Fiction Section

Question 0

Formula fiction

Answer 0

Often characterized as “escape literature”, formula fiction follows a pattern of conventional reader expectations.

Question 1

Canon

Answer 1

Those works generally considered by scholars, critics, and teachers to be the most important to read and study, which collectively constitute the “masterpieces” of literature.

Question 2

Plot

Answer 2

An authors selection and arrangement of incidents in a story to shape the action and give the story a particular focus.

Question 3

In medias res

Answer 3

The common strategy of beginning a story in the middle of the action. The story is entered on the verge of something important.

Question 4

Flashback

Answer 4

A narrated scene that marks a break in the narrative in order to inform the reader or audience member about events that took place before the opening scene of a work.

Question 5

Character

Answer 5

A character is a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, and characterization is the process by which a writer makes the character seem real to the reader.

Question 6

Exposition

Answer 6

A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work, that provides necessary background, information about the characters and their circumstances.

Question 7

Rising action

Answer 7

The first part of the story in which complication creates some sort of conflict for the protagonist.

Question 8

Conflict

Answer 8

The struggle within the plot between opposing forces. The protagonist engaged in the conflict with the antagonist.

Question 9

Foreshadowing

Answer 9

The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.

Question 10

Protagonist

Answer 10

The main character of a narrative; its central character who engages the readers interest and empathy.

Question 11

Hero/heroine

Answer 11

Central character who engaged the readers interest and empathy.

Question 12

Antagonist

Answer 12

The character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that apposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story.

Question 13

Suspense

Answer 13

The anxious anticipation of a reader or an audience as to the outcome of a story, especially concerning the character with whole sympathetic attachments are found.

Question 14

Climax

Answer 14

The moment of greatest emotional tension in a narrative, usually marking s turning point in the plot at which the rising action reverses to become the falling action

Question 15

Resolution

Answer 15

The conclusion of a plots conflicts and complications.

Question 16

Dénouement

Answer 16

A French term meaning “unraveling” or “unknotting” used to describe the resolution of the plot that follows the climax.

Question 17

Characterization

Answer 17

The process by which a writer makes the character seem real to the reader.

Question 18

Showing

Answer 18

Allows the author to present a character talking and acting, and let’s the reader infer what kind of person the character is.

Question 19

Telling

Answer 19

The author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader.

Question 20

Motivate action

Answer 20

Occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make.

Question 21

Plausible

Answer 21

Action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.

Question 22

Dynamic character

Answer 22

Undergoes some kind of change because of action in the plot.

Question 23

Static character

Answer 23

A character does not change throughout the work, and the readers knowledge of the character does not grow.

Question 24

Foil

Answer 24

A character in work whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the distinctive temperament of that character.

Question 25

Flat character

Answer 25

Embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that can be readily described in a brief summary.

Question 26

Stock characters

Answer 26

Characters that embody stereotypes such as the “dumb blonde” or the “mean stepfather”.

Question 27

Round characters

Answer 27

Characters more complex than flat or stock characters, and often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in the most real people.

Question 28

Setting

Answer 28

The physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs.

Question 29

Point of view

Answer 29

Refers to who tells us the story and how it is told. What we know and how we feel about the events in a work are shaped by the authors choice of point of view.

Question 30

Narrator

Answer 30

The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the authors voice.

Question 31

Omniscient narrator

Answer 31

An all-knowing narrator who is not a character in the story and who can move from place to place and pass back and forth through time.

Question 32

Editorial omniscience

Answer 32

Refers to an intrusion by the narrator in order to evaluate a character for a reader.

Question 33

Neutral omniscience

Answer 33

Narration that allows the characters actions and thoughts to speak for themselves.

Question 34

Limited omniscient narrator

Answer 34

Occurs when an author restricts a narrator to the single perspective of either a major or minor character.

Question 35

First-person narrator

Answer 35

The I in the story presents the point of view of only one character.

Question 36

Unreliable narrator

Answer 36

Reveals an interpretation of events that is somehow different from the authors own interpretation of those events.

Question 37

Naive narrator

Answer 37

Characterized by youthful innocence.

Question 38

Symbol

Answer 38

A person, object, image, word or event that evokes a range of additional meaning behind and usually more abstract than its literal significance.

Question 39

Conventional symbols

Answer 39

Have meanings that are widely recognized by a society or culture.

Question 40

Literary symbol

Answer 40

A setting, character, action, object, name, or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance.

Question 41

Allegory

Answer 41

A narration or description usually restricted to a single meaning because it’s events, actions, characters, settings and objects represent specific abstractions or ideas.

Question 42

Theme

Answer 42

The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work.

Question 43

Style

Answer 43

A distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranged words to achieve particular effects.

Question 44

Diction

Answer 44

A writers choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning and style.

Question 45

Tone

Answer 45

The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the authors style.

Question 46

Irony

Answer 46

A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.

Question 47

Verbal irony

Answer 47

Consists of a person saying one thing but meaning the opposite.

Question 48

Sarcasm

Answer 48

A strong form of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone through false praise

Question 49

Situational irony

Answer 49

Exists when there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens due to forces beyond human comprehension or control.

Question 50

Objective point of view

Answer 50

The writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the stories action and dialogue