1. Why Read Fiction?

2. Escape Literature Written for entertainment
Takes us away from the real world
Forget our troubles
Sole purpose is pleasure

3. Interpretive Literature
Written to broaden awareness of life
Takes us deeper into real world through imagination
Helps us understand our troubles
Purpose is pleasure plus understanding

4. Plot
Sequence of incidents or events that make up a story

5. Incident
An event or episode in a work of fiction that moves the plot forward or reveals character

6. Subplot
A secondary series of events that are subordinate to the main story
Story within a story

7. Flashback
Reference to an event that took place prior to the beginning of a story or a play

8. Immature Reader Equates plot with content of work
Reads chiefly for plot
Places a high value on physical action

9. Mature Reader Uses plot to gain insights into life
Reads for revelations that character or plot presents
Places a high value on significant action

10. Conflict
A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills. Conflict may be physical, mental, emotional, or moral

11. Conflict Man against man Man against environment Man against himself
Man against society

12. Conflict
Stories can consist of multiple conflicts. The protagonist may or may not be aware of conflict.

13. Protagonist
The central character in the conflict (either sympathetic or unsympathetic)

14. Confidant/Confidante
Someone that the protagonist talks to, enabling the audience or reader to become aware of the character’s motivation

15. Antagonist
Forces arrayed against the protagonist, whether persons, things, society, or inner traits

16. Suspense
A quality in a story that makes the reader ask, “What’s going to happen next?”
In Interpretive Lit. the question becomes, “How is the protagonist’s behavior to be explained in terms of human personality and character?”

17. Mystery Unusual set of circumstances that requires an explanation
Achieves suspense

18. Dilemma
Protagonist must choose between two undesirable courses of action
Achieves suspense

19. Surprise Unexpected ending or event
The mature reader judges surprise in two ways:
By the fairness with which it is achieved
By the purpose that it serves
A worthwhile surprise ending reinforces or reveals the meaning of a story.

20. Endings
Immature reader usually demands happy ending that resolves conflicts
Mature reader doesn’t evaluate ending by whether it is happy or unhappy. It is judged by whether it is logical in terms of what precedes it and by the fullness of the revelation it provides

21. Interp. Lit. often has Unhappy Endings
Situations in life often end unhappily. To illuminate life, fiction must present defeat as well as triumph
Unhappy endings force readers to ponder issues and consider implications
Stories may also have indeterminate endings.

22. Artistic Unity Essential to an effective plot
Nothing in the story should be irrelevant
Everything should contribute to the total meaning
No plot manipulation

23. Characterization
Method by which author creates appearance and personality of imaginary persons
Revealed through narration, actions, dialogue, or inner thoughts

24. Direct Presentation
Author tells us straight out what a character is like or has another character tell us

25. Indirect Presentation
Author shows us the character in action
We infer what the character is like from what he says, thinks, or does

26. Dramatization
Reader must “see” the character speaking and acting in order for the character to be emotionally convincing

27. Three Principles for Convincing Characterization:
Characters must be consistent in their behavior
Characters must be clearly motivated in what they do
Characters must be plausible or lifelike

28. Flat Character
One or two traits
Summed up in a sentence

29. Round Character Complex and many-sided
Requires an essay for full analysis

30. Stock Character A flat character Stereotyped figure
His nature is immediately known
E.G. “The mad scientist”

31. Static Character
The same sort of character at the end of the story as he was at the beginning

32. Developing (Dynamic) Character
Undergoes a permanent change during the story in some aspect of his character, personality, or outlook

33. Theme Different from topic Topics are typically words or phrases
Theme is controlling idea or central insight
Sometimes equivalent to story’s revelation of human character
Usually it is implied

34. Theme Not always a “moral” or rule of conduct
Themes of Escape Lit. are often widely accepted
Themes of Interp. Lit. more likely to challenge conventional beliefs

35. Symbol Effective stories characterized by compression
Nothing is wasted
Each word/detail chosen for maximum effectiveness
Symbol helps achieve compression

36. Literary Symbol An object, person, a situation, an action
Literal meaning
Represents other meanings as well

37. Name Symbolism
Mr. Nilson
“Nil’s son” – son of nil or nothing

38. What to Look for in Symbols
Stories should furnish clue to symbolism through:
Emphasis
Repetition
Position
E.G. “The quince tree”

39. What to Look for in Symbols
Meaning must be established and supported by entire context of story
Must suggest a meaning different form its literal meaning
May have more than one meaning
E.G. quince could represent life, growth, beauty, freedom, joy, etc.

40. Motif
A recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation that appears in various works or throughout the same work

41. Three Kinds of Irony
Verbal irony - opposite is said from what is intended
Dramatic irony – contrast between what character says or knows and what the reader knows to be true
Situational irony – discrepancy between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfillment

42. Omniscient Point of View
Told by author in 3rd person
Knowledge is unlimited
Can interpret behavior
Can tell what characters are thinking or feeling

43. Limited Omniscient 3rd person from viewpoint of one character
Can be a major or minor character

44. 1st Person
Author disappears into the mind of a character who tells the story
Can be a major or minor character

45. Objective (Dramatic) Roving sound camera Reader as spectator at movie
Camera goes anywhere
Records only what is seen or heard
Cannot comment, interpret, or enter character’s mind

46. Reliability
The extent to which the narrator can be trusted or believed. The closer he is to the story, the more his judgment will be influenced by forces in the story

47. Archetype
A pattern or model of an action, a character type, or an image that recurs consistently enough in life and literature to be considered universal

48. Mood Atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work
Created by description or style of the description
E.G. horror, mystery, childlike simplicity, etc.