A simple element that serves as a basis for expanded narrative; or, less strictly, a conventional situation, device, interest, or incident. In music and art, the term is used in various other senses, as for a recurring melodic phrase, a prevailing idea or design, or a subject for detailed sculptural treatment… In literature, recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, or action that tend to unify the word are called motives. Nabokov’s Lolita, for example, is saturated by a light-dark motif that is found in the names of the protagonist and antagonist (Humbert Humbert and Clare Quilty); patterns of day and night, blonde and brunette, summer and winter, north and south, white and black; and the game of chess.(Handbook to Literature)
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Sources
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A Handbook to Literature
“Cogito et Histoire de la Folie.” Jacques Derrida.
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Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
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The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. David H. Richter.
A Handbook to Literature
Literary Theories and Schools of Criticism. Purdue Online Writing Lab.
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Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
Writing the Other
