Falling Action Examples

Stories have a plot, and a plot has five main parts: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Falling action refers to the part of the story after the climax where the conflicts and problems in the story have already come to a head and now the characters are working to resolve conflicts.

Two friends fight over a boy (climax), but then after their tempers cool, they decide to talk through the problem instead of fighting.

A boy spends countless hours working on his pitching to pitch in the championship game (climax), and then after the team wins, he decides to take a break from baseball for the week and spend time swimming with his friends.

Examples from Literature:

In the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry faces Voldemort and keeps him from getting the sorcerer's stone, and then he talks with Dumbledore and prepares to leave his friends at Hogwarts during the school holiday.

In The Hunger Games, after Katniss and Peeta win the contest, they travel back to their district, heroes, but changed.

In Star Wars, Episode IV, Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star, and then he returns to the rebel base a hero and receiving congratulations from his friends and the rebel fighters.

In Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the falling action occurs after the fight at the Beast's castle and after the Beast becomes human. He realizes Belle has saved him with her love, and then all of the other characters who were affected by the enchantment slowly return to their human form.