1. Literary Terms

2. PLOT The sequence of events in a story.
Plot is also a pattern of actions, events and situations
Plot includes
exposition
exciting force/inciting incident
rising action
climax
falling action
denouement

3. Think of the Parts of a Story like a Peak…
Climax
Rising Action
Falling Action
Inciting Incident or
Exciting Force
Exposition
Denouement

4. Definitions
Exposition: opening portion of a narrative or drama, it sets the scene, introduces the main characters, and discloses necessary background
Exciting force/inciting incident: sets the action in motion
Rising action: part of the narrative, including the exposition, in which events start moving toward a climax.
Climax: the turning point, moment of greatest intensity
Falling action: the events that follow the climax and bring the story to its conclusion
Denouement: resolution or conclusion of narrative

5. CONFLICT Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
Conflict can be
Internal– person vs. self
External
person vs. person
person vs. nature
person vs. society
man/woman vs. machine
man/woman vs. supernatural

6. Setting The four elements of setting are:
Time (When does it take place? Think era and time of day/week)
Place (Where does it take place?)
Mood (What is the overall feeling of the story?)
Circumstance (What is going on around the characters in the story? Ex: War, depression, technological era, etc.)

7. Characters static (stay the same) vs. dynamic (change)
flat (one-sided) vs. round (many-sided)
major/minor/functional

8. Protagonist – main character
Antagonist – in conflict with/opposes protagonist

9. Characterization
The techniques a writer uses to create, reveal, or develop the characters in a narrative.
Direct: author states directly what a character is like
Indirect: reader must infer what a character is like through description, dialogue, action, and how other characters treat him/her
Most often, writers reveal/develop characters through what they say (dialogue) and what they do (action).
Characters are motivated by desires, temperament and moral character.

10. Theme
A generally recurring subject or idea conspicuously evident in a literary work
Longer works may have multiple themes
The theme is not necessarily a moral or a lesson
The theme is the center, the moving force, the unifying vision

11. Theme is developed through motifs.
A motif is an element that recurs significantly throughout a narrative. It can be a/an
image
idea
situation
action
Example: motifs in the Harry Potter books include
loyalty
lying
blood
abandonment

12. Point of view The perspective from which a story is told First person
The narrator is “I” and he/she is a participant in the action
Third person
Narrator is a nonparticipant in the action
Omniscient: narrator can move freely through the mind of any character, and has complete knowledge of all the events in the story
Limited: the narrator sees into the minds of some, but not all, of the characters; typically, one major or minor character

13. Symbol
An object, character, or event that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense
A symbol adds meaning
In fact, a symbol can add multiple meanings

14. Metaphor? Symbol? So what’s the difference?
How does a symbol differ from a metaphor?
A metaphor
is a statement that one thing is something else, which, in a literal sense, it is not
creates a close association between the two things, underscoring some important similarity between them
Examples:
Richard is a pig.
She’s a doll.
“I will speak daggers to her, but use none.” (Hamlet)

15. How can I recognize a symbol?
Symbols are
Not abstract terms (love, truth) but perceptible objects
Sometimes people and events are symbolic
Frequently given particular emphasis (repetition)
May supply the title
Lead us to the author’s theme

16. Tone Attitude the author is trying to convey about the subject
Tone is the net result of the various elements the author uses to create the work
Tone plays an important role in establishing the reader’s relationship to the characters and ideas

17. Irony
Literary device in which the actual meaning is masked by the surface language
Three main types of irony:
Verbal: say one thing but mean another
Situational: something happens that is not what we (or the character) expects
Dramatic: the audience knows or understands something that the characters on stage do not

18. Other Techniques
Suspense: enjoyable anxiety and/or curiosity about the outcome of an event
Foreshadowing: hints at what may happen in a story
Flashback: a scene relived in a character’s memory; gives information about something that happened before the current narrative began