Flash cards

Question 1

Plot

Answer 1

The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end.

Question 2

Exposition

Answer 2

Beginning of the story; characters, background, and setting revealed.

Question 3

Inciting incident

Answer 3

introduces major conflict of the story.

Question 4

Rising Action

Answer 4

Events in the story become complicated; the major conflict is developed. These are events between the introduction and climax.

Question 5

Climax

Answer 5

Often the highest point of action, emotion, and/or drama in the story. Something decisive that alters the remainder of the events in the story. Turning point of the story. Readers wonder what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

Question 6

Falling action

Answer 6

Resolution begins; events and complications start to fall

Question 7

Resolution

Answer 7

Final outcome of events in the story.

Question 8

Internal

Answer 8

Struggle within one’s self.

Question 9

Person vs. Self -

Answer 9

Struggles with own soul, physical limitations, choices, character traits, etc.

Question 10

External

Answer 10

Struggle with a force outside one’s self.

Question 11

Person vs. Person

Answer 11

Struggles against other people.

Question 12

Person vs. Nature

Answer 12

Struggles against animals, weather, environment, etc.

Question 13

Person vs. Society

Answer 13

Struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of others

Question 14

Setting

Answer 14

Time and location that a story takes place. For some stories, the setting is
very important; while for others, it is not.

Question 15

Place

Answer 15

Geographical location; where is the action of the story taking place?

Question 16

Time

Answer 16

Historical period, time of day, year, etc.; when is the story taking place?

Question 17

Weather conditions

Answer 17

Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc.?

Question 18

Social condition

Answer 18

What are the daily lives of the characters like? Does the story contain local colour

Question 19

Mood or atmosphere

Answer 19

What feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Cheerful? Eerie? Adventurous? Sombre?

Question 20

Character

Answer 20

There are two meanings for “character”: 1) a person in a fictional
story; or 2) qualities of a person.

Question 21

Protagonist

Answer 21

Clear central focus of the story; all major events are important to this character.

Question 22

Antagonist

Answer 22

Opposition or “enemy” of the main character.

Question 23

Characteristics of a character can be revealed through:

Answer 23

his/her/their physical appearance
● What they say, think, feel, dream and what they do or do not do
● what others say about them and how others react to them

Question 24

Round

Answer 24

Fully-developed personalities that are affected by the story’s events; they can learn, grow, or deteriorate by the end of the story. Characters are most convincing when they resemble real people by being consistent, motivated, flawed, and life-like.

Question 25

Flat

Answer 25

One-dimensional character (stereotypical/archetypal character).

Question 26

Dynamic

Answer 26

Character who does go through change and “grows” during a story.

Question 27

Static

Answer 27

Character does not go through a change.

Question 28

First Person

Answer 28

Story told by the protagonist, or a character who interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters; speaker uses the pronouns “I,” “me,” “we,” “us,” “our.” Readers experience the story through this person’s eyes and only know what he/she/they know and feel.

Question 29

Second Person

Answer 29

Story told by a narrator who addresses the reader or some other assumed “you;” speaker uses pronouns “you,” “your,” and “yours.” Ex: You wake up to discover that you have been robbed of all of your worldly possessions.

Question 30

Third Person

Answer 30

Story told by a narrator who sees all of the action; speaker uses the pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” “his,” “hers,” “its,” and “theirs.” This person may be a character in the story. There are two types of third person POV:

Question 31

Limited

Answer 31

Probably the easiest POV for a beginning writer to use, “limited” POV funnels all action through the eyes of a single character; readers only see what the narrator sees.

Question 32

Omniscient

Answer 32

God-like, the narrator knows and sees everything, and can move from one character’s mind to another. Authors can be omniscient narrators by moving from character to character, event to event, and introducing information at their discretion.

Question 33

Innocent Eye/Naïve Narrator

Answer 33

Story told through child’s eyes; narrator’s judgment is different from that of an adult.

Question 34

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 34

Story told so readers solely experience a character’s thoughts and reactions.

Question 35

Theme

Answer 35

Central message, “moral of the story,” and underlying meaning of a
fictional piece; may be the author’s thoughts on the topic or view of human nature. Theme is the universal truth about life that the author is trying to convey.

Question 36

Avatars

Answer 36

Avatars allow OASIS users to represent themselves in whatever way they would like within the simulation and symbolize both personal transformation and escape. By creating an avatar, an OASIS user is able to highlight what they view as their best qualities and to minimize what they view as their least desirable qualities. Avatars allow OASIS users to become things and experience things that they would never be able to experience in the real world. In Wade’s case, the self-proclaimed “painfully shy, awkward kid, with low self-esteem and almost no social skills” (30) was able to develop the confidence that he lacked in the real world.

