1. Into the Wild
Literary Terms

2. Biography
The subject of which is the life of an individual, written by another person.

3. Autobiography Form of non-fiction
The subject recounts his or her own history.

4. Epigraph
A quotation set at the beginning of a literary work that serves to round out or complete the design of work.

5. Anecdote
A brief story, usually with a specific point or moral.

6. Imagery
A word or phrase that names something that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled.

7. Theme
The author’s message or underlying purpose in writing a story, novel, or play. The author reveals a truth or offers a commentary about life or about people. Usually the theme is implied, never stated directly.
In the novel Into the Wild the following themes are explored:
The allure of the wilderness
Forgiveness
Ultimate Freedom
Valuing Principles over People
The Elusiveness of Identity
The Father-Son relationship

8. Symbolism
The practice of using an object to represent a belief, idea, superstition, or an institution.
Many objects in our society are said to be symbolic. A rabbit’s foot, for instance symbolizes good luck. A dove symbolizes peace, a hawk…war, skull and crossbones…poison, and an eagle symbolizes the United States Government.

9. Tone
The emotional attitude toward the reader or toward the subject implied by a literary work. Examples of different tones may include, playful, ironic, sarcastic, serious and sincere.

10. Plot
Like the steel beams of a building, the plot supports everything else in literature. The plot is concerned only action, not with character setting, theme or any other element. The plot or action moves the story along a path.

11. Alliteration
Alliteration results when a sentence contains the repetition of the same sounds.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

12. Irony
Irony results when the outcome of a situation is opposite to what the reader might have expected; irony often creates a surprise ending.

13. Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the device that results when a word sounds like its meaning.
Beat! Beat! Drums!- blow! Bugles! Blow!
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums – so shrill you bugles blow.
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums -

14. Personification
Personification is the technique of assigning human qualities to inanimate (non-human) objects.
Death stood at the door
The sun smiled on the earth
Happiness took a seat nearby
Poverty’s grasp
Good health went on a vacation

15. Setting
In literature, the setting consists of the time and the place of the action.
The setting helps control mood; it also has impact on dialogue and character.

16. Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words like or as.
Her angelic smile
An icy stare
Marshmallow clouds
Riveted her eyes
They monkeyed around
Hands of iron
Inky blackness

17. Simile A simile is a comparison that uses the words like or as.
Charged like an enraged bull
Closed like a steel trap
Fell as softly as feathers
Struggled as gently as lambs
Silently as the drifting snow

18. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces; this struggle forms the basis for the plot.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. Nature
Person vs. Society

19. Characterization
Characterization is the device used by an author to develop a character through (1) what that character says and does, (2) what other people in the story say about him/her and how they react to him/her, and (3) what the author reveals directly or through a narrator.

20. Allusion
A reference to a person, place, poem, book, event which is not part of the story, that the author expects the reader will recognize.
Cheshire cat – a broad grinning cat from Alice in Wonderland.
The term was used by Francis Fitzgerald in Rolling Stone magazine, 2/25/1988 talking about former president Ronald Regan.
“Yet he has never chided any one of his appointees from betraying the public trust. His smiling face has hovered over them all like a Cheshire cat.”

21. Foreshadowing
The use of hints or clues in a story to suggest what action is to come.

22. Local Color
Details and descriptions common to a certain place.

23. Point of View
The position or vantage point, determined by the author, from which the story seems to come to the reader.