Character

1. Character A character is a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work.

2. Diction • Diction is the manner in which we express words; the wording used. • Diction = enunciation • Some easy examples are: Don’t say ‘goin’ – say ‘going’, Don’t say ‘wanna’ – say ‘want to’

3. Denotation The denotation of a word is its dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the word may have.

4. Connotation The connotation of a word is the set of ideas associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning. The connotation of a word can be personal, based on individual experiences. More often, cultural connotations – those recognizable by most people in a group – determine a writer’s word choices.

5. Imagery Imagery is words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Writers use imagery to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and smell.

6. MOOD Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage.

7. Plot Plot is the sequence of events. The first event causes the second, the second causes the third, and so forth.

8. PLOTLINE Climax Rising Action Falling Action Resolution Exposition Conflict Introduced

9. Exposition The Exposition is the introduction. It is the part of the work that introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation.

10. Rising Action Rising Action is the part of the plot that begins to occur as soon as the conflict is introduced. The rising action adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest.

11. Climax The Climax is the point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot of a narrative. The climax typically comes at the turning point in a story or drama.

12. Falling Action Falling Action is the action that typically follows the climax and reveals its results.

13. Resolution The Resolution is the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict.

14. Conflict Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces in a story or play. There are two types of conflict that exist in literature.

15. External Conflict External conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate. Man vs. Man Man vs. Nature

16. Internal Conflict Internal conflict exists within the mind of a character who is torn between different courses of action. Man vs. Himself

17. Flashback A flashback is a literary device in which an earlier episode, conversation, or event is inserted into the sequence of events. Often flashbacks are presented as a memory of the narrator or of another character.

18. Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story. Writers use foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare for what is to come.

19. Setting The setting of a literary work is the time and place of the action. The setting includes all the details of a place and time – the year, the time of day, even the weather. The place may be a specific country, state, region, community, neighborhood, building, institution, or home.

20. Theme The theme of a literary work is its central message, concern, or purpose

21. Tone Tone is a reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work. Tone may be communicated through words and details that express particular emotions and that evoke and emotional response from the reader.