Literary Terms to know

1. Literary Terms to know “A Celebration of Grandfathers”

2. Narrative • Any type of writing that is primarily concerned with relating an event or series of events (telling a story). • Narratives can be fiction or nonfiction

3. Narrator • The character or voice from whose point of view the story is told • Rudolfo A. Anaya is the narrator in “A Celebration of Grandfathers.”

4. Autobiography • A writer’s account of his or her life • Forms of autobiographies may include: journals, diaries, letters and memoirs

5. Memoir • A form of autobiography that may also deal with historical events that affected the writer’s life

6. First-Person Point of View • When a character describes a story in his or her own words • First-person point of view describes from the point of view of “I”

7. Theme • The central idea or message in a work of literature

8. Author’s Purpose • The author’s reason for writing • Author’s write to inform, express an opinion, to entertain and/or to persuade

9. Tone • The attitude an author takes toward a subject • Tones can be playful, serious, bitter, angry, detached, ect…