1. Literary Terms for Novels and Short Stories Ms. Wood English 10 Honors

2. Plot Exposition – early part of the story that sets the TONE, establishes SETTING, introduces CHARACTERS, and gives important background information Narrative Hook – something that grabs your ATTENTION at the beginning of the story Rising Action – CONFLICT is introduced; events that lead up to the climax

3. Plot (cont) Climax – TURNING point; something happens that determines the outcome False Climax – apparent SOLUTION to the problem that does not last; real climax is yet to come Falling Action – after the climax, where the conflict BEGINS to resolve Denouement/Resolution – CONFLICT is resolved, any “loose ends” are tied up

4. Characterization Protagonist – main CHARACTER that the story centers around Antagonist – OPPOSES the protagonist Static – character that does not CHANGE in an important way during the story Dynamic – character that changes in an IMPORTANT way during the story

5. Characterization (cont) Round – character who displays many different aspects of his PERSONALITY; usually a dynamic character Flat – character who displays a single QUALITY and is predictable, not well-developed, and usually STATIC Foil – character whose physical or psychological qualities CONTRAST strongly with the corresponding qualities of another character

6. Setting Time PlaceMay have to use CLUES to figure these out Duration – length of TIME the story covers Mood/Atmosphere – FEELING or atmosphere that the writer creates. Examples: horrific, ROMANTIC, gloomy, fanciful

7. Point of View First Person – narrator tells the story using pronoun “I” Third Person Limited – narrator is OUTSIDE the story and relates it by limiting the viewpoint to ONE character’s perspective Third Person Omniscient – narrator is outside the story but is able to penetrate the THOUGHTS and describe the actions of the characters as the need arises

8. Conflict Man vs. Man – conflict between two or more CHARACTERS Man vs. Nature – character battling a FORCE of nature such as old age, snow, animals Man vs. Self – INTERNAL conflict; decision or problem within a character’s mind Man vs. Society – character battling society (Holocaust, RACISM, social class) Man vs. Supernatural – character battling God, GODS, magical beings or ghosts

9. Irony Situational – something happens that is the OPPOSITE of what you might expect Verbal – a character SAYS one thing but the opposite is true Dramatic – the reader knows something that a CHARACTER does not know

10. Style – writer’s distinctive manner of arranging WORDS Tone – ATTITUDE of the author towards the subject or audience Diction – selection and arrangement of WORDS (formal, informal, slang) – Connotation – IMPLIED meaning of a word; associations of a word – Denotation – dictionary or LITERAL definition of a word

11. Style (cont.) Cacophony – “bad sound” ; language that is DISCORDNANT or difficult to pronounce. Example: “never my numb plunker fumbles” (John Updike) Dialect – informal SPEECH, spoken by people in a particular geographic region (Examples: “y’all” and “ain’t” in the South)

12. Other Lit. Terms Theme – insight or MEANING behind the story; the writer’s “message” Forshadowing – hints or CLUES of what is to come later in the story Flashback – break in the story that takes us back TIME; different from a MEMORY Symbolism – use of symbols; an object that is itself but also REPRESENTS something more than itself. Ex: green = envy, eagle = freedom Allusion – reference to something familiar OUTSIDE of the story, such as a book, song, war, mythology, etc.