the main character, or the one most central to the action of the story

protagonist

the person, thing, or force working against the protagonist

antagonist

author’s reason for creating a work

author’s purpose

a person, animal, or imaginary creature that takes part in the action of a story

character

the techniques an author uses to develop the personality of a character in a literary work

characterization

the author tells you what to feel or think about a character

direct characterization

the author gives you information about a character through actions, speech, thoughts, feelings, and interactions that allow the reader to form an opinion

indirect characterization

the most important character(s)

main character

less important—they interact with the main characters and one another, but readers don’t know much about them

minor character

characters that stay the same throughout the story

static characters

characters that change from beginning to end— often they will learn something

dynamic characters

the words that characters speak—can move the plot along and reveal a lot about characters

Dialogue

a form of language that is spoken in a particular place or by a particular group of people

Dialect

the feeling that the work gives to readers—writers use words, phrases, and images to create ______

Mood

the action or sequence of events in a story

Plot

First part of plot—setting, characters and background info. are all introduced

exposition

the event that introduces the central conflict

inciting incident

series of conflicts or struggles that build the story toward its climax—tension rises

rising action

the high point or turning point of the story—the last big event dealing with the conflict

climax

the action that begins to settle the conflict

falling action

the ending—brings the story to a satisfactory close

resolution

1.. Exposition 2. Inciting incident 3. Rising Action 4. Climax 5. Falling Action 6. Resolution

the problem of the story that triggers the action

Conflict

problem with another character

person vs. person

problem with laws or beliefs of a group of people

person vs. society

problem with the environment

person vs. nature

problem deciding what to do or think

person vs. self

problem that seems to be uncontrollable

person vs. fate

the perspective from which a story is told

Point of View

story is told by one of the characters—uses pronouns like “I” or “we”—limited to only one character’s knowledge, thoughts, and feelings

First person p.o.v.

story is told by a narrator who is not a character in the story—uses pronouns like “he,” “she,” “they”

Third person p.o.v.

the time and place (year, season, time of day, weather, country, state, neighborhood, building, home, etc.) in which the action of a story occurs— clues are given by the author (clothing, customs, transportation, dialects)

Setting

a person, place, thing or event used to represent something else— context clues help you figure out what a symbol means

Symbol

the statement or lesson about life that the author wants the reader to understand….similar to a moral

Theme

the category or type of literature

Genre

the author gives hints or clues about what might happen in the future

foreshadowing

the author interrupts the sequence of events to tell about something in the past

flashback