1. Understanding how culture shapes our values.

2.  A traditional story connected with the beliefs of a people, usually attempting to account for something in nature or history. A myth has LESS historical background than a LEGEND.

3.  A story handed down from the past, often associated with some period in the history of a people. A LEGEND differs from a MYTH in having SOME historical truth and often less of the supernatural.

4.  To explain the creation of the world/universe  To explain the human condition  Why there is suffering and death, why people are flawed, and what happens to people after they die.  To explain natural phenomena  lack of rain, floods, plagues, etc.  To explain the nature of gods and goddesses and how they interact with human beings  To explain meanings behind religious rituals, customs, and beliefs  To explain and record history  To teach moral lessons

5.  A type of early literature passed orally from generation to generation, and written down later. The authorship of folk literature is unknown.

6.  Folktales are secular or nonreligious  Folktales feature magic and gods and goddesses but they are not the central figures in the story  Folktale heroes tend to be common, everyday folk who don’t have superpowers

7.  The process by which an author reveals a character’s personality  There are five methods that use INDIRECT characterization, and one method that uses DIRECT characterization

8.  By the views of other characters  By recording what a character says (Dialogue)  By revelation of characters’ private thoughts  By showing the character’s actions  By the description of their appearance  By telling us DIRECTLY what the character is like: kind, untrustworthy, etc.

9.  The narrative situation a writer uses to present the actions and characters of a story.  First person POV: Narrated by one of its’ characters.  Third person POV: Narrated by a narrator who does not participate in the action.  OMNISCIENT POV: Able to see into the minds of all the characters.  LIMITED POV: Confined to a single character’s perceptions.  OBJECTIVE POV: Describing only what can be seen like a newspaper reporter.