1. Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson Ms. Haarer
Literature Terms
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Ms. Haarer

2. Remember Narrator?
A narrator is the speaker or character that tells a narrative or story.
The writer’s choice of narrator determines the story’s point of view.

3. Point of View
First person POV: the narrator is part of the action; uses the pronouns I, me, and my; the reader only knows what the narrator knows.
Third person POV: told by someone outside the action.
Omniscient POV: all-knowing; is able to reveal ALL thoughts and feelings of ALL characters.

4. Dialect
The form of language (NOT ACCENT!) spoken by people in a particular region or group.
Pronunciation
Vocabulary (bathroom vs. water closet) (elevator vs. lift)
Sentence structure

5. Character Motivation
The reason or reasons behind a character’s behavior.
Why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way.
Personality combined with a situation.
Examples:
Why does Charlie rob the candy store?
Why does Ty’ree give up college?
Why does Lafayette ask about his mother’s death so much?

6. Narrative Structure
The way in which the story events are organized and revealed.
Examples:
Chronological Order: told in the order that events normally happen (from beginning to end)

7. Flashback: a scene or incident that jumps back to an earlier time.
Frame Story: contains a story inside a larger narrative framework- a story within a story (like Holes, or the TV show Home Improvement)
Interrelated Stories: stories that are separate, but share a common element (like a book of fairy tales)

8. Conflict a struggle between opposing forces in a narrative
Internal Conflict: occurs within a character who faces opposing ideas, feelings, or choices
External Conflict: occurs between a character and a larger force, or between two characters
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Society

9. Theme a central message or insight conveyed in a work of literature
What does the work make you think about the most?
What does the work suggest about life or people?
Stated Theme: is stated directly in the text of the work
Implied Theme: is not stated but is suggested by the details in the work