Literary Terms for Novels and Short Stories

1. Literary Terms for Novels and Short Stories Ms. Wood English 10 Honors

2. Plot • Exposition – early part of the story that sets the TONE, establishes SETTING, introduces CHARACTERS, and gives important background information • Narrative Hook – something that grabs your ATTENTION at the beginning of the story • Rising Action – CONFLICT is introduced; events that lead up to the climax

3. Plot (cont) • Climax – TURNING point; something happens that determines the outcome • False Climax – apparent SOLUTION to the problem that does not last; real climax is yet to come • Falling Action – after the climax, where the conflict BEGINS to resolve • Denouement/Resolution – CONFLICT is resolved, any “loose ends” are tied up

4. Characterization • Protagonist – main CHARACTER that the story centers around • Antagonist – OPPOSES the protagonist • Static – character that does not CHANGE in an important way during the story • Dynamic – character that changes in an IMPORTANT way during the story

5. Characterization (cont) • Round – character who displays many different aspects of his PERSONALITY; usually a dynamic character • Flat – character who displays a single QUALITY and is predictable, not well-developed, and usually STATIC • Foil – character whose physical or psychological qualities CONTRAST strongly with the corresponding qualities of another character

6. Setting • Time • Place May have to use CLUES to figure these out • Duration – length of TIME the story covers • Mood/Atmosphere – FEELING or atmosphere that the writer creates. Examples: horrific, ROMANTIC, gloomy, fanciful

7. Point of View • First Person – narrator tells the story using pronoun “I” • Third Person Limited – narrator is OUTSIDE the story and relates it by limiting the viewpoint to ONE character’s perspective • Third Person Omniscient – narrator is outside the story but is able to penetrate the THOUGHTS and describe the actions of the characters as the need arises

8. Conflict • Man vs. Man – conflict between two or more CHARACTERS • Man vs. Nature – character battling a FORCE of nature such as old age, snow, animals • Man vs. Self – INTERNAL conflict; decision or problem within a character’s mind • Man vs. Society – character battling society (Holocaust, RACISM, social class) • Man vs. Supernatural – character battling God, GODS, magical beings or ghosts

9. Irony • Situational – something happens that is the OPPOSITE of what you might expect • Verbal – a character SAYS one thing but the opposite is true • Dramatic – the reader knows something that a CHARACTER does not know

10. Style – writer’s distinctive manner of arranging WORDS • Tone – ATTITUDE of the author towards the subject or audience • Diction – selection and arrangement of WORDS (formal, informal, slang) • Connotation – IMPLIED meaning of a word; associations of a word • Denotation – dictionary or LITERAL definition of a word

11. Style (cont.) • Cacophony – “bad sound” ; language that is DISCORDNANT or difficult to pronounce. Example: “never my numb plunker fumbles” (John Updike) • Dialect – informal SPEECH, spoken by people in a particular geographic region (Examples: “y’all” and “ain’t” in the South)

12. Other Lit. Terms • Theme – insight or MEANING behind the story; the writer’s “message” • Forshadowing – hints or CLUES of what is to come later in the story • Flashback – break in the story that takes us back TIME; different from a MEMORY • Symbolism – use of symbols; an object that is itself but also REPRESENTS something more than itself. Ex: green = envy, eagle = freedom • Allusion – reference to something familiar OUTSIDE of the story, such as a book, song, war, mythology, etc.