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english
evocab
vocab | definition |
---|---|
plot | a series of related events which present and resolve a conflict |
conflict | the struggle or problem |
internal conflict | the problem or struggle is within the character himself |
external conflict | conflict that pits character against character, character against nature, or character against the forces of society |
exposition | first par of the plor structure that introduces character, setting, point of view, and basic situation. It establishes the mood by setting tone |
complications | part of the plot structure in which the protagonist takes some action to resolve the conflict and meets with some problem such as danger, indecision, or hostility |
climax | the key scene, the tense moment when the reader is most involved; the point at which all of the conflict must be resolved |
resolution | the way in which the conflict is resolved--the part of the story in which all the struggles are over |
suspense | the condition of not knowing what will happen next |
foreshadowing | hints given by the author about what will occur later; often used to build suspense |
setting | teels the reader where and when the story takes place; can include the locale, the weather, the time of day and the time period; oftern inferred. |
protagonist | the leading character of a short story, play, or nove |
antagonist | the adversary that opposes the protagonist; may be another character, the forces of nature, fate, or change |
point of view | the vantage point from which the writer had chosen to tell the story. |
first person | one of the characters is telling the story; may be a participant or an observer; uses personal pronouns (I, we, us etc.) |
third person limited | the narrator is not a character in the story; this story teller focuses on only one character's thoughts and actions |
third person omniscient | the narrator is not a character in the story, but knows all about the characters and their problems, their thoughts, and sometimes the past and future |
viewpoint | the narrator's persona, his perspective |
mood | the atmosphere or feeling or emotional aura that the writer creat; it may |
characterization | methods used by a writer to reveal the nautre or personality of a character. |
direct characterization | the writer tells us directly what kind of person the character is |
indirect characterization | the reader has to take the evidence given about the character and use his own judgment to decide what the cahracter is like |
figurative language | figurative means "not literal," so figurative language is language that is not meant to be taken literally. |
imagery | the sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. on the physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses |
verbal irony | a writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely differnet; sarcasm is a form of verbal irony |
dramatic irony | the reader or audience knows something that the character does not know |
situational irony | what is expected to take place is the opposite of what actually happens |
inference | a reasonable and intelligent conclusion about the behavior of a character or the meaning of an event drawn from limited details or hints supplied by the author |
sensory details | details of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch; referred to as imagery |
colloquialism | the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing; not generally acceptable for formal writing |
plot summary | states the main points in a brief form; always includes the title and author of the literary selection, and events are stated in the order in which they occurred |
idiom | an expression that has a meaning different from the meaning of its individual words; an expression that cannot be translated literally |
theme | the underlying, implied or stated truth about life or human nautre that a piece of literature reveals--must be expressed as a statement or sentence |
motif | a recurring theme, idea, work, phrase, or subject in a literary work |
symbol | something concrete, a person, place, object, or event that has meaning in itself, but stands for something beyond itself as well |
epiphany | an inituitive grasp of reality achieved in a quick flash of recognition in which something usually simple and commonplace is seen in a new light; this sudden insight is the epiphany |
rite of passage | an even that siganls a change from one stage of life to another |
historical fiction | fiction whose setting is in some time other than that in which it is written |
flashback | a device by which a work presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene |