How do you do narrative elements?

Themes--the central meaning of a text

Plot and Structure--selection and arrangement of incidents that give a story focus. How and why do certain events happen.

Setting--cultural, social, physical context of story's action.

Point of View--who is telling the story and how does that affect how it is told

Tone--how writers and directors reveal attitudes or feelings through their use of elements. Writer uses techniques and modes of presentation such as humor and irony. Look at dialogue to find suggestions for the author's attitude towards his/her characters. What parts of the work are funny? What kind of humor is being used? Satire or slapstick? Is there humor based on miscommunication or incongruity? What ironies do you find in the story? Is the irony connected to philosophies of marriage, family, society, politics, religion? How do the characters come across to you? If you don't like one, why not? What about them is giving you a negative impression?

Symbolism (visual and verbal)--the ways that writers use language to express complex ideas via imagery--the use of the senses to evoke ideas through mental picture, and figurative language--use of language that is connotative, that alludes to some other meaning than what it is. Examples are metaphors and similes, allusions and references. What objects or images in the works are symbolic and why? What meanings do they have? What types of imagery prevail and why? Imagery of imprisonment or of freedom. Are references made that you don't understand?

These are just the labels for what humans do instinctively - tell stories. We are a storytelling animal, and people naturally weave these elements into tales for other people.