Fredens Altine Study guide

Allusion Definition: A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature. Ex: References to actual historical events in The Book Hitler

Aside Definition: A character is not alone on stage, yet makes comments meant only for the audience Ex: Macbeth admits that Macbeth is an obstacle in his way to become king

Attention Grabber Definition: An opening statements that grabs the reader’s attention and make the reader want to continue reading your essay. Ex: There are five different types of attention grabbers: questions, anecdote, image, fact, quote

Autobiography Definition: From of non-fiction in which a person tells his or her own story. Ex: Night is an autobiography work written by Wiesel

Characterization Definition: Act of creating and developing a character Ex: indirect and direct

Climax Definition: High point of interest or suspense Ex: when the people of Molching die in the bomb attack

Clincher Statements Definition: Concluding sentence in a paragraph that comments your paragraph back to your thesis statements. Ex: As evident, Wiesel learned many life lessons throughout the Holocaust and become a voice for Holocaust survivors all over the world

Comic Relief Definition: A humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serous work. Ex: The scene with the drunk Porter in Macbeth after king Duncan is killed.

Conflict (two Types) Definition: Struggle with the plot 1.Internal-man in conflict with self 2.External-man in conflict with man, man in conflict with nature Ex:  Liesels conflict with herself when she steals  Jews in conflict with the Nazis

Direct Characterization Definition: Author directly states a character’s personality traits. EX: Max is quiet

Exposition Definition: Beginning of a plot diagram- introduces setting, characters, and conflict Ex: Death describe Molching and the people of Molching

Figurative Language Definition: Words used in an imaginative, non- literal sense Ex: Similes, metaphors, personification, etc.

Flashback Definition: Literacy device that serves a an interruption in the action to show a scene that took place earlier Ex: Death uses flashbacks to tell Hans’ story

Foil Definition: A character whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the distinctive temperature of that character. EX: Macbeth and Banquo, Atticus and Mr. Ewell

Foreshadow Definition: Suggestive of events to come EX: Macbeth’s visions of Daggers

Hyperbole Definition: An exaggeration Ex: I love you to death

Imagery Definition: Words use to create vivid images, appeal to the five senses. Ex: the room smelled like fresh apple pie

Indirect Characterization Definition: Readers infer personality traits based on comments and actions of other characters. Ex: People in Sighet turned to Elie Weiswl’s father for guidance while in the ghetto. This means he must have been a wise and respected man.

Metaphor Definition: Comparisons between two unlike things that do not use the words like or as. Ex: School is heaven

MLA citation Definition: Modern Language Association style of citing sources. Ex: (Zusak113)

Mood Definition: Atmosphere of the feeling created in the reader by a literary work Ex: A creepy and eerie mood is established in Act 1. Scene 1 of Macbeth

Oxymoron Definition: A combination of two contradictory ideas Ex: Jumbo shrimp

Personification Definition: speaking of an inanimate object as human Ex: the test stared at me

Plot Definition: Sequence of events in a literary work Ex: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, dénouement

Point Of View (three different types) Definition: perspective or vantage point from which a story is told Ex:  First Person-narrators is a character in the story and refers to himself or herself with the first person pronoun/. The story is told through the perspective of the narrator  Third person omniscient-narrator knows all and tells what each character feels and thinks  Third person limited-narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only one character, and everything is viewed from this character’s perspective.

setting Definition: time and place Ex: Night-Poland and Hungary,

Short story Definition: Brief work of fiction meant to entertain or instruct the listener Ex: “popular Mechanics” by Raymond Carver

Soliloquy Definition: A character is along an stage and reveals his/her true thoughts and feelings Ex: Macbeth reveals his conflicted feelings about murdering Duncan

Structure of Shakespeare’s plays Definition: 5 facts (review your notes to learn what happens in each act) Ex: Act I-conflict is established and audience is asked to take sides

Symbol Definition: something that stands for something else Ex: snake imagery in Macbeth is symbolic of evil intentions

Theme Definition: Central message or insight into life revealed in a literary work. Ex: Night teaches us about the strength of the human spirit and of family bonds.

Tone Definition: writer’s attitude toward his or her subject, characters or audience. Ex: the tone of the scenes with the witches is dark and ominous

Topic Sentence Definition: First sentence of a paragraph that clearly state the main point of your paragraph Ex: first of all, Hitler was a dictator who dehumanized the Jewish people

Tragic Hero Definition: Character in a work of fiction who exhibits a tragic from which eventually leads to his or her downfall Ex: one could argue that Macbeth is a tragic hero who is brought down by his own ambition.

Understatement