Literary Elements and Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park During the next week and a half we will be learning about these literary elements and relate them to the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton At the end of our unit we will have a response paper and a small quiz related to the book. We will also watch the movie as a little treat if everyone does well on their quizzes.

These are some of the terms we will be using: Character Imagery Mood Plot Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution Conflict Point of View Setting

Character A character is a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work. Dinosaurs are important characters in Jurassic Park.

Imagery Imagery is words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Writers use imagery to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and smell. What kind of Imagery do you think Jurassic Park will have?

Mood Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. Writer’s use many devices to create mood, including images, dialogue, setting, and plot. Often, a writer creates a mood at the beginning of a work and then sustains the mood throughout. Sometimes, however, the mood of the work changes dramatically.

Plot Plot is the sequence of events. The first event causes the second, the second causes the third, and so forth. In most novels, dramas, short stories, and narrative poems, the plot involves both characters and a central conflict.

Plot The plot usually begins with an exposition that introduces the setting, the characters, and the basic situation. This is introduced and developed. The conflict then increases until it reaches a high point of interest or suspense, the climax. The climax is followed by the falling action, or end, of the central conflict. Any events that occur during the falling action make up the resolution.

PLOTLINE Climax Rising Action Falling Action Resolution Exposition Conflict Introduced

Exposition The Exposition is the introduction. It is the part of the work that introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation.

Rising Action Rising Action is the part of the plot that begins to occur as soon as the conflict is introduced. The rising action adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest.

Climax The Climax is the point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot of a narrative. The climax typically comes at the turning point in a story or drama.

Falling Action Falling Action is the action that typically follows the climax and reveals its results.

Resolution The Resolution is the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict.

Conflict Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces in a story or play. There are two types of conflict that exist in literature.

Types of Conflict - External External conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate. Man vs. Man Man vs. Nature

Types of Conflict - Internal Internal conflict exists within the mind of a character who is torn between different courses of action. Man vs. Himself

Point of View Point of View is the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told. It is the relationship of the narrator to the story. First-person is told by a character who uses the first-person pronoun “I”. Third-person limited point of view is the point of view where the narrator uses third- person pronouns such as “he” and “she” to refer to the characters.

Setting The setting of a literary work is the time and place of the action. The setting includes all the details of a place and time – the year, the time of day, even the weather. The place may be a specific country, state, region, community, neighborhood, building, institution, or home. Details such as dialect, clothing, customs, and modes of transportation are often used to establish setting. In most stories, the setting serves as a backdrop – a context in which the characters interact. The setting of a story often helps to create a particular mood, or feeling.

Info on Jurassic Park Written in 1990 by Michael Crichton Made into a movie in 1993 Sequel is called The Lost World, which was also made into a movie. There are 3 Jurassic Park movies and 2 books.