Literary Terms Definitions and Examples ( especially for short story)

Short story- prose that can be read in a single sitting; Terms that apply to a short story are plot, plot diagram, conflict,character, setting, theme, foreshadowing, flashback, antagonist, protagonist

Elements of a Narrative (narrative means story).

  1. Plot –sequence of events
  2. Characters- people in the story or play
  3. Setting –when and where the story takes place
  4. Theme – the author’s message
  5. Point of view –who is telling the story
  6. Mood or tone – author’s attitude about what he has written
  1. Plot- the sequence of events in a story or novel (what happens) A conflict is always part of the plot.

Plot Diagram: exposition (introduction), rising action, climax(the highest point of the story), falling action, resolution(the conclusion; where conflict is resolved). (This diagram resembles a mountain with the climax as the peak)

Conflict – Every story has a conflict(something in conflict with the main character)

  1. Man vs. Man ______
  2. Man vs. Himself ______
  3. Man vs. Nature ______
  4. Man vs. Society ______
  5. Man vs. Supernatural______

Inciting Moment- The point in the story when the conflict first appears.

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  1. Characters: Developed by the author by how they look,how they act, what they think, what they say, what others say about them . Main character is protagonist in conflict with antagonist.

a.Protagonist – the main character in a story who has a problem or conflict.

  1. Antagonist – that which is in conflict with the main character ; could be another person, nature, such as a violent storm, or the main character himself. Antagonist creates a problem for the protagonist.

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  1. Characters can be ROUND (have many traits; many dimensions)The reader knows the round character because of his many traits.
  2. Characters can be FLAT (one dimensional trait) Flat characters are used to advance the plot of the story.
  3. STATIC (do not change in the story)
  4. Can be DYNAMIC (change during the course of the story) Character can have an epiphany (a sudden insight or revelation that causes change). The dynamic character changes his /her views forever.

Round and dynamicadjectives usually go together and often apply to the main character or the protagonist.

Flat and static adjectives usually go together.

Character Foil –This is a character who provides a contrast to another character. His role is to intensify the impact of the other character because he is so unlike him or her.

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III. Setting: when and where the story takes place. Introduced at the beginning of the story during the exposition.

  1. Historical Period can be part of setting (backdrop of story could be the Civil War, WWI, period of slavery, age of terrorism)
  2. Social atmosphere of the story- the class of the characters: upper, middle, lower class, the level of education, wealth or poverty, etc. Customs, dress, social status.
  3. Examples of time: Season of year, time of day, historical period, and how many days or hours it takes to complete the story.( a day, an hour, a year)
  4. Examples of Place: United States, New York, living room, island

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  1. Theme – the author’s message (theme of story or poem)Statement of theme never includes characters’ names because it applies to people in general, not just the characters in the story. The central idea or moral of the story; an unstated idea about life presented in a story or poem.
  1. Examples of theme: unrequited love, family feuds, grief, separation, war

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  1. Point of View –through whose eyes is the story being told.
  1. First person –The pronoun I is used throughout the story. This is usually the main character talking. First person participant.
  2. First person Nonparticipant – an observer only. Not in the story itself.
  3. Third Person – Pronouns he,she, it, they, them, the man, character’s name are used.May be told by a minor character or a nonparticipant observer.
  4. 1. Third person omniscient– means all knowing. This point of view can tell you what all characters are thinking. The author wants to be more sympathetic with all the characters’ views.

2. Third person limited- This point of view sees into only one character. The author wants the reader to identify with one character.

  1. Mood and Tone–Emotions created in the reader by the author.
  1. Is the mood light-hearted, serious, frightening, humorous?
  2. Tone- the author’s attitude toward what he writes. Is he making fun of a situation, is he serious, is he trying to persuade the audience?

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  1. Author might use flashback or foreshadowing or both to tell his story.
  1. Flashback- A character looks back in his past to share information that is significant to the plot. By using flashback, the author does not have to begin the story many years ago to tell what happened back then.
    Example: A soldier might share memories of his childhood before going to war, but it is as if the story is really taking place back then. Reader must be careful to catch when the setting flashes back or he can get confused.
  2. Foreshadowing – The author gives hints or clues about what will happen next to build suspense for the reader. (Example: in a movie the tempo of the background music changes and starts moving quickly).

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  1. Figures of speech – Create pictures in the reader’s mind. This information is not to be taken literally, but images help the reader to picture what the author is communicating.
  1. Symbolism-The author uses symbolism in poem or story. A symbol is something that represents more than itself in the story. Examples: the color white represents purity or surrender

Black represents doom, gloom, evil, fear.

  1. Irony –when the opposite of what the reader expects to happen, happens

Example: When a person wins the lottery, but he dies from excitement so he never gets to enjoy the money.

Example: In The Adventures of Huck Finn (when Jim is already freed from slavery but he does not know it so he keeps running from the slave holders).

1.Dramatic irony- the reader sees the character’s mistakes, but the character does not see them.

2. Verbal irony-The writer says one thing and means another.

3. Situational irony-The difference between the purpose of an action and the result of the action.

  1. Simile – comparison between 2 things not usually compared and NOT using “like” or “as.”

Example: O my luv is like a red, red rose. (compare love to a red rose)

Example: Her beauty is like a rich gem in an Ethiope’s ear. (compare Juliet’s beauty to a beautiful jewel in a dark complexioned ear)

d.Metaphor –A comparison between 22 things not usually compared NOT using like or as. A more direct comparison than a simile.

Example: The road is a ribbon of moonlight. (compares the road to a ribbon of moonlight and no use of “like” or “as.”

Example: Juliet is the sun. ( compares Juliet to the sun but no use of “like” or “as.”

e. Hyperbole – an author exaggerates to make a point or to provide humor

Example: He vomited up the entire state of Arizona….cactuses and all. The poem,” Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout” because the garbage piled all the way to the sky and from New York to San Fransisco.

f.Personification – when an author gives human traits to something not human. Since we are human, these traits help us to understand how the nonliving or nonhuman thing might feel.

Example: A car dies.

Example: The desk screams in pain each time its owner engraves his initials in it.

General Terms that pertain to Literature:

  1. Biography – The story of the life of a person written by someone else

2 .Autobiography – The story of the life of a person written by the person himself.

3. Tragedy- A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a result of a tragic flow or moral weakness.

4. Narrative – A story. It could be in prose or poetry.

5. Prose- Written or spoken language that is not poetry. Writing or speaking in sentence format, not verse, as in poetry.

6.Poetry – A literary work in metrical form (verse); a rhythmical composition.

7.Drama –Prose or verse (poetry)(Shakespeare is an example) that tells a serious story intended to be acted out with dialogue, characters and action. (A play)

8.Fiction – Writing that is made up by an author. It is not a true story. It has characters, plot, setting.

9.Nonfiction-Writing that is true. ( newspaper articles, biographies, autobiographies, etc.)