Litterature Flashcards
What is a narrator?
Narrator= is the “persona” or “voice” who tells the story. We have to take the narrators identity into consideration to make sense of what he-she-it syas.
What is an omniscient?
Omnicient= is an all-knowing narraroe and it knows things no real person would know- like what people think and feel and usually exists outside the story and has no personal traits. Like an enlighted person or observing non-entity but the key is looking for when the narrator knows more than it could objectively observe.
What is intradiegetic?
Intradiegetic= they exist in the story world- they are characters themselves. They might be part of the narrative and discuss what happened to them and their friends. This means they are un-reliable. See things from their own perspective, might have an agenda, or misunderstood things- so read between the lines.
What is Extradiegetic?
Extradiegetic= The narrator is outside the story world and might talk about what happened “a long, long time ago” or we don´t know what their relation to the story is and there is no indication that they are part of the world.
Could there be more than one narrator type?
A narrator could have more than one narrator type; be both extradiegetic and omniscient.
What are some signs of an un-reliable narrator?
When the narrator doesnet have the whole picture.
Not aware of their own limitation e.g drugs
Is involved in the story- agenda, misunderstood.
The narrator is a kid and doesent understand/read between the lines correctly.
What are the four types of point of views?
1st person: “I walked down the street and the weather was nice”
2nd person: “You walked down the road and you saw”- not a usual style. “You feel your heart race, and the air around you seems to crystalize.
3rd person: “Mary/she walked down the street and she thought the weather was nice.
Free indirect discourse
What is free indirect discourse?
Is a combination of 1st and 3rd person perspective. We see the world from a characters point of view but a narrator tells us what we see.
E.g “Laying on the floor, the house became scary, it always feels creepy when the owners leave to wherever they go during the day, the house felt much bigger now” [About a dog]
It is not the dog that is the narrator bit we see things from its perspective and it is not the narrator who feels that it is scary but the narrator who is talking.
It is first person perspective but third person story telling. Free indirect discourse is a great fit for a third person limited viewpoint.
What is close reading?
Close reading focuses on intrepretation of the language and words that make up a narrative- story- text. Close reading is designed to let us discuss what texts say and what we learn about the text, what they do and say and how it can be understood.
We can analyze individual passages and word and formulations to show that there is a fact of words that are connected to your intrepretation; whether is is about democracy, religion or distress.
What is context and intrepretation?
Meaning is contextual and therefore the way er interpret a sentece is determined by the context in which it appears- by the paragraph/passage/chapter.
If a story is “sad” the mood is built up by symbols, sad words and images and when we describe the specific way in which meaning- our interpretation is created we are close reading.
Tom said to Lisa
“I love you more than anything”
Lisa said
“I need a drink”
Are they in a bar drunnk or are they at home talking? Context changes our interpretation.
How do you argue in close reading?
You can argue a point in different ways. The point to make is that many interpretations can be valid if they are based on interpretations of the actual text- its words and phrases and formulations.
An argument based on general feeling or opinion is not valid. If you can not point to something in the text that actually supports your claim then you dont have a basis.
One points to words about courage and another one points to words about politics. Both can give good arguemnts for your interpretation.
What are static and dynamic characters?
Static/flat character is a character that is uncomplicated and doesent change through the course of the work.
Dynamic/round characters are complex and undergo development in feelings and personality and history.
What do we do to learn things about the characters?
Characterisation includes close reading because it is not usually the description of their physical features that tell you something about their personality and motivation so we have to read between the lines on what they say and do to kknow what type of person they are.
We learn things about the characters that they might not be consciousy aware of themselves “I like the job, I can sit and let my mind travel”
What are some motivation sources?
Motivation= characters are driven by motivation and the source might be,
The unconcious or personality traits like duty or loyality to someone/something.
Reaction to external factors like trauma and opression.
or they are driven by ethical or moral convictions which are firmly held belief or opinion.
What are direct/indirect methods?
Direct methods= are attributions of quality in description or commentary like name, age, what it likes, gender, troll, cat etc
Indirect methods= are inviting readers to infer/interpret qualities from characters actions, speech or appearance.
Straight forward- Not so straight forward
We might learn that “Jack is a fun-loving but immature or tragic character” not because we are explicitly told so but because of the choices he makes and how he relates to people around him or by things he says.
