midterm exam Flashcards
fastidious
adj: very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail; concerned about matters of cleanliness
jerry was so fastidious about my appearance when i got ready for a fancy date night; i was never good enough for him to want to go out with, so i broke up with him
ennui
noun: feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction
ennui is something that many people in between jobs will succumb to if they have nothing to keep them busy for too long
exhort
verb: to incite by argument or advice; urge strongly
hope and motivation were so low in the city after the hurricane, but the mayor exhorted her citizens to march on and help clean it up
incongruous
adj: not in harmony or keeping with surroundings
wednesday addams is okay with being incongruous with the other teenagers at her school, but she does not care what others think of her or her likings
prognosticate
verb: foretell or prophesy (an event in the future
my teacher prognosticated that i would get a 5 on my AP exam and, to my shock, she was right!
nonchalant
adj: (of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest or enthusiasm
wednesday addams believes societal customs and likings to be below her, so she is very nonchalant when partaking in such things
mercurial
adj: subject to sudden or unpredictable changed of mood or mind
after rapunzel leaves her tower, she becomes very mercurial about her decision since she is getting to explore the world for the first time but doing so against her mother’s will
congenial
adj: (of a person) pleasant because of personality, qualities, or interests similar to one’s own
joe is the perfect host for holiday parties since everyone finds him so congenial; he makes everyone feel at home
loftier
adj: of imposing height, thick and resilient
the top of that loftier building would be the perfect place to put our poster, everyone would see it!
alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
consonance
the religion of consonant sounds, not vowels, in a chunk of text; can be anywhere in the word
assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds in a chunk of text; the sounds can be anywhere in the word
anaphora
religion of words at the beginning of a line
onomatopoeia
the formation of a word from a sound associated with what it is named
apostrophe
speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object
hyperbole
an overstatement or extravagant exaggeration, so far exaggerated that it cannot be taken seriously
synecdoche
refers to the whole of a thing by the name of any one of its part
metonymy
the word used to describe a thing that is closely linked to a particular thing, but not necessarily a part of it
understatement
says less than it means; it can sometimes coexist with verbal irony
enjambment
occurs when one line ends without a pause or any punctuation and continues onto the next
juxtaposition
the placement of two contrasting objects, images, or ideas together so that their differences are emphasized
imagery
visually descriptive or figurative language
tone
the means by which a writer conveys attitudes, more specifically what attitude the writer wants to convert to their reader
allusion
brief reference to a real or fictional person, event, place, or work of art to deepen derstanding
similie
comparison made between two things that uses the helping words “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles”
metaphor
comparison between two thing that does NOT use any helping words
conceit
extended metaphor with complex logic, or a startling comparison that governs a poetic passage or an entire poem
personification
special kind of metaphor that gives human attributes to a nonhuman object, such as an animal, object, or concept
5 elements of a quest
the real reason for the quest
1) the quester 2) a place to go 3) a stated reason to go there 4) challenges and trials 5) the real reason to go
self-knowledge
foster’s justification for saying all acts of characters having meals together are communion
foster claims all shared meals involving food and water are intimate and personal, which is evident in the fact that most only eat with people they like (unless trying to get on the hood side of a boss or nemesis). he says breaking bread together is far from breaking heads and that offering to share a meal opens vulnerability and is offering a part of yourself to others
in literature, what does a “vampire” figure do to other characters?
a vampire character drains the life a d energy from an innocent (likely virgin) character, which becomes the energy and strength of the “vampire.” selfishness and must cause exploitation of something lively and pure
intertextuality: what is it?
the technique of writers borrowing or referencing from earlier works; there is no such thing as an original work
what title does foster, and many other writers, refer to shakespeare as?
