Analyzing fiction Flashcards
Setting?
The place, historical context, social setting, time (season, year, etc.), time span in which
the story takes place
Plot?
What happens in the story. Plot depends on conflict. Plot may or may not be: a) true-to-life,
b) logical, and have c) an ironical ending, d) a surprise ending
Characters?
Describing characters means describing their backgrounds, motivation, and
personalities. Characters are revealed by (1) what the author says about them; (2) what
the characters say and do; and (3) how other characters react to them.
Often, a short story shows some kind of change in the main character’s situation, attitude
or understanding.
Conflict?
The struggle between characters (e.g. man vs. man), between a character and an outside
circumstance {e.g. man vs. nature), or even between two choices within the same character (e.g.
man vs. self). Plot depends on conflict.
Climax?
The “turning point” of highest tension in the story. A change usually occurs at the climax in
which the characters conflict is resolved.
Symbol?
An object or act in the story that seems to represent a deeper or larger
meaning, usually one connected with the theme.
A thing, person, action, or event that stands for something else (e.g. night = death) Symbols are often:
names, animals, vegetation, weather, bodies of water, colors, repeated objects, numbers, physical
characteristics.
Theme?
The main idea illustrated by the story; the main message of the story; the main insight about
human life (dreams, relationships, vulnerabilities, prejudices, etc.) State the theme as a complete
sentence. Readers of different backgrounds may perceive different themes in the same text.
Point of view?
Who tells the story.
Omniscient POV?
means a narrator who knows everything about the
characters and stands outside the story
Limited third person POV?
means that the story is narrated by someone who
stands outside the story but who sees everything from the viewpoint of only one
character.
First person POV?
means that the writer lets one of the characters tell the
story as “I.”
Mood/Tone?
The emotional feeling conveyed by the author to the reader. It may be light, humorous,
comic, ironic, sarcastic, serious, tragic, grim, melancholic, serene, mysterious, exciting, revengeful, doomed
(determined by fate), tragic, that of acceptance, etc.
Irony?
Irony is the use of words to express the opposite of their literal or usual meaning. Irony results
when there is a difference between our expectations and what actually happens. Irony may occur in a
surprise ending, or when the character’s understanding of the story situation is different from the reader’s
knowledge.
Similes?
Explicit comparisons between A and B: “A is like B” or
“A is 2.s…adjective…‘as B”.
Metaphors?
Implicit comparisons between A and B: “A is B”.
Example: “You are the sunshine of my life”. A metaphor can be a noun, verb, adjective or adverb.
Personification?
The attribution of human feelings or characteristics to abstractions or to inanimate
objects. Example: the sea is angry.
Imagery?
Appeals to the senses: smell, touch, hearing, taste, sight.
Paradox?
A statement which appears to be contradictory or absurd, but may be true.
Oxymoron?
A combination of neighbouring words which seem apparently contradictory
or incongruous
Alliteration?
The repetition of the initial consonant sounds in two or more consecutive words.
Flashback?
Narrator interrupts the chronology of the story to present something that
happened before.
