Vocab words

Question 1

Paratext

Answer 1

The physical aspects of how the narrative is delivered. The paratext influences how we enjoy a narrative and helps us to distinguish fiction from reality.

Question 2

Narrative

Answer 2

Presents a unified sequence of events that add up to something, a plot with some kind of “point”.

Question 3

Tone

Answer 3

The author’s attitude towards a literary work.

Question 4

Mood

Answer 4

The feeling the readers take away after reading a piece of literature. Can usually be summed up with one word.

Question 5

Point

Answer 5

The consequence of the story, the reason it gets told. Point is not the same thing as the theme. Point concerns only the fiction while the theme goes beyond the fiction implying something about the real world.

Question 6

Plot

Answer 6

The connected series of events that make up a story. Normally the connection is made by some sort of causation.

Question 7

Character

Answer 7

An agent who has one or more discernible traits, or qualities of personality

Question 8

Characterization

Answer 8

The process by which traits are assigned to characters.

Question 9

Direct Characterization

Answer 9

When other characters or narrators give us clues about traits of a particular character.

Question 10

Implied Characterization

Answer 10

Character traits that can be assigned based on the actions/speeches/thoughts of the character.

Question 11

Major/Minor character

Answer 11

You can distinguish between the two depending on their importance to the plot. Major=important Minor=not so important.

Question 12

Setting

Answer 12

The space in which story events occur. Setting consists of background and “props”.

Question 13

Exposition/Introduction

Answer 13

a literary device that is meant to relay background information about a main character, setting, event or other element of the narrative.

Question 14

Inciting incident

Answer 14

The first action that sets off all the other actions to rise in the “rising action”.

Question 15

Rising action

Answer 15

the section of a story that leads toward its climax. Because of the increased tension as a book’s central conflict (or conflicts) become clear, the rising action is often what keeps you turning the pages.

Question 16

Climax

Answer 16

Decisive moment, or turning point, at which the rising action of the play is reversed to falling action. It may or may not coincide with the highest point of interest in the drama.

Question 17

Falling Action/Denouement

Answer 17

The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are either explained or resolved.

Question 18

Resolution

Answer 18

the conclusion of a story’s plot and is part of a complete conclusion to a story. The resolution occurs at the end of a story following the climax and falling action. In some stories, climax and resolution occur simultaneously but in that case are simply co-occurring points in the plot.

Question 19

Conflict

Answer 19

A literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces. (Mom made me late to cheer practice and I haven’t mastered the routine yet; George and Lenney cannot accomplish their dream of buying their own property because they are poor)

Question 20

Internal Conflict

Answer 20

When a character struggles with their own opposing desires or beliefs.

Question 21

External conflict

Answer 21

When a character is set against something or someone beyond their control.

Question 22

Elipsis

Answer 22

Events that occur outside of the POV that can be discerned by contextual clues within the POV. Must be argued for

Question 23

Narrator

Answer 23

The agent who communicates by “telling” or “showing” the story. Can be considered a character.

Question 24

Point of view

Answer 24

the perspective from which the narrator conveys the story to the reader.

Question 25

1st Person POV

Answer 25

The narrator is a character who provides narration through the pronouns “I/me/we”. We can only know the narrator’s thoughts and feelings and can only infer information about other characters through the narrator.

Question 26

2nd person POV

Answer 26

Narration is described with the pronouns “you/your”. Used in Dungeons & Dragons, Choose Your Own Adventure stories, as well as other fiction, to make the reader a character in the story.

Question 27

3rd person POV

Answer 27

Narrator exists outside the events of the story, and relates the actions of the characters by referring to their names or by the third-person pronouns he, she, or they.

Question 28

Limited 3rd person

Answer 28

Uses 3rd person pronouns (he/she/they). Has exactly the same essential limitation as 1st POV: that nothing can be seen, known, or told except what the narrator sees, knows and tells about a focus character and those around them. Narrator may be considered a character and provide commentary/opinions on events in the tale.

Question 29

omniscient/Involved narrator

Answer 29

3rd person narration where all information is accessible to the narrator and is not restricted to a single character. Omniscient narrators may be considered a character and may provide commentary/opinions on matters in the tale.

Question 30

Detached Narrator

Answer 30

3rd person narration where the narration provides no commentary/opinions and just presents what the camera/fly sees in the story (camera/fly since neither can provide commentary/opinions). May be considered a character, but more difficult to interpret. Of Mice & Men has a detached narrator.

Question 31

Actual author

Answer 31

Information about the actual author that can only be gleaned from primary sources (i.e. straight from the horse’s mouth).

Question 32

Implied Author

Answer 32

Information about the actual author that readers are only able to infer from their works. (ex: This guy writes a lot about Nazis; he either is a serious WWII enthusiast, or he must be a Nazi)

Question 33

Idiom

Answer 33

a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. its raining cats and dogs, see the light).

Question 34

Symbolism/Allegory

Answer 34

things in narrative/poetry that is itself, and also represents/stands for something else. Like a flag that represents a country, or Aslan The Great Lion in Chronicles of Narnia represents Jesus Christ.

Question 35

Metaphor

Answer 35

Uses the word “is” to compare something. A figure of speech in which a particular phrase or word is applied to an object, action, etc., to which it is not literally applicable. Used to compare seemingly unrelated or opposite things.

Question 36

Simile

Answer 36

Uses “like” or “as” to compare something

Question 37

Imagery

Answer 37

Sensory descriptive language

Question 38

Literal Language

Answer 38

Uses words exactly according to their conventionally accepted meanings or denotation.

Question 39

Figurative Language

Answer 39

Uses words in a way that deviates from their conventionally accepted definitions in order to convey a more complicated meaning or heightened effect. Figurative languages are often created by presenting words in such a way that they are equated, compared, or associated with normally unrelated meanings.

Question 40

Thesis

Answer 40

a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved and answers a research question.

Question 41

Research question

Answer 41

Questions that arise after reading/viewing a piece of literature/narrative. It is the starting point of an essay and is to be answered directly by the thesis statement.

Question 42

Claim

Answer 42

An opinion/proposition that the author “claims” to be true.

Question 43

Propostion

Answer 43

A statement that the author is proposing for further scrutiny, possibly a proof.

Question 44

Statement

Answer 44

A sentence that can either be true or false.

Question 45

Topic sentence

Answer 45

A sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph in which it occurs.

Question 46

Paragraph

Answer 46

4+ sentences usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.

Question 47

Body paragraph

Answer 47

units of text that offer supporting evidence to back up the thesis statement of an essay, report, or story. A good body paragraph contains three main sections: a topic sentence, relevant supporting sentences, and a closing (or transition) sentence. Any sentence should contain a quote.

Question 48

Quote

Answer 48

Words/sentences enclosed by “” and are not the author’s own words.

Question 49

Citation

Answer 49

providing the source to a quotation from a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work

Question 50

Commentary

Answer 50

A detailed analysis of a passage/quote.

Question 51

Transition

Answer 51

a word or phrase that connects one idea to another. This connection can occur within a paragraph or between paragraphs. Transitions are used to show how sentences or paragraphs are related to each other and how they relate to the overall theme of the paper.

Question 52

Margin Note

Answer 52

Writing on the sides of a paper/text detailing a person’s thoughts about said paper/text.

Question 53

FootNote

Answer 53

Supporting information printed at the bottom of the page that does not interrupt the flow to a piece.