Keystone Terms

Part II- Story Elements

Setting the time and place in which a story unfolds Character a person, animal, or inanimate object portrayed in a literary work

Example of Setting The Alchemist Andalusia, Spain Tarifa, Spain Tangier, Morocco The desert, the oasis, the pyramids

Example of a Character The Alchemist The old man Melchizedek King of Salem

Plot the structure of the story, or the sequence in which the author arranges events Exposition beginning of a work that provides background information about setting, the characters, and their circumstances

Example of Plot Freytag’s Plot Pyramid

Example of Exposition Romeo and Juliet The exposition starts with the prologue and the first fight setting the stage and the mood of the rivaling families.

Rising Action part of the work when the conflict is revealed and the tension builds Climax the turning point of a work, or when the conflict is most intense

Example of Rising Action Romeo and Juliet  R & J first meet at Capulet Party  Tybalt/Romeo duel  Mercutio’s death  Juliet’s fake death  Romeo missing letter from Friar

Example of Climax Romeo and Juliet  Believing Juliet is dead, Romeo drinks poison.  Seeing Romeo dead, Juliet stabs/shoots herself. What stage of hero journey?

Falling Action part of the work where tension begins unwinding Resolution end of a work where conflict is resolved Hint: Also called Denouement

Example of Falling Action Romeo and Juliet  The Prince and the parents discover the bodies of Romeo and Juliet.

Example of Resolution Romeo and Juliet  Montagues and Capulets agree to put aside their feud in the interest of peace.

Foreshadowing the use of clues to suggest events that will happen later in the plot Flashback a scene in a work of literature, or a film that is set in an earlier time than the main story

Example of Foreshadowing Spider-Man 3 When Peter and MJ visit Harry Osborne in the hospital, a nurse remarks that they seem like good friends. Harry agrees, before going as far as to say he'd die for them. How It Pays Off: Guess what? He ends up dying for them. Clearly a man of his word…

Example of Flashback Titanic The movie alternates between present day, with old Rose as she tells her story, and 1912 when the Titanic goes on its maiden voyage.

1 st Person Point of View when one of the characters is actually telling the story using the personal pronoun, “I” 2 nd Person Point of View narrator addresses the reader as “you” Hint: common in speeches, letters/ s, songs, self-help books, and ads

Example of 1 st Person Point of View To Kill a Mockingbird The story is told from the point of view of Scout, a young child. “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.”

Example of 2 nd Person Point of View John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, 1961 “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

3 rd Person Limited POV when the narrator only focuses on the thought and feelings of one character, “he,” or “she” 3 rd Person Omniscient POV when the narrator knows everything about all the characters and their feelings

Example of 3 rd Person Limited POV Harry Potter Series Told from Potter’s perspective, “he” As Harry squelched along the deserted corridor he came across somebody who looked just as preoccupied as he was. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was staring morosely out of a window, muttering under his breath, "... don't fulfill their requirements... half an inch, if that..."

Example of 3 rd Person Omniscient POV Animal Farm The narrator of the story discusses all of the characters and he weaves in and out of the creatures' heads, cluing us into things like Clover's distress about the executions.

Keystone Terms

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