Literary Terms

Parts of a Short Story  Exposition: Presents the characters and the situation  Rising Action: Building up the drama with plot parts  Climax: Highest Point or the turning point in the story  Falling Action: Events that start to wrap up the story  Resolution: The part of the story when the problems are worked out

Setting Up the Story  Protagonist: The Main Character of the story  Antagonist: The person or thing fighting the main character  Setting: Time and Place if the story’s action  Characterization: The act of developing a character  Plot: Sequence of events that make up a story

Conflict  Conflict: Source of tension in the story (struggling between opposing forces)  Internal Conflict: Character vs. Self  External Conflict: Character vs. Character or Character vs. Nature

Point of View (POV)  1 st Person – Perspective of one of the characters – tells the story using “I, Me, We”  3 rd Person Limited – The story is told by an outside narrator who knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character  Omniscient – ALL KNOWING  3 rd Person Omniscient – The story is told by an outside narrator who knows EVERYONE’S thoughts and feelings

Literary Devices  Foreshadowing: Hints about what is going to happen next  Imagery: Language that appeals to the senses  Symbolism: Object, person, or event that represents a deeper meaning  Mood: The feeling the story creates in the READER  Theme: The life lesson of the story