English 110 Terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A narrative in which certain abstractions, such as sin, faith, loyalty and mercy are made concrete; usually by being personified; type of symbolism

Question 2

Antagonist

Answer 2

The person against whom the protagonist of a story struggles

Question 3

Atmosphere

Answer 3

The mood that pervades a story, usually established through descriptions of setting

Question 4

Climax

Answer 4

The point in the plot when the conflict reaches its highest tension; conflict is resolved at the climax

Question 5

Conflict

Answer 5

The struggle between the protagonist and some opposing person (antagonist) or force

Question 6

Denouement

Answer 6

The final part of a play, narrative, or movie in which the grandson of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved

Question 7

Dynamic character

Answer 7

A character who undergoes some fundamental change over the course of a story

Question 8

Editorializing

Answer 8

A narrator’s intrusion into a story to direct the reader’s interpretation

Question 9

Enveloping Action

Answer 9

The wider social or historical events surrounding the narrower personal struggles of the character in a story

Question 10

Epiphany

Answer 10

Sudden manifestation of some truth

Question 11

First-Person Narrator

Answer 11

A narrator who appears in a story, either as a participant or merely as an observer

Question 12

In Medias Res

Answer 12

The technique of beginning a story by relating events well beyond the complication; earlier incidents of plot are divulged through flashbacks or by some other method

Question 13

Limited Omniscience

Answer 13

A third person narrator who knows more than a. First person narrator could know, but whose knowledge is limited, usually to the thoughts of one or a few characters

Question 14

Literary Symbol

Answer 14

An object carrying symbolic meaning only within the cont ft of a particular work of literature

Question 15

Motif

Answer 15

Any word, phrase, idea, object or situation that recurs throughout a work or that is common to works within a sub-genre

Question 16

Narrator

Answer 16

The person telling a story

Question 17

Omniscient Narrator

Answer 17

A third-person narrator from whom no info is hidden; knows the thoughts of all characters

Question 18

Plot

Answer 18

Sequence of events in a story; complication, rising action, climax, resolution

Question 19

Point of View

Answer 19

The perspective from which a story is told

Question 20

Projection

Answer 20

Technique of narration by which the emotional state of a character colors the description of the setting

Question 21

Protagonist

Answer 21

The character whom the story is about; usually dynamic character; has an epiphany; different at resolution from the beginning of complication

Question 22

Resolution

Answer 22

Part of a story after the climax has ended the conflict; state of equilibrium

Question 23

Reversal

Answer 23

Condition sometimes suffered by a protagonist (IE tragedy) in which climax brings about dramatic change in fortune, usually a change from real/figurative state of prosperity to poverty

Question 24

Rising Action

Answer 24

Incidents in the plot between the complication and climax; usually raises the reader’s sense of tension

Question 25

Setting

Answer 25

Locale in which a story takes place

Question 26

Static Character

Answer 26

Character who doesn’t change through the course of a story

Question 27

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 27

A technique of narration that attempts to reproduce the succession of thoughts, sensory impressions, memories and so on that pass through a character’s mind; interior monologue

Question 28

Symbol

Answer 28

An object that represents something other than itself

Question 29

Sympathetic Character

Answer 29

A character whom the reader likes

Question 30

Theme

Answer 30

What the story is about on an abstract level

Love, revenge, friendship, forgiveness

Question 31

Third-Person Narrator

Answer 31

Narrator who doesn’t appear as a character in a story, often has no persona, and writer expects r adhere to accept their narration as objective fact in distorted by personal perspective

Question 32

Universal Symbol

Answer 32

Object carrying symbolic meaning in the context of many cultures

Setting sun = death

Question 33

Unreliable Narrator

Answer 33

Narrator whose point of view clearly distorts the story they are relating