Literary Elements

Literary Elements Ms. King Academic English 10

Direct Characterization • Author tells us what the character is like • Ex. Sandy was a rude, conniving, backstabber from the day that she entered high school.

Indirect Characterization • Author shows us the character’s nature and allows us to draw conclusions • 4 types • Appearance • Speech • Private Thoughts • Effect on other characters • Actions

Appearance • Give me an example of how an author might reveal something about a character with regard to appearance. • Ex. Sam stumbled into class looking completely disheveled in his holey jeans, faded black t-shirt, and worn out Chuck Taylors.

Speech • Give me an example of how an author would describe a character through speech. • Ex. After Luke got word that his Sunday shift was cancelled, he texted three of his best buddies and asked, “What are yins doin’ this weekend for the Stiller game?”

Private Thoughts • Give me an example of how an author might describe a character using private thoughts. • Ex. As Regina sat in Physics class, she couldn’t help but be distracted by the breathtakingly handsome man directly across the room from her. His blue eyes, his goldenrod hair, his perfectly white smile. The butterflies fluttered daily within Regina’s stomach – she had to talk to this Adonis.

Effect on other characters • How would an author indirectly characterize someone by demonstrating their effect on other characters? • Ex. Strolling through the mall, Lyla spotted a young boy crying beneath a clothing rack. Lyla approached the boy cautiously, knelt down to his level and asked what was wrong. The boy informed her that he’d lost his mother; therefore, Lyla gently grasped the young boy’s hand and led him to the customer service booth.

Actions • How does an author share information about a character through actions? • Ex. As Wayne skated onto the rink, he felt good about his recent interview. Despite his game winning goal, he attributed the win to the team’s performance. Instead of telling the reporters that he had saved the day and the team’s playoff hopes, Wayne knew that his whole team deserved some recognition.

Protagonist • The main character of a literary work • Sets the plot in motion • We generally identify his/her conflict by end of story

Antagonist • A character or force that blocks the protagonist

Sympathetic Character • fictional character in a story with whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, if not necessarily admire.

Unsympathetic Character • Fictional character in a story who is unpleasant and difficult to like

Round Character • A character with many personality traits (many details given) • Very often hero (or anti-hero) of work • Non necessarily a MAIN character • Roundness is found in character’s actions, not description • Ex. Harry Potter

Flat Character • A character with few personality traits (few details given) • Not many sides to character’s personality • Easily recognizable traits (Ex. Wicked stepmother who humiliates stepdaughter, school bully) • Ex. Mr. Filch (Caretaker at Hogwarts who is obsessed with finding students breaking rules)

Static Character • A character that does not change personality, beliefs, ideas, etc. throughout the work • Ex. Bellatrix Lestrange

Dynamic Character • a character that experiences some type of change during the course of the story due to events • Ex. Ebenezer Scrooge – mean at beginning of A Christmas Carol and altruistic in the end • Ex. Neville Longbottom (petrified student at first but eventually leads army to fight Voldemort)

Stock Character • Person who fits preconceived notions about a “type” • Characters have lost individuality; predictable and stale • Ex. Rebellious teenager; cranky, old man; mad scientist; greedy miser counting cash at night

Conflict • A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play, usually resolved by the end of the work. The conflict may occur within a character as well as between characters.

Internal Conflict • Conflict that occurs within a character • Ex. Harry Potter – In the first novel, Harry’s internal conflict is his struggle with growing up without his parents

External Conflict • Conflict against forces outside of a character • Ex. In the first novel, Harry struggles to prevent Voldemort from obtaining the sorcerer’s stone

Person v Self Conflict • A character has trouble deciding what action to take. • This type of conflict deals with right and wrong and/or moral issues • Ex. Harry tries to determine whether or not to risk his life for the good of everyone else

Person v Society Conflict • A character has a problem with the law, school, accepted behavior, etc • Ex. Harry is running from the Ministry of Magic (now overrun by the Death Eaters) who is coming after him in the final novel. This group is instituting a campaign to rid society of Muggle-born wizards (similar to Nazi Germany)

Person v Nature Conflict • A character struggles with the elements of nature. • Ex. Harry, Hermione, and Ron must struggle against the elements in the final novel when they are alone in the woods

Foreshadowing • Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

Flashback • A scene in a movie, plat, short story, novel, or narrative poem that interrupts present action of the plot to “flash backward” and tell what happened at an earlier time • Ex. The Notebook • Ex. Harry Potter • Ex. The Hangover

Theme • The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization. • The BIG idea

Irony • A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature.

Dramatic Irony • When the reader or audience knows something important that a character in a story or drama does not know

Situational Irony • Occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate

Verbal Irony • Speaker says one thing but means the opposite

Symbolism • An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself and that stands for something beyond itself.

Literary Elements