ght upon the characters and incidents of the story.

(4) By plot, we mean the manner in which the incidents of a story are
arranged with reference to the final issue. The incidents may be loosely
connected or they may be so skillfully ordered as to arouse the reader's
breathless interest. A skillful plot presupposes dramatic talent. This
is not always found in union with a strong creative imagination; and
thus it happens that some of our greatest novelists, as Thackeray and
George Eliot, are defective in dramatic plots. While a skillfully
arranged plot is not an essential element in a work of fiction, it is
always a source of interest and power.

(5) Every work of fiction has an aim or purpose. Sometimes the author
merely aims at telling an interesting story which has no other
significance than to provoke a smile or a tear. Sometimes it may be
intended to illustrate a period in history or the manners of a
particular locality. Sometimes it is designed to throw light on some
phase of human character or human experience. And again, it may be a
vehicle for conveying some form of teaching or for illustrating the
growth of culture and character. In studying a work of fiction the
purpose should be clearly apprehended, for the merit of a novel or
romance depends in a measure upon the author's aim and his degree of
success in realizing it.

(6) Every work of fiction, consciously or unconsciously to the author,
is apt to embody a particular view or philosophy of life. Every
thoughtful person has convictions in regard to God, nature, and man. He
may believe in a personal deity or an unconscious force as the source of
all things. He may think of nature as a creation or as a product of
impersonal natural law. He may think of man as an immortal being or as a
creature whose existence ceases with death. But whatever may be an
author's fundamental beliefs, they will inevitably color his work.

+73. Kinds of Novels.+ Novels may be divided into various classes
according to subject or method of treatment. As to method, we have
already had the general division of romanticism and realism. Another
generic classification has been proposed: first, _novels of life_, which
include the works portraying both past and contemporary life; and
second, _novels of idea_, which include didactic and artistic works of
fiction. The didactic novel discusses some practical problem or advances
some social or moral theory; the artistic novel subordinates the