Intro to Literature (4)

 

The falling action of a story is the section of the plot following the climax, in which the tension stemming from the story’s central conflict decreases and the story moves toward its conclusion. For instance, the traditional “good vs. evil” story (like many superhero movies) doesn’t end as soon as the force of evil has been thwarted. Rather, there tends to be a portion of the story in which the hero must restore regular order to the world, clean up the mess they made, or make a return journey home. This is all part of the “falling action.”

Examples of Falling Action

Example 1

Here’s a simple example from a story that almost everyone is familiar with. In “Little Red Riding Hood,” the climax occurs when the wolf, disguised as the grandmother, eats Little Red Riding Hood. During the falling action, a nearby woodsman (having heard Little Red Riding Hood’s cries of distress) comes to her rescue, cutting open the wolf and saving both Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. This is a story in which the antagonist (the wolf) is defeated during the falling action rather than the climax—a reminder that the falling action isn’t always devoid of significant plot developments.

Example 2

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy tells the story of Frodo, a hobbit who must journey to a dangerous and faraway land in order to throw a magical ring into a volcano and, in doing so, destroy Sauron, a major force of evil that threatens the entire world, including everyone he loves. People often say that the final book (or film) of the trilogy ends with one climax after another, in a seemingly endless succession. But this is actually a mistake. While it’s true that the plot of the film continues for quite some time after the climax (in which the ring and Sauron are destroyed), it is not the case that each new plot development that occurs after the film’s climax is a climax in its own right. Rather, many of the seemingly “climactic” plot developments that follow the actual climax are part of the falling action, in which the heroes must make the long journey home.

For instance, the scene immediately following the climax—in which the volcano erupts and the heroes must escape—is part of the falling action sequence. The tension stemming from the central conflict has already been dispelled, but some tension remains surrounding the question of how and whether the heroes will get home.

Functions of Falling Action in Literature

Not all pieces of writing that have plots also make use of falling action—some plots end very suddenly after the climax, for example—but most plots do have a section in which the action “unwinds.” That’s because the falling action serves many different purposes in a story. Here are some of the main reasons a writer might build their plot with a section of falling action:

• To carry the plot from its climax to a resolution.
• To allow time for “unwinding” or de-escalating some of the tension that was built up during the rising action by showing the characters going through the process of re-ordering their lives or restoring the natural balance.
• To keep the audience engaged after the climax by introducing one or more smaller conflicts during the falling action.

Conclusion

The falling action is an important but often overlooked part of plot structure in which the central conflict of the story is moved toward complete resolution. Generally speaking, most works of writing that have a plot can be said to have a section of falling action. But not every story has a falling action—and even for stories that do contain it, the falling action isn’t always well-defined or easy to identify.