Question 37

IOI and the Sixers

Answer 37

A group of mercenary gunters hired by IOI, the Sixers symbolize manipulation and greed as well as corporate advantage. The Sixers have the backing of the largest internet service provider in the world. The Sixers wield all of the power and resources of IOI as they cheat their way through the loopholes in Halliday’s will and gain the upper hand in the Hunt. They are the most significant threat to the success of independent gunters and gunter clans.

Question 38

The Easter Egg

Answer 38

Halliday’s Easter Egg symbolizes ultimate freedom and power. Whoever reaches the Egg first will be granted complete control over the OASIS and Halliday’s vastfortune.

Question 39

The Keys

Answer 39

The three gates can only be opened by those who have solved Halliday’s puzzles and obtained the keys. The keys symbolize the power of knowledge, which LITERALLY opens doors for players in the OASIS! Knowledge and equality are two things that Halliday prized in his life, as evidenced by his emphasis on equal opportunity. The Hunt is open to everyone. Anorak’s Almanac is available to everyone. Entire planets were created in the OASIS to house public schools that are open to everyone. Halliday prized knowledge and made it the requirement for obtaining the three keys and passing through the gates.

Question 40

The Stacks

Answer 40

A collection of rundown RVs, mobile homes, seacans, and cargo vans all suspended by rickety metallic framework, the stacks symbolize the trap of poverty and the inability to progress in life. Wade’s parents experienced the transition from wealth and prosperity to the poverty, disease, famine, and energy crises that have all but crippled society by 2045. Wade finds himself trapped in this life as he “didn’t have the money to attend college, not even one in the OASIS, and [his] grades weren’t good enough for a scholarship” (29). The Hunt becomes his obsession as he strives to escape poverty and the Stacks.

Question 41

Relationships and Friendships

Answer 41

A self-proclaimed “painfully shy, awkward kid, with low self-esteem and almost no social skills,” Wade struggles to establish connections with people in the real world (30). Having been orphaned by poverty and addiction, and subsequently having to live with his abusive Aunt and her boyfriend, Wade has lost any sense of true familial connection. His only friend and positive contact in the real world is Mrs. Gilmore, the seventy year old woman who lives a few floors below him in the stacks (23).
While his relationships in the real world are lacking, Wade comes into his own when he logs onto the OASIS. It is in this virtual world, a place where he can hide his insecurities and circumstances from the other OASIS users, where he makes his true friends. Wade and Aech spend their free time together hanging out in Aech’s Basement, a chatroom where they can “talk shop” about their individual searches for Halliday’s Easter Egg. Wade thrives in this virtual environment and clings to the relationships and friendships that he establishes in the OASIS. He ultimately learns to apply the confidence he has developed in the OASIS to the real life relationships he forms outside of the OASIS.

Question 42

Wealth, Poverty, and Greed

Answer 42

James Halliday is a bit of a mystery and an oxymoron. His invention causes him to become the single wealthiest human in the world, yet he refuses to monetize the OASIS. He champions freedom of access and opportunity, both of which are made clear by the fact that he has opened the Hunt to any OASIS user. To the impoverished masses, Halliday has more or less been elevated to the level of a Saint; a hero of the people.
Despite Halliday’s ironclad will, IOI, the largest internet provider in the world, has made it their mission to take controlling interest in the OASIS in the hopes of subverting Halliday’s wishes and monetizing the virtual reality platform. Sorrento and the Sixers will stop at nothing to ensure that they find the Egg and are able to hand over controlling interest of the largest and most profitable company in the world to IOI. Wade and the other gunters abhor the methods and plans of IOI, Sorrento, and the Sixers, and believe that their greed and manipulation goes against Halliday’s vision for the OASIS.

Question 43

Obsession and Escapism

Answer 43

For Wade and the other gunters, the Hunt for Halliday’s Easter Egg is an all-consuming obsession. The thought of finding the Egg and becoming the wealthiest person in the world drives these people to dedicate their time, energy, and what little money they have toward the fantasy of one day becoming rich beyond imagination and escaping their circumstances. Wade explains this fantasy to the reader through the narration surrounding Mrs. Gilmore, “I never had the heart to tell her that I thought organized religion was a total crock. It was a pleasant fantasy that gave her hope and kept her going—which was exactly what the Hunt was for me” (23). The odds of actually finding the Egg are miniscule, but Wade and the other gunters have become obsessed with the idea of being the one to unlock all three gates and win the prize.
Faced with famine, poverty, wars, climate change, and a global energy crisis, Wade and the other OASIS users prefer to escape their seemingly hopeless reality and instead transport themselves to the OASIS where everything and anything is possible. In Wade’s own words, his mother “used to have to force me to log out every night, because I never wanted to return to the real world. Because the real world sucked.” (18) For Wade and the majority of people in 2045, the virtual reality provided by the OASIS allows for a brief reprieve from the doom and gloom of the real world that surrounds them.

Question 44

Utopia

Answer 44

A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.