1. Literary Terms Review for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
English 10 CP
Cvejic

2. We will use the following terms:
Character Antagonist Protagonist Diction Denotation Connotation Imagery Mood Plot Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution Conflict Irony Foreshadowing Symbol Point of View Setting Flashback Theme Tone Contrast Metaphor Simile Personification Alliteration

3. Character
A character is a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work.

4. Antagonist
The Antagonist is a character or force in conflict with a main character, or protagonist.

5. Do you know your Antagonists???
On your paper take a few minutes to write down some Antagonists that you can recall from movies, television shows, and video games
Remember the Antagonist is in conflict with the Protagonist or, main character!
Helpful hint – you should now know why people use the saying “Don’t antagonize me!”

6. Protagonist The Protagonist is the main character in a literary work
Can you name some famous Protagonists that are found in literature?

7. Denotation
The denotation of a word is its dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the word may have.

8. Connotation
The connotation of a word is the set of ideas associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning. The connotation of a word can be personal, based on individual experiences. More often, cultural connotations – those recognizable by most people in a group – determine a writer’s word choices.

9. Denotation versus Connotation
Some examples – Cheap is “low in cost” (denotation) but “stingy” or “poorly made” are the connotations of cheap

10. Let’s use the word HOT The denotation (or dictionary definition – remember d in denotation = dictionary) of HOT is: having a temperature higher than that of a human body. However, when you say “Man! He/She is hot!”, are you saying “Man! He is having a temperature higher than that of a human body!”? No!! You are saying the CONNOTATION of HOT – which could mean a variety of things – man he/she is cute, attractive, beautiful, and many other meanings – those come from personal experiences and cultural meanings, etc.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Tone
Tone is a reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work. Tone may be communicated through words and details that express particular emotions and that evoke and emotional response from the reader.
For example, word choice or phrasing may seem to convey respect, anger, lightheartedness, or sarcasm.

14. Diction
Diction is the manner in which we express words; the wording used.
Diction = enunciation
Some easy examples are:
Don’t say ‘goin’ – say ‘going’, Don’t say ‘wanna’ – say ‘want to’

15. Style
Style is the distinctive way in which an author uses language. Word choice, phrasing, sentence length, tone, dialogue, purpose, and attitude toward the audience and subject can all contribute to an author’s writing style.

16. 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. 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.

17. PLOTLINE Climax Rising Action Falling Action Resolution Exposition
Conflict Introduced

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

19. 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.

20. 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.

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

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

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

24. External Conflict
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

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

26. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story. Writers use foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare for what is to come.

27. The contrast between what is expected and what actually happens.
Irony
The contrast between what is expected and what actually happens.
Dramatic irony: information known by audience but not characters in a story/play
Situational irony: outcome of a situation is opposite or contradictory to what what expected

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. Theme
The theme of a literary work is its central message, concern, or purpose. A theme can usually be expressed as a generalization, or general statement, about people or life. The theme may be stated directly by the writer although it is more often presented indirectly. When the theme is stated indirectly, the reader must figure out the theme by looking carefully at what the work reveals about the people or about life.

31. Metaphor
A Metaphor is a type of speech that compares or equates two or more things that have something in common. A metaphor does NOT use like or as. Example: Life is a bowl of cherries.

32. Simile
A Simile is another figure of speech that compares seemingly unlike things. Simile’s DO use the words like or as. Example: Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

33. Oxymoron
An Oxymoron is a figure of speech that is a combination of seemingly contradictory words. Examples: Same difference Pretty ugly Roaring silence

34. Paradox
A paradox is a STATEMENT that, on the surface, seems to contradict itself but is true.
Example: a) The child was parent to the man.
b) Freedom is slavery.

35. Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given human qualities or characteristics. Example: Tears began to fall from the dark clouds.

36. Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds, most often consonant sounds, at the beginning of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to words. Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

37. (Paul Baumer addressing the Earth in Chapter 4)
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a figure of speech in which someone absent, dead or nonhuman is addressed as if it/he was there.
Example: “…O Earth, though grantest thou the great resisting surge of new-won life.” (Remarque 52)
(Paul Baumer addressing the Earth in Chapter 4)