literary vocab

Question 1

Paratext

Answer 1

The physical aspects of how the narrative is delivered. The paratext influences how we enjoy a narrative and helps us to distinguish fiction from reality. (the book, its hardcover binding, bottle/paper in the bottle, the tv playing a vhs tape, playing n64 games on the switch vs the old n64)

Question 2

Narrative

Answer 2

Presents a unified sequence of events that add up to something, a plot with some kind of “point”

Question 3

Tone

Answer 3

The author’s attitude towards a literary work

Question 4

Mood

Answer 4

The feeling the readers take away after reading a piece of literature. Can usually be summed up with one word

Question 5

Mood

Answer 5

The feeling the readers take away after reading a piece of literature. Can usually be summed up with one word

Question 6

Point

Answer 6

The consequence of the story, the reason it gets told. Point is not the same thing as the theme. Point concerns only the fiction while the theme goes beyond the fiction implying something about the real world

Question 7

Plot

Answer 7

The connected series of events that make up a story. Normally the connection is made by some sort of causation

Question 8

Character

Answer 8

An agent who has one or more discernible traits, or qualities of personality

Question 9

Characterization

Answer 9

The process by which traits are assigned to characters.

Question 10

Direct Characterization

Answer 10

When other characters or narrators give us clues about traits of a particular character

Question 11

Implied Characterization

Answer 11

Character traits that can be assigned based on the actions/speeches/thoughts of the character

Question 12

Major/Minor Character

Answer 12

You can distinguish between the two depending on their importance to the plot. Major=important Minor=not so important

Question 13

Setting

Answer 13

The space in which story events occur. Setting consists of background and “props”

Question 14

Exposition/Introduction

Answer 14

a literary device that is meant to relay background information about a main character, setting, event or other element of the narrative

Question 15

Inciting Incident

Answer 15

The first action that sets off all the other actions to rise in the “rising action”

Question 16

Rising Action

Answer 16

the section of a story that leads toward its climax. Because of the increased tension as a book’s central conflict (or conflicts) become clear, the rising action is often what keeps you turning the pages

Question 17

Climax

Answer 17

Decisive moment, or turning point, at which the rising action of the play is reversed to falling action. It may or may not coincide with the highest point of interest in the drama

Question 18

Falling Action/Denouement

Answer 18

The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are either explained or resolved

Question 19

Resolution

Answer 19

the conclusion of a story’s plot and is part of a complete conclusion to a story. The resolution occurs at the end of a story following the climax and falling action. In some stories, climax and resolution occur simultaneously but in that case are simply co-occurring points in the plot

Question 20

Conflict

Answer 20

A literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces. (Mom made me late to cheer practice and I haven’t mastered the routine yet; George and Lenney cannot accomplish their dream of buying their own property because they are poor)

Question 21

Internal Conflict

Answer 21

When a character struggles with their own opposing desires or beliefs

Question 22

External Conflict

Answer 22

When a character is set against something or someone beyond their control

Question 23

Ellipsis

Answer 23

Events that occur outside of the POV that can be discerned by contextual clues within the POV. Must be argued for

Question 24

Narrator

Answer 24

The agent who communicates by “telling” or “showing” the story. Can be considered a character

Question 25

Point of View

Answer 25

the perspective from which the narrator conveys the story to the reader

Question 26

1st Person POV

Answer 26

The narrator is a character who provides narration through the pronouns “I/me/we”. We can only know the narrator’s thoughts and feelings and can only infer information about other characters through the narrator

Question 27

2nd Person POV

Answer 27

Narration described with the pronouns “you/your”. Used in Dungeons & Dragons, Choose Your Own Adventure stories, as well as other fiction, to make the reader a character in the story

Question 28

3rd Person POV

Answer 28

Narrator exists outside the events of the story, and relates the actions of the characters by referring to their names or by the third-person pronouns he, she, or they

Question 29

Limited 3rd Person

Answer 29

Uses 3rd person pronouns (he/she/they). Has exactly the same essential limitation as 1st POV: that nothing can be seen, known, or told except what the narrator sees, knows and tells about a focus character and those around them. Narrator may be considered a character and provide commentary/opinions on events in the tale

Question 30

Omniscient/Involved Narrator

Answer 30

3rd person narration where all information is accessible to the narrator and is not restricted to a single character. Omniscient narrator may be considered a character and may provide commentary/opinions on matters in the tale

Question 31

Detached Narrator (“Fly on the wall”, “Camera Eye”, “Objective Narrator”)

Answer 31

3rd person narration where the narration provides no commentary/opinions and just presents what the camera/fly sees in the story (camera/fly since neither can provide commentary/opinions). May be considered a character, but more difficult to interpret. Of Mice & Men has a detached narrator

Question 32

Actual Author

Answer 32

Information about the actual author that can only be gleaned from primary sources (i.e. straight from the horse’s mouth)

Question 33

Implied Author

Answer 33

Information about the actual author that readers are only able to infer from their works. (ex: This guy writes a lot about Nazis; he either is a serious WWII enthusiast, or he must be a Nazi)