Test 1 - Literature Flashcards
Appointment in Samarra
W. Somerset Maugham
Fox and the Grapes
Aesop
Camel and His Friends
Bidpai
Independence
Chuang Tzu
Godfather Death
Grimm Brothers
A&P
John Updike
A Rose for Emily
William Faulkner
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Katherine Ann Porter
To Build A Fire
Jack London
The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Ernest Hemingway
The Open Boat
Stephen Crane
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Ursula K. Le Guin
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
A Sound of Thunder
Ray Bradbury
A Good Man is Hard to Find
Flannery O’Conner
Sweat
Zora Neale Hurston
Proud, imperious Emily Grierson defied the town from the fortress of her mansion. Who could have guessed the secret that lay within?
A Rose for Emily
For sixty years Ellen Weatherall has fought back the memory of that terrible day, but now once more the priest waits in the house
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Seventy-five degrees below zero. Alone except for one mistrustful wolf-dog, a man finds himself battling relentless force.
To Build A Fire
in 2055, you can go on a Time Safari to hunt dinosaurs 60 million years ago. But put one foot wrong, and suddenly the future’s not what it used to be
A Sound of Thunder
A servant rises to gallop away from Death in this brief sardonic fable retold in memorable form by a popular storyteler
The Appointment in Samarra
Ever wonder where the phrase “sour grapes” comes from? Find out in this classic fable
The Fox and the Grapes
With friends like these, you can guess what the camel doesn’t need.
The Camel and His Friends
The Prince of Ch’u asks the philosopher Chuang Tzu to become his advisor and gets a surprising reply in this classic Chinese fable
Independence
Neither God nor the Devil came to the christening. In this stark folktale, a young man receives magical powers with a string attached
Godfather Death
In walk three girls in nothing but bathing suits, and Sammy finds himself no longer an aproned checkout clerk but an armored knight
A&P
All by himself each night, the old man lingers in the bright cafe. What does he need more than brandy?
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
A young husband and wife find ingenious ways to buy each other Christmas presents, in the classic story that defines the word “irony”.
The Gift of the Magi
In a lifeboat circled by sharks, tantalized by glimpses of land, a report scrutinizes Fate and learns about comradeship
The Open Boat
Omelas is the perfect city. All of its inhabitants are happy. But everyone’s prosperity depends on a hidden evil
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
The smoldering eye at last extinguished, a murderer finds that, despite all his attempts at a cover-up, his victim will be heard
The Tell-Tale Heart
Wanted: The Misfit, a cold-blooded killer. An ordinary family vacation leads to horror – and one moment of redeeming grace
A Good Man is Hard to Find
a brief, often humorous narrative told to illustrate a moral. The characters in these are traditionally animals whose personality traits symbolize human traits
fable
a brief, usually allegorical narrative that teaches a moral. In these, unlike fables, the moral themes are implicit and can often be interpreted in several ways.
parable
a short narrative without a complex plot. They are an ancient form of narrative found in folklore, and traditionally contain supernatural elements. This differs from a short story because of its tendency toward lesser-developed characters and linear plotting
tale
a humorous short narrative that provides a wildly exaggerated version of events. originally an oral form, this usually assumes that its audience knows the narrator is distorting the events. the form is often associated with the American frontier.
Tall Tale
a traditional form of short narrative folklore, originally transmitted orally, which features supernatural characters such as witches, giants, fairies, or animals with human personality traits. Often feature a hero or heroine who strives to achieve some desirable fate
fairy tale, folktale
a prose narrative too brief to be published in a separate volume – as novellas and novels frequently are. Usually a focused narrative what presents one or two characters involved in a single compelling action
Short Story
a narrative in which the main character, usually a child or adolescent, undergoes an important experience that prepares him or her for adulthood
Initiation story
the main or central character in a narrative
protagonist
the most significant character or force that opposes the protagonist in a narrative
antagonist
the opening portion of a narrative
exposition
the central struggle between two or more forces in a story
conflict
the introduction of a significant development in the central conflict between characters
complication
the point in a narrative when the crucial action, decision, or realization must take place
crisis
the moment of greatest intensity in a story, which almost inevitable occurs toward the end of the work
climax
in plotting, the logical end or outcome of a unified plot, shortly following the climax
conclusion
an indication of events to come in a narrative
foreshadowing
a scene relived in a character’s memory.
flashback
a moment of profound insight or revelation by which a character’s life is greatly altered
epiphany
a latin phrase. meaning ‘in the midst of things’; refers to the narrative device of beginning a story midway in the events it depicts
in medias res
a narrator who has the ability to move freely through the consciousness of any character
omniscient or all-knowing narrator
a narrator who is a participant in the action
participant or first-person narrator
a first-person narrator who is relatively detached from or plays only a minor role in the events described
observer
a narrator who does not appear int he story as a character but is usually capable of revealing the thoughts and motives of one or more characters
nonparticipant or third-person narrator
a character who fails to undersant all the implications of the story he or she tells
innocent or naive narrator
a narrator who – intentionally or unintentionally - relates events in a subjective or distorted matter
unreliable narrator
an extended presentation of a character’s thoughts in a narrative.
interior monologue
type of modern narration that uses various literacy devices, especially interior monologue, in an attempt to duplicate the subjective and associative nature of human consciousness
stream of consciousness
the techniques a writer uses to create, reveal, or develop the characters in a narrative
characterization
a term coined by English novelist E. M. Forster to describe a character with only one outstanding trait.
Flat Character
a term also coined by E. M. Forster to describe a complex character who is presented in depth in a narrative.
round character
a common or stereotypical character
stock character
the time and place of a story
setting
the location where a story takes place
locale
the dominant mood or feeling that pervades all or part of a literary work
atmosphere
the literary representation of a specific locale that consciously uses the particulars of geography, custom, history, folklore, or speech
regionalism
a type of fiction in which the characters are presented as products or victims of environment and heredity
naturalism
the attitude toward a subject conveyed in a literary work
tone
all the distinctive ways in which an author uses language to create a literary work
style
word choice or vocabulary
diction
a literary device in which a discrepancy of meaning is masked beneath the surface of the language
irony
where the reader understands the implication and meaning of a situation and may foresee the oncoming disaster or triumph while the character does not
dramatic irony
a type of situational irony that emphasizes the discrepancy between what characters deserve and what they get, between a character’s aspirations and the treatment he or she receives at the hands of fate
cosmic irony or irony of fate
a statement in which the speaker or writer says the opposite of what is really meant
verbal irony
a conspicuously bitter form of irony in which the ironic statement is designed to hurt or mock its target
sarcasm
a brief condensation of the main idea or plot of a literary work
summary
the main idea or larger meaning of a work of literature
theme
a person, place, or thing in a narrative that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense
symbol
an action whose significance goes well beyond its literal meaning
symbolic act
a narrative in which the literal events consistently point to a parallel sequence of symbolic equivalents
allegory
