How does knowing about literary elements impact understanding a story?

“[A} gradual increase in awareness of how various authors use these elements in particular stories enables us to enter ever further into story worlds and see and understand them much better.  It is the interaction of the elements of literature that brings story into existence.  We believe that awareness of literacy elements and of their function in a story nurtures the development of children’s ability to respond imaginatively to a text.”

Grand Conversations by Peterson and Eeds

Without considering literary elements, discussion and thinking about a story would remain at a surface level.  What would we talk or think about if we didn’t talk about characters, symbols, different levels of meaning, place, time, and mood?  Probably just the most basic description of the plot.  For instance, talking about the Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron would probably sound like this:  “This girl’s mother died and she was worried that her guardian would leave her to go back to France.”  This quick summary mentions three characters, gives us a basic idea of the plot, and even mentions one of the main themes, but doesn’t touch on the things that make this such an engaging and touching story.  It’s the details of the story that speak to us, that draw us in, and that make us relate to it.  The details that we learn about Lucky make us fall in love with her.  The fact that she sits around listening to different groups of addicts tell about “hitting rock bottom” and finding their higher power, the mental image of a little girl in a too big, fancy red dress, carrying a survival backpack out into a sandstorm, the way she both nurtures and grows tired of nurturing Miles… these details make her real, and thinking and discussing them add everything to our understanding of Lucky and her story. 

Awareness of and discussion about each literary element adds to our understanding of a story.  The desert setting, the theme of searching for a higher power, the theme of family, the supporting characters Miles, Sammy, Lucky’s father, and Brigette… consideration of each of these aspects makes the story richer and our understanding deeper.