PLOT HANDOUT

Question 1

Freytag’s Pyramid

Answer 1

1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution

Question 2

Setting the scene; introduces and provides character details; tells us what happened before the story began

Answer 2

EXPOSITION (SITUATION)

Question 3

Key element in plot; provides interest, suspense, and tension for the story

Answer 3

CONFLICT

Question 4

Struggle against forces of nature: weather, animals, and other people

Answer 4

PHYSICAL CONFLICT

Question 5

Struggle against fate (life’s not fair)

Answer 5

CLASSICAL CONFLICT

Question 6

Struggles against peers and the world

Answer 6

SOCIAL CONFLICT

Question 7

Hero and villain (right versus wrong; good versus bad)

Answer 7

ROMANTIC CONFLICT

Question 8

Struggle taking place in the character’s mind; at times the struggle of the writer’s own soul

Answer 8

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONFLICT

Question 9

principle person who strives (does not necessarily have to be brave or virtuous)

Answer 9

PROTAGONIST

Question 10

Rival or opponent to the protagonist

Answer 10

ANTAGONIST

Question 11

Provides suspense, foreshadowing, and crisis for the story and the readers

Answer 11

RISING ACTION

Question 12

Pleasurable anxiety that heightens our attention to the story

Answer 12

SUSPENSE

Question 13

Indication of events to come

Answer 13

FORESHADOWING

Question 14

Moment of high tension

Answer 14

CRISIS

Question 15

Moment of greatest tension

Answer 15

CLIMAX

Question 16

Resolution or conclusion; “untying of the knot” - when it all comes together

Answer 16

DENOUMENT