Teaching Reading in S.S. Blog 3 - Lets take a look at Freytag's Pyramid

Hi Everybody,

So, while reading Jago's text, Classics in the Classroom, I took particular interest in the section that begins on pg. 65 discussing story structures. What caught my interests was the rundown on a literary structure called Freytag's Pyramid. Freytag's Pyramid is used as a graphic organizer commonly used to describe a story's structure. It's probably pretty clear from it's name that this model is of a triangular shape. One begins at the bottom left corner of the triangle (exposition) and works their way up toward the peak (climax). The rise towards the climax of the story is called Rising Action. Then, there is what is known as Falling Action that occurs as the story moves away from the peak down the right side of the pyramid. The final stop on this thrill ride is the Denouncement/Resolution of the story.

Now, this is a good and all, but I know for a fact that not every story follows this perfect equilateral-triangle model. I would imagine that some stories sway the pyramid to the left, and even more to the right as one approaches the end of a story. Also, a question that I pose is: How does one account for climactic events that take place in a story, such as an action packed flashback? These are things to consider if you choose to do this activity with your students. I would even go as far as to say that I've read some books that would look more like a flat line across the page because not one interesting or climactic thing happens in the whole dang book! So, this is my conclusion: No two story structures are exactly alike and you can't expect every story to form a perfectly symmetrical Freytag pyramid.

-Sam P.