Elements of Fiction Flashcards
What is setting?
Term used to describe total environment in which the action of a narrative takes place. May include: geographical locations, characters’ physical and mental environment, cultural attitudes and historical time.
What are the elements of setting? (3)
Location
Time
Weather
Protagonist
Main Character in a Literary work
Antagonist
Character opposed to the protagonist (villain)
Flat or type character
two-dimensional character built around a single quality (NPC)
Round character
three-dimensional character who is complex in temperament and motivation (detailed NPC)
static character
character who changes very little if at all
dynamic character
character who is modified by actions and experiences (changes)
Image
sensory representation of a thing, impression, feeling or idea
Symbol
an image that refers to something concrete in reality but that also evokes an additional, often abstract level of meaning
types of symbols? (2)
conventional
contextual
conventional symbol
symbols with meanings that are commonly understood by a society or a culture
contextual symbol
symbols with meaning that are produced by the way they are used in a particular literary work
What is irony?
Term used to denote that the appearance of things differs from their reality, whether in terms of meaning, situation or action. It is ironic when there is difference between what is spoken and what is meant.
Discrepancy between the ostensible and true meaning of words which is used to achieve special rhetorical or literary effects.
Types of Irony (4)
Verbal
Situational
Dramatic
Structural
Verbal Irony
Discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
Situational Irony
Character intends for one thing to happen but another happens instead
Dramatic Irony
When the reader knows more about the immediate circumstances or future events of a story than a character within.
Structural Irony
Double level meaning is continued throughout a work by means of some inherent structural feature like naive hero or fallible narrator.
Sarcasm
Type of verbal irony that is used to mock, ridicule or express strong disapproval
Story
constituted by events that are ordered chronologically, sequence of events in time
Plot
constituted by events that are ordered with aim of achieving particular emotional and artistic effect
POV (7)
Focalizer
First-person
First-person multiple
Third-person omniscient
Third-person limited
Third-person multiple
Free indirect discourse
Focalizer
character from whose perspective we are viewing a particular scene
First-person
limits the narrative to what the narrator knows and experiences
First-person multiple
uses first person but shifts between multiple characters
Third-person omniscient
narrator knows everything that needs to be known about the agents, actions, events, etc. has privileged access to the characters’ thoughts. narrator free to move at will in time and place, report or conceal the thoughts of characters.
Third-person limited
narrator tells story in third person, but stays inside the confines of what is experienced, thought and felt by a single character within the story
Third-person multiple
uses third-person limited POV but shifts between multiple characters
Free indirect discourse
mode of narration in which reports of what a character says and thinks shifts in pronouns, tense, etc.
ex. Yes, yes, he was finally rich (implied: John though).
Special Effects (7)
Fallible or unreliable narrator
Narrative hook
Flashback
Flashforward
Foreshadowing
Frame story
Metafiction
Fallible or unreliable narrator
a narrator whose perception is flawed or limited, whose opinions do not coincide with the author’s
narrative hook
literary device in which author presents intriguing image or situation at the beginning of the narrative to capture attention
flashback
literary device by which a work presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work
flashforward
literary device by which a work presents events that have not yet occurred in the main timeframe of the narrative
foreshadowing
literary device in which author provides subtle hints about future plot developments
frame story
a main story within which is narrated a connected series of other stories
metaficition
foregrounds its own constructedness in order to highlight that it is fiction
self-referential
