Literary Elements Flashcards
Literary Elements
the things being moved in the story
Plot
the action of the story/ the sequence of events that creates a cause/effect (not correlation!) pattern.
Characterization
DOES NOT = A LIST OF PEOPLE IN THE STORY!!!!!
it is also personality and how that develops (if it does) through the story
Static Character
A character that remains unchanged. Part of characterization
Dynamic Character
A character that has some sort of personality change. Part of characterization
Roundness
A fully developed and complex personality
A character can have this (they are not this)
Part of characterization
Flatness
Little character development
A character can have this (they are not this)
Part of characterization
Protagonist
The main character of the story
ex. Harry Potter
Antagonist
Opponent of the protagonist
ex. Voldemort
Foil
The character whose function it is to emphasize the personality traits of some other character
ex. Sansa and Arya
Tragic Hero
The protagonist of a tragedy. Usually a person of noble birth who suffers a down fall because of a tragic flaw in personality (Hamartia)
ex. Antigone (Or Creon) (I think that we debated that)
Macbeth
Antihero
Protagonist with villainous qualities ex. Don Draper Walter White Frank Underwood Almost every GoT character Sopranos Think modern TV
Setting
time and place in which the story occurs
ex. daytime, contemporary, urban setting
Theme
an idea set forth by the story as a universal truth
what the author is saying about the topic
a moral is almost like a type of theme
A story is not limited to one specific theme
Tone
displays the attitude of the narrator/opinion of characters/events
does not have to stay consistent
could start out sympathetic and then abandon that sympathy
determined by diction + syntax
