1. Literary Terms
Narrative Writing

2. Characterization
Direct characterization: when the author tells us personality traits of the character
Example: Mrs. Whalley had always been very shy; she had a hard time getting to know people because she didn’t engage in conversation very easily.
Indirect characterization: when the author uses actions to make the reader infer aspects of the character’s personality
When Mrs. Whalley entered the crowded room filled with strangers, her immediate instinct was to turn and run. Instead, she sat at the empty table and avoided making eye contact.

3. Figurative Language
Metaphor: making a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the terms “like” or “as”
This room is an oven!
Her hair was golden silk streaming in the afternoon breeze.
Simile: making a comparison between two seemingly unlike things using “like” or “as”
His blue eyes sparkled like diamonds.
She danced like she was trying to stomp on rabid squirrels.

4. Figurative Language
Imagery: Using detail and calling on the five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch) to create a picture of your story in the reader’s mind.
Flashback: An interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time frame of a work's action
Foreshadowing: Giving a hint or clue about actions that will occur later in the narrative
Setting: Focuses on the time period, climate, location, and cultural environment of a place

5. Conflict
External Conflicts: problems that a character has with other people or things
Man vs. man: fights, verbal or physical
Man vs. nature: storms, disease, old age
Man vs. society: stigmas, prejudice, majority opinion
Internal Conflict: problems a character has within oneself
Man vs. self: How to handle a situation, accepting who one is, coping with judgement, guilt, etc.

6. Irony
Dramatic Irony: when the audience knows something that not all characters are aware of
In Romeo and Juliet, we learn in the Prologue that Romeo and Juliet are fated to die but they are unaware.
Situational Irony: when the outcome of a situation is not what we expected to happen, typically after the writing has lead us to believe something else will occur
Verbal Irony: when a character says something but means something else, can often be sarcasm
“Oh man, another homework assignment? I’m so excited.”

7. Native American Culture
Watch the following clips that focus on Tamara and Thomas, who live in New Mexico on the Navajo reservation
As we watch, observe as much as you can about what the culture and life is like on these reservations and write down as many details as possible on lined paper

8. Discussion Questions
How would you describe life on the reservation where Thomas and Tamara live? What information in the documentary led you to these conclusions?
What did Thomas gain from the ceremony convened by his family to "send him off on his way to become a young man"? How might such a meeting connect past and present for Thomas?
What internal conflicts do Thomas and Tamara seem to deal with regarding Native American and American culture?

9. The lone ranger and tonto fistfight
Author: Sherman Alexie
Grew up in Spokane, Washington on the Spokane/Coeur D’Alene reservation
Went to high school off the reservation
Went to college and began writing poetry and fiction
Began to abuse alcohol
In 1990, his work was published in magazine and he quit drinking
Information from the Poetry Foundation

10. Sherman Alexie’s writing
According to the Poetry Foundation,
“in his short-story and poetry collections, Alexie illuminates the despair, poverty, and alcoholism that often shape the lives of Native Americans living on reservations. His poems, novels and short stories evoke sadness and indignation yet also leave readers with a sense of respect and compassion for characters who are in seemingly hopeless situations. Involved with crime, alcohol, or drugs, Alexie’s protagonists struggle to survive the constant battering of their minds, bodies, and spirits by white American society and their own self-hatred and sense of powerlessness.”