‘the bard’
foster described “musée des beaux arts” and “landscape with the fall of blank.” who is this myth about (fill in the blank)?
modern writers often borrow from one particular greek author. who is it?
icarus
homer
why is rain a “universal element”?
our universal fear of drowning relates back to one particular historical event. what is it?
rain pours on everyone—just and unjust—and contains the same properties and general purposes for everyone; it is untouched, making it clean and a signal of some sort of cleansing change for whoever it touches
it relates back to God flooding the world and Noah building the ark
two reasons why all literary characters can’t be round and dynamic
too much background of a character that is not the main one can be confusing; for example, if we know a villain, wo we are supposed to see as pure evil, has a dog, we may lose sight of what the the author says they truly are. also, if all characters were detailed and round, we would have ab excessively detailed and long story consisting of character descriptions that take away from a main character
the difference between narrative and authorial violence
authorial violence is violence the author has a character deal with that is not inflicted by another character and usually has a significant effect on the character/plot; this could consist of car accidents involving someone not relevant and someone relevant to the story. narrative violence is violence inflicted upon a relevant character by another character, like fist fights, sword fights, and so on
symbol vs allegory
a symbol is something (action/event/object) that could mean or signify for many different things; an allegory is something that represents only one particular thing that is not up for negotiation
the social criticism of a christmas carol
dickens was attacking a widely held political belief that feeding the homeless would encourage more to be homeless and lead to a surplus population; through scrooge, the main character, the audience has a unique character but also a representative character because there was something of a scrooge in rhe rap society. however, dickens makes this story without his criticism being blunt enough to come across as his message
flight is blank
freedom
in ET, flight is freeing and even magical; it can be a surreal yet emancipating and uplifting experience. it can sometimes correlate with adolescence
what is necessary in a scene involving a character and water to make it a symbol for baptism?
readiness/indications of readiness for change; characters are prepared
explain what foster means when he says the geography goes beyond setting
geography is setting, but it is also (or can be) psychology, attitude, finance, industry, or anything else that place can forge in the people who live there; it gives insight to the tone of pieces of literature what characters are like, for settings supply us with feelings that we will apply directly or indirectly to the story; it can symbolize what happens in a story too, such as how things going amok often happens when people travel south
what do the four seasons typically associate with on a symbolic level?
spring: fertility, new beginnings, loss of maturity, calm
summer: passion, love, rustiness, exhaustion
autumn: unwanted aging, preparation for death, self-discovery, reflection of recent events
winter: death, fresh starts, peace
an example of a major character from literature with some kind of physical marking; how does it function to advance the plot or establish theme?
harry potter from the harry potter series received a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead after being attacked by voldemort, who used a supposedly flawless killing spell on him that harry survived. the scar set him apart, as he was the only person to ever survive the killing spell; it helped to advance the plot because it would begin to hurt whenever voldemort was near and harry needed to prepare to fight, and it also established a theme of love triumphing evil since the reason he survived with just a scar was because his mom sacrificed herself for him
explain why foster says a character suffering from heart disease is the perfect metaphorical device
the heart is known as the key source of emotion; it is where—since very early times—we feel sadness (heartbreak), love, and other powerful emotions. there is a heart disease for almost any condition/mentality a character is in; they are lyrical
what is the meaning of “don’t read with your eyes”
one must consider the time, place, and conditions during which the story is written (and takes place); we should not read with our typical mindset or take offense to things disagreeable with society today because it will hinder how we perceive and take information from the story
foster says “irony works because the audience understands something that eludes one or more of the characters.” explain how this works with verbal and situational irony
verbal irony is when someone says something with intent of meaning/indicating the opposite of what they said; this can put more emphasis on their message and amplify someone’s reaction to said message. situational irony is when something other than the predicted/typical outcome occurs in literature; this can increase investment and amount of emotion characters and readers feel while also increasing they’re curiosity
short story thesis
in the (genre) (title), (author’s name) presents (3 literary elements) in order to (answer to conquer-complex textual understanding), ultimately illustrating that (universal idea) (specific insight about the idea based on the literary terms)
short story topic sentence 1
the (author) begins by (introducing/presenting) (summary of element), which highlights (element of complexity from conquer answer)
short story topic sentence 2
(author) then shifts to (summary of literary element), showcasing (element of complexity from conquer answer)
short story topic sentence 3
(author) concludes by/with (summary of literary element) in order to reveal (element of complexity from conquer answer)
sudden exposition
the exposition of the text introduced the main conflict of the work; it can introduce characters, relationships, setting, and more
in medias res
“in the midst of things”; a story beginning in a critical situation in the middle of the plot; this situation will be elucidated later in detail
twist ending
surprise ending; the plot ends unexpectedly to what the reader infers will happen
foreshadowing
device used to hunt at a future plot event
at least four elements of a Christ figure
good with kids
in agony
thirty-three years old
sacrificed (or has injuries on head, hands, and/or feet)
good with fish/carpentry
