LITERARY DEVICES

Suspense Suspense is the growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a work of literature. It is a feeling of anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events. Writers create suspense by raising questions in the minds of their readers.

The Four Types of Conflict: Man vs. Man Man vs. Nature Man vs. Society Man vs. Himself

Man vs. Man

Man Vs. Nature

Man vs. Society

Man Vs. Himself Should I do my homework or check my facebook? Hmmm…

Metaphor A Metaphor is a type of speech that compares or equates two or more things that have something in common. A metaphor does NOT use like or as. Example: Life is a bowl of cherries.

Simile A Simile is another figure of speech that compares seemingly unlike things. Simile’s DO use the words like or as. Example: Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

MOOD Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. Writer’s use many devices to create mood, including images, dialogue, setting, and plot. Often, a writer creates a mood at the beginning of a work and then sustains the mood throughout. Sometimes, however, the mood of the work changes dramatically.

NARRATOR one who tells a story, the speaker or the “voice” of an oral or written work The narrator is one of three types of characters in a given work, (1) participant (protagonist or participant in any action that may take place in the story), (2) observer (someone who is indirectly involved in the action of a story), or (3) non participant (one who is not at all involved in any action of the story).

Narrator An omniscient narrator: -not a character in the story -knows everything about the characters -can reveal the characters thoughts and actions -can zoom from place to place -may tell all or save information until later

Point of View Point of View is the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told. It is the relationship of the narrator to the story. First-person is told by a character who uses the first-person pronoun “I”. Third-person limited point of view is the point of view where the narrator uses third-person pronouns such as “he” and “she” to refer to the characters.

Theme This is the point the author is trying to make. Often considered to be the “moral” of the story. Usually the author’s commentary about life, society, or human nature.

The Three Types of Irony Situational Irony: An event of outcome of events opposite to what was or might naturally have been expected. For example:When John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, all of his shots initially missed the President; however a bullet ricocheted off the bullet-proof windows of the Presidential limousine and struck Reagan in the chest. Thus, the windows made to protect the President from gunfire were partially responsible for his being shot.

Dramatic Irony This is when one of the characters is unaware of important information that the audience is made aware of. For example: In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Romeo believes Juliet to be dead when she is merely asleep. This turns into tragic irony when he decides to end his life to be with her.

Verbal Irony The speaker or writer of verbal irony says one thing while INTENDING the reader to get a different meaning. For example, when using Sarcasm, the speaker says one thing but his tone implies another meaning.

How is this ironic?