Elements of Literature



Elements of LITERATURE

Character Terms

CHARACTERS: The people/actors in a story

a. PROTAGONIST: The main character of the story, around whom the plot revolves. While s/he is usually the reader empathizes with, s/he is not in all cases a likeable person.

b. ANTAGONIST: The person, place, or thing in conflict with the protagonist. The antagonist may take many forms including another person, a force of nature, fate, society, or the protagonist him/herself.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT/CHARACTERIZATION: The process by which writers reveal their characters’ traits (qualities)

a. DIRECT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: The author directly describes the character, taking away the reader’s option to visualize the character in the reader’s own terms.

b. INDIRECT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: The author allows the reader the freedom to create the character in the reader’s mind. This can be accomplished with any of the following:

a. Appearance: What the character looks like; How s/he carries her/himself

b. Speech: What the character says and how s/he says it

c. The Opinions of Others

d. The Character’s Thoughts

e. Actions: What the character does in certain situations

CHARACTER TYPES

a. FLAT CHARACTER: A one-dimensional character; one or two personality traits only

b. ROUND CHARACTER: A three-dimensional character with many sides to his/her personality

c. STATIC CHARACTER: A character who does not undergo a change during the story

d. DYNAMIC CHARACTER: A character who does undergo an important change during the story

CHARACTER FOILS: A character who provides a striking contrast, calling attention to certain traits possessed by a main character or simply enhance a character by contrast

CHARACTER MOTIVATION: The reason for a character’s behavior. This requires you to make inferences based on characterization!

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces; conflicts can be external (outside forces) or internal (within a character’s mind).

Point Of View

POINT-OF-VIEW: The vantage point from which a narrative is told. The point-of-view in a story affects how we perceive “reality” in the story and understand what happens in it.

a. FIRST-PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW: Told by one of the characters in the story; uses the pronoun “I”

b. THIRD-PERSON LIMITED POINT-OF-VIEW: The narrator, who is almost never a character in the story, zooms in on the thoughts of just one or a select few characters.

c. THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT-OF-VIEW: The narrator is able to look into the hearts and minds of all characters at all times. The Greek prefix omni means “all,” and scient means “seeing.”

Setting

The time and the place of the story or novel.

A story can be set in a realistic or imaginary place and can occur in the past, present, or future.

Foreshadowing

An author’s way of hinting or giving clues to the reader of events or developments that might come later in the story.

Flashback

• A device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction. Flashback techniques include memories, dreams, stories of the past told by characters, or even authorial sovereignty.

• Flashback is useful for exposition, to fill in the reader about a character or place, or about the background to a conflict.

Plot

What happens 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on.

The plot centers on at least one major problem called a conflict.

Five Main Parts of the Plot

Theme

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work. The theme includes the topic of the writing and a viewpoint or opinion about the topic. .” In short, the theme is the statement or observation about life that theFor example:

Greed might be the subject. The theme might be, “Greed is destructive and evil.”

Fighting might be the subject. The theme might be, “Fighting solves nothing.”

It can be Universal; applying to you and the world.

MOTIF: a pattern of recurring objects, concepts, or structures in a work of literature

Mood

A feeling or emotion that a writing or piece of literature stirs in the reader.

Tone

The approach or attitude that the writer takes toward the subject of the writing.

Irony

IRONY: is the contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.

THREE TYPES OF IRONY

a. SITUATIONAL IRONY: A discrepancy between the expected result and the actual result

b. VERBAL IRONY: When an individual says one thing but really means another (or, when a character says one thing, but the opposite is true)

c. DRAMATIC IRONY: When the audience/reader knows what is happening before the characters do. Horror movies and soap operas are known for their heavy use of dramatic irony.

SUSPENSE: Suspense is created through the reader’s uncertainty about the character’s ability to solve a problem, conflict, or crisis.

Figurative Language

Figurative language uses comparisons to express a relationship between essentially unlike things

Simile: Compares two unlike things using like or as:

Metaphor: Am implied comparison between two relatively unlike things without using like or as:

Hyperbole: The comparison by using an exaggerated statement:

Personification: Compares by giving human characteristics to non-human things.

SYMBOLISM: The use of something concrete that stands for or represents something abstract.

IMAGERY: The use of words that appeal to one (or more) of the five senses.

Clichés

A word or phrase that has become overly familiar or commonplace.

Ex.amples: No pain, no gain.

Quiet as a mouse.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Idioms

Idioms are groups of words that really don’t mean what they say. Each idiom has a special meaning.

Examples: In a pickle.

Sitting on top of the world.

Open a can of worms.

Allusion

ALLUSION: A brief, indirect reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object

a. MYTHOLOGICAL ALLUSION: an allusion to a character or event in mythology

b. LITERARY ALLUSION: an allusion to a work or literature or a part of that work of literature

c. HISTORICAL ALLUSION: an allusion to an historical event, person, place, or object

d. BIBLICAL ALLUSION: an allusion to something in the Bible

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words.

Examples: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers….

She sells seashells by the seashore…

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

Onomatopoeia

The use of words or sounds which resemble the sounds which they describe. Some words are themselves onomatopoeic, such as:

snap, crackle, pop, boom, gasp, boo, splash.

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External Conflict

(Struggle with an outside force.)

Man-vs-man

Man-vs-nature

Man-vs-animal

Man-vs-society

Internal Conflict

(Takes place in the character’s mind.)

Man-vs-Self

Exposition or beginning: setting and introduction of main characters. The opening of a short story or novel. It provides background information that the reader needs to know.

Rising Action: Initial incident, suspense, shows conflict or struggle, complications, details, sequence of events. The chain of events become more complex. The actions and feelings of the characters intensify as their problems become more complicated.

Climax: Greatest emotional response, turning point of the story. Involves an important event, decision, or discovery that affects the final outcome.

Falling Action: Following the climax, the intensity of the story may subside. The falling action describes the results of the major events as the action winds down.

Resolution: Conflict, crisis, or struggle resolved The final part of the story. It tells how the story ends. All the loose ends are tied up.

Climax

Falling Action

Rising Action

Resolution

Exposition

Words that Influence Mood:

Hopelessness

Optimisim

Loneliness

Despair

Longing

Enthusiam

Happiness

Peacefulness

Terror

Factors that Influence Mood:

Setting

Details

Images

Description

Serene Hostile Playful

Angry Serious Tender

Amusing Informative Outraged Argumentative

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