EXAM 1 Flashcards
What is analysis?
Analysis involves identifying and thinking about what’s going on in a piece of literature
What are three things an interpretation is NOT?
1) One word (Theme)
2) A definition
3) About the story or characters specifically
What is an interpretation?
A translation of the story’s larger message
What is symbolism?
When a writer uses one thing to represent another thing
What is personification?
Non-human things are described as having human characteristics or qualities or abilities.
What is a synecdoche?
When a part is used to stand in for the whole.
What is a Metonymy
Kind of like synecdoche, except instead of part substituting for the whole, we use something closely related to the thing we’re referring to as a substitute for it.
What is an Oxymoron
Oxymoron pairs two contradictory words in order to communicate something the nuance or complexity of which goes beyond the literal capacities of language as we normally use it.
What is a Hyperbole
An exaggeration
What is a Metaphor
Comparison of two things without “like” or “as”
What is a Simile
Comparison of two things with “like” or “as”
What is an Indirect metaphor
Metaphors that do not explicitly say that one thing is another, but they hint at the comparison in an indirect way
What is an Extended metaphor
A metaphor that goes on for several sentences
What is the Tenor
The thing in a metaphor being described
What is the Vehicle?
The comparison to the described thing in a metaphor
What is the ground?
What the vehicle and tenor have in common
What is the tension?
What the vehicle and tenor do not have in common
What is direct characterization?
When a character is described directly and explicitly
What is indirect characterization?
When no direct descriptions of a character, or a character’s characteristics, is offered, but we discover things about the character and might draw conclusions about the character from one combination or another of two intersecting sources of information
What is verbal irony?
Afigure of speech in which the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean.
What is dramatic irony?
When the reader knows something a character does not.
What is situational irony?
When a situation creates an unexpected, paradoxical, or perverse turn of events.
Who wrote “The Landing”?
Lydia Davis
What story did Lydia Davis write?
The Landing
