Literary Terms

Short Story  a relatively brief, fictional narrative written in prose. It became a true literary form in the 19th century under the direction of Edgar Allan Poe and others. To understand its elements and those of novels, you must be able to understand and apply literary terms.

Novel  fictional prose narrative usually consisting of more than fifty thousand words. In general, the novel uses the same basic literary elements as the short story (plot, character, setting, theme, and point of view) but develops them more fully. Many novels contain several subplots.

Essential Question  How are the elements of a plot diagram related to and support the story line?

Plot series of related events that make up a story. Consists of the following: Exposition: the beginning; gives information about the characters and their problems or conflicts Rising Action: the main events and complications leading to the climax Climax: moment of greatest emotional intensity or suspense; marks the moment the conflict is decided one way or another Falling Action: the main events and complications leading to the resolution Resolution: the way the conflict is resolved Denouement: (French—literal translation: tying up loose ends) the story’s ending; may be the resolution

Plot Chart

Setting  the time and place of a story. Often contributes to the atmosphere, conflict, or characterization.

Character  person (usu.) in a story

 Protagonist: the main character. Most often round and dynamic. Usu. the hero.  Antagonist: the character or force that blocks the protagonist. Often the villain.

 Static Character: one who does not change much during the course of the story  Dynamic Character: one who changes as a result of the story’s events

 Flat Character: a character with no depth. Has only 1 or 2 traits that can be described in a few words.  Round Character: a character who is much like a real person. Has many different character traits, which sometimes contradict one another.

 Subordinate/ Stock Character: often static or flat characters. May play important roles but do not serve as the main characters

 Foil: character who is used as a contrast to another character to accentuate the distinct qualities of the two characters

Essential Question  How can inferencing help us to more accurately understand direct and indirect characterization?

Inferences  Use observations and background to reach a logical conclusion  an author will not include all the information for us.  read between the lines and reach conclusions about the text.  You become an active reader  EX- You see someone eating a new food and he or she makes a face, then you infer he does not like it.

Characterization  process of revealing the personality of a character

Direct Characterization:  the author tells us directly what a character is like

Indirect Characterization: reader decides what a character is like based on the evidence provided by the author  what the character says  how the character looks and dresses  what the character thinks and feels  what other characters think or say about them  what the character does

Foreshadowing  the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later  build suspense and anxiety  uncertainty a reader feels about what will happen next in a story

Theme  central idea the author wishes to reveal about the subject of a piece of literature.  May or may not be a moral or lesson  not usually directly stated

Essential Question  How can an author use tone, mood and conflict to create a scary, creepy or suspenseful story?

Mood  a story’s atmosphere  the feeling it evokes in the reader

Tone  attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character, or the audience;  conveyed through the writer’s choice of words and details  often confused with mood I think that more humans should be aware of the trials and tribulations of us fish. Finding Nemo deserves more recognition…

Conflict  struggle, clash, or problem between opposing characters or opposing forces

External Conflict:  character struggles against an outside force  person vs. person  person vs. society  person vs. nature

Internal Conflict:  takes place entirely within the character’s own mind.  A struggle between opposing needs, desires or emotions  person vs. him- or herself

Point of View  vantage point from which the author tells a story

Essential Question:  How does different points of view reveal characterization?

First Person:   one of the characters is telling the story using the pronoun I.  know and observe only what this character observes.

Narrator  the voice telling a story …so when I was eighteen, I went to visit this fortune teller who told me I would meet a stranger on the subway and…

Third-person Omniscient:  “all-knowing” and “all- seeing” narrator is NOT a character in the story.  Almost like a god telling the story as they know past, present, and future  can tell us what any character is thinking or feeling at any time

Third-person Limited:  the narrator, who is not a character in the story   zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character.

Allusion  reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science or pop culture

Dialect  way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or group of people Y’all are comin’ to my dance recital, ain’t ya?

Dialogue  the conversation between characters. An important factor in characterization and in moving the plot forward. Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane? Yes, I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane.

Flashback  scene that interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time

Irony  contrast between expectation and reality

Miss me? Miss me?  Verbal Irony: contrast between what is said and what is really meant contrast between what is said and what is really meant

 Situational Irony: contrast between what is expected to happen and what really happens 11

 Dramatic Irony: contrast between what the audience knows to be true and what a character knows

Style  the particular way in which a writer uses language; created mainly through word choice (diction) and use of figurative language and sentence patterns Yo, Dudes. Check out my shades and the cool stripes on my tail. Now that’s style !

Symbol  person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well

Voice  the writer’s or speaker’s distinctive use of language in a piece of writing; created by a writer’s tone and word choice CYAL8R ^5 ;^)