FINAL Flashcards
What’s the difference between PLOT and STORY?
Give an example of each.
Plot: told in the order that it is supposed to be told in– chronological order / the arrangement of action.
(“Tomorrow’s Too Far”)
Story: the narrative told in chronological order including things like character, setting, dialogue, action, etc.
(“Love in LA”)
How does FLASHBACK work with in MEDIA RES?
Give examples of each term.
Flashback: scene from the past presented in the present.
(“Elena” when she remembers understanding what her kids were saying)
Media Res: begins in the middle of things.
(“The Lone Ranger” he began the story talking about how he was profiled in a 7/11 store, then he rewinds and talks about how it all began)
What is CONFLICT in a story?
Give an example.
Conflict: problem between characters / characters and outside force.
(“Two Kinds” when Dee is trying to figure herself out)
Name and describe the three TYPES OF CONFLICT that may occur in a story.
Give examples of each.
Physical Conflict: battling a conflict with another character.
(“The Handsome Drowned Man” he was teased because of his size)
Social Conflict: battling a problem with an outside force. (“The Lesson” the teacher tried to make it seem like there was equality in the world, but there is NONE)
Internal Conflict: battling a problem with one’s self.
(“How to be Chinese” Mackenzie struggles with her identity)
What’s the difference between the AUTHOR and the NARRATOR of a work?
Give an example of each.
Author: the person who wrote the piece of work.
(Celeste Ng)
Narrator: assigned / created by the author to tell the story.
(Mackenzie in “How to be Chinese”)
Name and describe the four techniques of CHARACTERIZATION.
Give an example of each.
Dialogue: figuring out character traits through character conversations.
(“Love in LA” we find out Jake is a jerk because of the things he says)
Showing: understanding traits due to actions by characters from the story.
(“The Lesson” Sylvia is a bad child; she kicks, curses, and steals)
Telling: straight forwardly being told character traits from narrator or character.
(“Everyday Use” Mama is straight forward about everything, even herself)
Entering the Character’s Mind: understanding the character by third person point of view.
(“Cheater’s Guide to Love” Yunior is a depressed womanizer)
Who is the ANTAGONIST in relation to the PROTAGONIST?
Give an example of each.
Protagonist: the central character, often the hero.
(Mackenzie from “How to be Chinese”)
Antagonist: person, place, or thing that creates a struggle for the protagonist.
(Mackenzie was her own antagonist because she made it hard for herself)
Name and describe the three types of SETTING.
Give an example of each.
Setting in Time: What is going on during the time the story takes place?
(“The Lesson” takes place during segregation)
Setting in Place: the actual place that the story takes place.
(“The Handsome Drowned Man” takes place in a village)
Setting in Culture: the environment the characters are in that is unique to their heritage.
(“The Lesson” shows how racism is still going on)
What’s the difference between STYLE and TONE?
Give example.
Style: authors use of words / sentences.
Tone: attitude / feeling the author is trying to evoke.
“Two Kinds” when Jei Ming gets mad, the sentences get shorter
What is a SYMBOL in relation to a literary work?
Give an example.
Symbol: person, place, or thing that suggests more than its literal meaning.
(“Your Grandma the War Criminal” the seagull represents freedom)
Name and describe the two ways to SPOT A SYMBOL.
Give examples of each.
Prominence: how often something is repeated.
(“Your Grandma the War Criminal” the seagull is repeated)
Significance: how important it is to the story.
(“Battle of Royal” American flag on the girls lower abdomen)
What is a THEME in a literary work?
Give and example.
Theme: the overall message
the theme of “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” is you never know what you have until it’s gone
What’s the difference between a poem’s LITERAL and FIGURATIVE self?
Give an example of each.
Literal Self: straight forwardly what is being said / direct.
(“The Girl Who Loved the Sky”)
Figurative Self: metaphorical implications.
(“We Wear the Mask”)
Describe the three major TYPES OF POEMS.
Give examples of each.
Narrative Poem: explains a story in a sequence of events.
(“Elena”)
Lyric Poem: short, specific subject, heavy reliance on figurative language.
(“We Wear the Mask”)
Dramatic Poem: play or play-like elements of theatre.
(“One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII)
What’s the difference between DENOTATION and CONNOTATION?
Give examples of each.
Denotation: literal or dictionary definition of word.
(blue meaning the actual color)
Connotation: communal implication of a word / the figurative meaning.
(blue meaning sad)
What is VOICE?
Give an example.
Voice: the tone that the reader gets from the speaker while reading the poem.
(“We Real Cool” voice is a chill, laid back, mid twenty year old who enjoys having fun with his friends)
indirect- metaphorical
direct- choices in style / tone
What is the difference between ASSONANCE and CONSONANCE?
Give examples.
Assonance: repetition of vowels.
(“We Real Cool”)
Consonance: repetition of consonants.
(“Prayer”)
What’s the difference between HYPERBOLE and UNDERSTATEMENT?
Give examples.
Hyperbole: exaggeration to amplify a point.
(“Skin V: Four Years in Evanston, IL” they looked at me like I was a dog with two heads)
Understatement: deemphasize something in order to emphasize it.
(Dr. Frankenstein” he makes it seem as though putting together a man in not creepy)
What is the relationship between a METAPHOR and a SIMILE?
Metaphor: comparison between two dissimilar things.
Simile: comparison using “like” or “as”.
When we say that a line is in IAMBIC TETRAMETER, what do we mean?
Give an example.
Iambic Tetrameter: the line has four feet and each foot is an iamb.
(“We Wear the Mask”)
iamb = U– unstressed and /– stressed
What is CAESURA and for what is it used?
Give an example.
Caesura: break within a line through punctuation or white space used to slow down the reader.
(“Broken Ghazal”)
What’s the difference between an ENGLISH and an ITALIAN SONNET?
Give an example.
English Sonnet: three quatrains, 4 lines, and a couplet, 2 lines.
Italian Sonnet: octave, 8 lines, and a sestet, 6 lines.
(“One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII”
What is the difference between METONYMY and SYNECDOCHE?
Metonymy: the name of something is substituted with something closely associated to it.
(“Blink Your Eyes” Up to the window comes the Law)
Synecdoche: one part represents the whole.
(“Dear Dr. Frankenstein” and he’ll never have a thief’s thumb)
What is JUXTAPOSITION and for what is it used?
Juxtaposition: putting two dissimilar things next to each other to create an effect.
(“Dinosaurs in the Hood” royal folk being compared to drug addicts and exiles)
What is DRAMA?
Drama: one of the oldest forms of verbal art; a literary work that can be acted out or performed.
What is a PLAY?
Play: a dramatic work that acts out a story.
“I Am Not Batman”
What are STAGE DIRECTIONS?
Stage Directions: a description of what the playwright visualizes for the scenery on the stage and perhaps the character’s appearance and personality traits.
What is a SOLILOQUY?
Soliloquy: a monologue delivered by a character in a play while alone on stage.
What is EXPOSITION?
Exposition: sometimes considered the introduction of a play; when one or more characters deliver speeches providing information required for following the action of a play; usually establishes setting and/or tone.
What is the order of events on the curve thing?
- exposition
- complication / rising action
- crisis / turning point
- climax
- reversal / falling action / change in protagonist’s fortune
- resolution
