Test 2 Flashcards
Plot
What happens in the narrative. Authors must arrange conflicts, complications, and resolutions to create logical cause-and-effect relationships.
Protagonist
Main character, in conflict with the antagonist. The conflict may be internal.
Ex.) Harry Potter in the Harry Potter book series.
Antagonist
Person that the protagonist is in conflict with. Opposing force or character
Coming of age story
Also called Bildungsroman, chronicles how a young character grows from innocence to experience. Growth can be gradual or sudden, such as an epiphany.
Epiphany
Term used to describe when a character suddenly realizes something significant about life.
Round character
One who exhibits a range of emotions over the course of the story. Multiple personality traits and thus resemble real people.
Flat character
Embody only one or two traits and provide a background for the protagonist’s actions.
Foil
Common type of flat character; contrasting character who allows the protagonist to stand out more distinctly.
Stock characters
May represent stereotypes, such as the absent-minded professor or the town drunk, occasionally providing comic relief.
Direct characterization
Occurs when a narrator explicitly describes the background, motivation, temperament, or appearance of a character.
Indirect characterization
Occurs when an author shows rather than tells us what a character is like through what he or she says, does, or thinks, or what others say about the character.
First person point of view
Tells a story using first-person pronounce such as I or We. From this POV, we see the world from a single character’s perspective (usually main character). First-person gives us a vivid on-the-spot view of what is happening.
Omniscient
When the narrator is omniscient, readers have access to what all the characters are thinking and feeling.
Limited omniscient
Tells us what just one major or minor character is thinking and feeling.
Stream of consciousness
Literary technique that takes readers into the mind of the narrator, recounting thoughts, impressions, and feelings, from either a first-person or third-person limited omniscient perspective. Reader is privy to exactly what a character is thinking without filters of casualty or logic.
Symbols
Objects, places, events, even characters that carry more than literal meaning and therefore point the way to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Motif
Any element, subject, idea, or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature. Using a motif refers to the repetition of a specific theme dominating the literary work.
Theme
Base that acts as a foundation for the entire literary piece. Links all aspects of the literary work with one another and is basically the main subject. Can be enduring pattern or motif throughout the literary work, occurring in complex, long winding manner or it can be short and succinct and provide a certain insight into the story.
Dialogue
Conversation between two or more people
Soliloquy
Monologue in which a character, alone on the stage, reveals his or her thoughts or emotions, as if the character is thinking out loud.
Dramatic irony
Irony understood by audience but not by the characters in the work.
