Elements of a story

                                   McCarthy, Cormac. The road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print
The five main elements of this story are the plot, the characters, the conflict, the suspense leading to the climax, and the swift conclusion. 
          The first and most important to me are the characters. The characters are what make the story readable. In "The Road" the two main characters are the dad and the son. They are the only two that provide for the story. Their dialogue isn't really all that great, but they both have unique personalities. The father looks over his child and is very wise and clever. The child is accepting of his father's hard work and loves him. 
          The second main element is the plot. Knowing I haven't read much of the book yet I can't really comment on it too much but so far its quite original and creative. The plot is like the building blocks of the story. The plot in this book is quite evident.
          The third element is the conflict and conflict is the problem between two opposing forces in the story. In The Road the conflict is between the two characters, the dad and the kid, and the whole world. People and nature. "This door looks like the other door, he said. But it's not. I know you're scared. That's okay. I think there may be things in there and we have to take a look. There's no place else to go. This is it."
           The fourth element is the suspense leading to the climax. Its the long slope that slowly leads to the big finish. Things getting more and more tense. I haven't gotten to the climax of The Road yet but I must say there were little climaxes along the way. 
           The fifth and final element is the swift conclusion to the story. Its the thing that raps things up in a little bow and makes closure for the characters and plot in an efficient and effective way.