Introduction to Short Stories Literary Terms English I

1. Introduction to Short StoriesLiterary TermsEnglish I

2. Today we will cover the following: • Voice • Diction • Tone • Imagery • Protagonist • Simile • Hyperbole • Syntax • Metaphor • Point of View • Foreshadowing • Flashback • Elements of a short story • Characterization • Setting • Theme • Mood • Symbolism • Macabre • Personification

3. The father of the American short story is…. Edgar Allan Poe

4. 4 characteristics of a short story: 1. Read in one sitting 2. One main character 3. Develops a single idea 4. Limited setting

5. 5 elements of a short story 1. Plot 2. Setting 3. Characterization* 4. Theme 5. Point of view

6. Freytag’s Triangle or Plot Diagram (Sequence of Events) • A. Exposition • B. Rising Action • C. Climax • D. Resolution C B D A

7. Freytag’s Triangle Example • Exposition – little red riding hood was going to visit her grandmother in the woods • Rising Action – she decided to take another route • Climax – she thought her grandmother looked weird • Resolution – the big bad wolf ate little red riding hood

8. Conflict • Conflict – a problem in the story- 4 types 1. Man vs. man (two people fighting in the hall) 2. Man vs. society (think about injustices that one might face in society) 3. Man vs. nature (Swimming in the ocean) 4. Man vs. himself (You are trying to decide if you should cheat on a test)

9. DICTION • DICTION is word choice. Key word – CONNOTATIONS! Authors choose words that have certain associations or feelings attached to them in order to make their attitudes toward the subject clear to the reader. For example, a writer might refer to a house as a hovel, a hut, a dwelling, a home, a residence, or a mansion. Each of these words has certain associations for the reader, making the effect of the word a positive or negative one.

10. Imagery • Definition: writer uses the five senses to describe experiences; descriptive words and phrases that re-create sensory experiences for the reader. • Example: As she entered the kitchen, the smell of cookies engulfed her, taking her to the summers she spent running around the kitchen while her grandmother baked.

11. Metaphor • Definition – comparison in which one thing means something else * you do not use like or as • Example: CHHS is a well oiled machine.

12. Personification Definition: allows writers to give human emotions and characteristics to inanimate objects, abstract ideas, and nonhuman living things. Example: I hear the snow’s white lullaby. She breathes it softly Through the air, While with her gown of flakes she sweeps The sky, the trees, the ground grown cold, Singing hush Now hush. Example: The sea has greedy lips.

13. Simile Definition: direct comparisons between things that have something in common but are essentially different. The comparisons made by similes are considered direct because the words like or as are included in the comparisons. Example: The moon this night is like a silver sickle Mowing a field of stars. Her hair was golden like the sun.

14. SYNTAX • SYNTAX is the way an author arranges words and groups of words to form sentences. The author may customarily write long, rambling sentences with complex words in them; he or she may usually use terse, clipped, authoritative sentences; he or she may choose to write sentences that are rhythmic or evenly divided between short and long elements. Syntax is the surest indicator of an author’s style. (Clauses and sentence variation)

15. VOICE • A writer’s distinctive use of language

16. Point of View • perspective from which the story is told

17. Tone • Definition– the author’s attitude toward a subject. • Example - Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc.

18. Mood • Definition – “atmosphere” feeling created in the reader by the writer. • Example – In the “Cask of Amontillado,” Poe creates a mood of dread and horror by using imagery and descriptive words.

19. Theme • Defined as: • Main idea; author’s purpose • Usually a message about life. * • The theme in Hunger Games is a lack of common humanity that we all share.

20. Protagonist – hero; main character

21. HYPERBOLE • exaggeration that creates special effects • Example: The shot was heard around the world.

22. Foreshadowing • Definition: using clues to suggest events that have yet to occur • Example: In Stephen King’s teleplay Sorry, Right Number, the opening camera close up and the first line of dialogue seem to hint that the telephone and Bill’s health will be important in the play. • Think about reality television…

23. Flashback • Definition: a writer refers to prior events; flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration. • In “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” Tim O’Brien uses flashbacks to help capture the thought process of the main character as he copes with the realities of his wartime experience. • What experiences do you often flashback to?

24. Characterization – what the author reveals about a character • 4 types of characters 1. Dynamic – changes 2. Static – stays same 3. Round – fully developed 4. Flat – not much known about him • We learn about characters by: • what he/she does • what he/she says • what he/she thinks or feels • what the narrator tells us directly • what others say about him/her

25. Setting • Definition: Time and Place • Example: The setting in “The Cask of Amontillado” is in a catacomb which is important to the plot of the story.

26. Symbolism • Definition – using something to stand for or represent something else beyond itself. • Example: In “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, the rocky bay represents challenge, danger, and adulthood; the beach represents safety and Jerry’s childhood.

27. Macabre/pronounced Ma - Cob • having death as a subject : comprising or including a personalized representation of death2 : dwelling on the gruesome3 : tending to produce horror in a beholder • Usually you see this in the setting of a story • Example – Poe writes short stories that have a macabre setting. • Example - The Night Ride He was fifteen years old and standing outside of a lighted store. His breath moved tirelessly from his mouth and dissipated into the night air. A car drove by slowly on the street, perhaps carousing the late night dens that littered the frequented abbey. The drivers face was dark. Only a pair white of knuckles shown brightly on the steering wheel. The boy blinked, and wondered.

28. When is your literary term test? Literary Quiz 9/2 * You will need to be able to identify definitions and examples.