Literary Terms Flashcards

0
Q

Unified plot

A

A plot in which the action is more or less continuos within a single day

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1
Q

Plot

A

A stories sequence of incidents, arranged in dramatic order

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2
Q

Episodic plot

A

A plot in which the action stretches over weeks or even longer

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3
Q

Dramatic structure

A

Refers to the exact way in which emotional involvement in its plot is increased and relaxed

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4
Q

Exposition

A

Provides readers essential information

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5
Q

Complication

A

The appearance of some circumstance that begins the rising action

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6
Q

Rising action

A

When an event shakes up the stable situation

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7
Q

Moments of crisis

A

Points in the story where resolution of the complication momentarily seems at hand but quickly disappears

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8
Q

Peripety

A

When characters hopes rise and fall

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9
Q

Climax

A

Moment of greatest tension

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10
Q

Falling action

A

When built up tension is released

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11
Q

Epiphany

A

A moment spiritual insight or revelation

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12
Q

Resolution/ dénouement

A

Returns a character to a stable situation

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13
Q

Closed dénouement

A

Ties up everything neatly and explains unanswered questions

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14
Q

Open dénouement

A

Leaves us with a few questions

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15
Q

Archetypes

A

Universal types of characters and situations that all human beings carry in their unconscious minds

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16
Q

Initiation story

A

When a character undergoes a rite of passage to prepare him for adulthood

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17
Q

Protagonist

A

Main character

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18
Q

Anti-hero

A

To designate one who occupies center stage but otherwise seems incapable of fitting the traditional heroic mold

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19
Q

Flat character

A

Usually given one trait, some which may seem contradictory, and explored in depth as the author delves into the characters unconscious mind

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20
Q

Stock characters

A

Stereotypes who may be necessary to advance the plot

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21
Q

Static character

A

Stays the same

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22
Q

Interior monologue

A

A direct presentation of thought that is somewhat like a soliloquy in drama

23
Q

Stream-of-consciousness

A

An attempt to duplicate raw sensory data in the same disordered state the mind receives it

24
Description
Helps us understand the authors intent
25
Characterynm
Naming characters to draw attention to aspects of their personality
26
Point of view
Referring to the question of authority in a story
27
Narrator
A voice of character that provides the reader information about and insight into characters and incidents
28
Narrative conventions
When a narrator may suddenly jump from simply recording a conversation to telling us what one of its participants is thinking
29
First person narration
Where the narrator is participant in action
30
Unreliable narrator
Relating events in a distorted manner
31
Third person narration
Nonparticipant narrative and a voice of authority that never reveals its sources
32
Omniscience
The degree to which the "all-knowing" narrator can reveal the thoughts of characters
33
Total omniscience
The narrator knows everything about the characters lives, their past, presents, and futures
34
Authorial intrusion
Allowing the God-like author to comment directly on the action
35
Limited omniscience
Limiting themselves to the thoughts perceptions of a single character
36
Dramatic point of view
Where the narrator simply reports dialogue and action with minimal interpretation and no delving into characters minds
37
Theme
The overall meaning the reader derives from the story
38
Allegorical tales
Where literal events point to a parallel sequence of symbolic ideas
39
Microcosm
A "small world" that reflects the tensions of the larger world outside
40
Atmosphere
The emotional aura surrounding a certain setting
41
Setting
Time and place of a story
42
Locale
Time setting
43
Local color fiction
Depends on the unique characteristics of area,p
44
Regionalism
Setting most of their(authors) work in one particular area or country.
45
Magic realism
When a story draws us into places where past, and present, history and folklore, natural and supernatural seamlessly join
46
Enveloping action
The general setting of a story and its sense of the "times"
47
Style
Refers equally to the characteristics of language in a story and to the same characteristics in a writers complete works
48
Parody
Satirical imitation
49
Tone
What we can indirectly determine about the authors own feelings
50
Allegory
If details of a plot seem consistently symbolic
51
Traditional symbol
A thing that most members of a culture instantly recognize as possessing a shared symbolic meaning
52
Private symbol
A symbol an author has made his or her own by repeated use
53
Doppelgänger
Character "doubles" who mirror each other in significant ways
54
Incidental symbol
A thing of action that ordinarily would have no deeper meaning but acquires one in a story
55
Dynamic character
Changes