance!

[Hunter's Moon]

I've had it explained as a sort of hill. The top is the climax. Climbing up are the actions leading to the climax, and going down is when everything becomes unraveled or when the situation is solved.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I've had it explained as a sort of hill. The top is the climax. Climbing up are the actions leading to the climax, and going down is when everything becomes unraveled or when the situation is solved.

 

But that still doesn't resolve the question. Is the climax the moment you reach the summit? Or the moment you start climbing down?

[BlsdMama]

Exactly! Is it the moment which has the most suspense right before x happens our is it the next moment at which everything becomes clear and you know which direction the story is going to take?

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

BTW I was taught it's the most with the most suspense, the most tension.

However if we go by the "other meaning" of climax, it would be the moment when all gets released, and resolved.:lol:

[cindergretta]

BTW I was taught it's the most with the most suspense, the most tension.

However if we go by the "other meaning" of climax, it would be the moment when all gets released, and resolved.:lol:

 

:lol:

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/climax.htm

 

Definition: Climax is the point of greatest tension in a work of literature and the turning point in the action. In a plot line, the climax occurs after the rising action and before the falling action.

 

So, according to the above, it's before the mongoose resurfaces.

But according to the following, it includes the resolution.

http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/climax

Climax - the moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis comes to its point of greatest intensity and is resolved.

 

And according to this one

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/climax

(in a dramatic or literary work) a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.

 

So I guess the intensity is the deciding factor. Most of the time the intensity is before you get any kind of resolution, but I guess there could be some story that includes some kind of resolution, like the mongoose resurfacing might be the most intense moment (of celebration, and not necessarily suspense)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm teaching a writing class to a group of middle schoolers. The definition I gave them is that it is the point when the conflict cannot be resolved any other way.

 

In the Rikki Tikki Tavi example, it would be the moment when the mongoose decides to fight the cobra to the death. And sense thought must preceed action, I guess I would say that it is the moment just before he enters the whole. It cannot end without one of the actors being killed.

 

Having said that, I do think that conflict is a tricky thing. We spent a little time in class trying to identify the climax of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. One student thought the climax was the moment in the battle when the White Witch was actually, finally defeated (because until that point, she could have always made a comeback). Other students thought the climax was the moment when Aslan was killed, or when he came back to life. I might make an arguement that the climax of the conflict between the forces of good and evil is even a scene earlier when Aslan agrees to take the place of Edmund (though the Stone Table scene is probably the balance point).

 

I think one reason why it's hard to find the climax is that many modern works don't have a clear, simple conflict to resolve. They are episodic or represent conflict with an abstract antagonist or are a surreal narrative.

 

One thing from my own high school days that I now disagree with very much is the idea that the climax happens at the middle of the story. I think that there is often very little that comes after the climax, because it's just not as exciting to read about mopping up actions.

[silliness7]

My ds and I just watched this episode on TTC Friday. I do find climax a little bit confusing and as Adam Andrews says "if you can't explain it to a ten year old...." I find myself there many times. :001_smile:

 

I think the climax has to be the moment when some action has been set in motion, the resolution of which will totally change the story BUT you don't know the resolution yet. You know the story will change but as yet, you don't know how. So with Rikki I think it's the moment he goes down the hole. One of them will die and that will change the story by changing the conflict. One of them dying eliminates the conflict. The falling action then is when we learn who died and who won.

 

According to AA there can be different climaxes depending on which conflict you're talking about.

 

Ds and I had fun discussing The Ransom of Red Chief this week too. We had fun arguing with each other and with the answer key. :D I've had TTC for a couple of years now but I think we're finally ready to tackle this bad boy. So far, so good.

 

ETA: Back to Rikki...it's possible that neither of them could have died in the hole. A suspense novel is full of these kinds of close calls with the pro/ant living to fight another day but eventually something must change. I remember hearing/reading somewhere that climax is something you go back and find once you know how the whole thing ends.

Edited November 7, 2011 by silliness7