Short Story Unit Literary Terms

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Short Story Unit Literary Terms
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Plot

• The sequence of events that make up a story,
  usually centering around a main conflict

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The Five Stages of Plot
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Exposition

• The first stage of plot!
• In the Exposition, the scene is set
• this part of the story introduces the characters,
  tells the reader the setting, and provides all of
  the necessary background information

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Setting

• Placethough usually physicalmay also involve
  the social, economic, or cultural environment of
  the story

• The setting of the literary work is the time and
  place of the action.
• Time can include not only the historical
  periodpast, present, or futurebut also a
  specific year, season, or time of day.

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Rising Action

• The second stage of plot!
• This is where the action usually begins. In the
  Rising Action, the conflict is introduced (either
  between characters, or with an outside force).
  This conflict will build up pressure until the
  Climax

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Climax

• The climax is the highest point of conflict in
  the story!!

• Generally, this is the point after which
  everything is different. All of the pressure or
  events of the Rising Action have stacked up to
  this moment, when something must change.

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Falling Action

• This stage begins the downward slope? the
  conflict lessens, and the plot moves towards
  closure

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Resolution/Denouement

• In the final stage of plot, the conflict
  concludes, and loose ends are tied up.

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Conflict

• A conflict is a struggle between opposing
  forces.
• There are two types of conflict

• INTERNAL -Conflict that occurs inside the
  character -man Vs. self

• EXTERNAL
• Conflict that occurs outside of the
  character -man Vs. man -man Vs. nature -man
  Vs. society -man Vs. fate

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Protagonist

• The protagonist is the main character in a
  literary work.
• He/she is NOT necessarily the good guy, just
  the main character

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Antagonist

• An antagonist is a character or force in conflict
  with the main character
• This is NOT necessarily the bad guy, just the
  person or thing that is working against the main
  character

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Narrator

• The person from whose perspective a story is told

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Point of View

• The perspective or angle from which a story is
  being told
• There are several types
• First-Person-Point-of-View When the narrator
  telling the story is one of the characters, and
  tells the story as a personal account
• Third-Person-Point-of-View When the narrator is
  not one of the characters (has no name, and does
  not participate in any of the action of the plot)

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Point of View (continued)

• There are also two types of Third-Person-Point-of-
  View
• Third-Limited-Point-of-View When the narrator
  sees the world through one characters eyes and
  reveals only that characters thoughts
• Third-Omniscient-Point-of-View When the narrator
  sees into the minds of more than one character.
  Omniscient all knowing

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Theme

• The central message or insight into life revealed
  through a literary work
• This is the deeper meaning, the main
  lesson/message/moral that the author hopes the
  reader will understand at the end of the story

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Denotation Vs. Connotation

• Connotation Suggested meaning. An emotional
  association with a word in addition to the words
  actual, explicit meaning. Ex., house, woman,
  Hollywood, joking

• Denotation The dictionary meaning of a word,
  independent of other associations that the word
  may have

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Irony

• The difference between appearance and reality or
  the expectation and result.
• There are THREE kinds of Irony-Verbal Irony a
  word or phrase used to suggest the opposite of
  its actual meaning. You look so good in that
  dress, said her best friend.-Dramatic Irony
  When there is a contradiction between what a
  character thinks and what the readers know is
  true. You know something the character doesnt
  know. (You know the murderer is hiding in the
  closet but the character doesnt know.)

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Irony (continued)

• -Situational Irony When an event directly
  contradicts expectations of the reader or of the
  characters

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Foreshadowing

• Clues in a literary work that suggest events that
  have yet to occur

• This literary device helps to create suspense,
  keeping readers wondering about what will happen
  next.

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Mood

• The feeling created in the reader by a literary
  work
• Tone
• The attitude toward the subject that an author
  conveys in a piece of writing

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Simile

• A comparison between two unlike things using
  like or as.
• Similes are used to make descriptions of objects
  or people more powerful.
• Example
• Without a simile It was dark outside.
• With a simile The night was as dark as thick,
  black velvet.

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Metaphor

• A comparison between two unlike things, without
  using the words like or as.
• Instead, one thing is spoken of as though it is
  something else completely.
• Example (from the Langston Hughes poem
  Dreams)if dreams dieLife is a
  broken-winged birdThat cannot fly

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Personification

• A type of figurative language, where a non-human
  object is given human characteristics
• Examples
• -The desk coughed and grunted as I shoved it
  across the old wooden floor.
• -The tea kettle whistled once the water was
  boiling.

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Imagery

• The descriptive or figurative language used in
  literature to create word pictures for the
  reader.
• These word pictures/images, are created by
  details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or
  movement.

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Symbol

• Something that has a literal meaning, but also
  stands for or represents an abstract idea.
• Example The American Flag on a literal
  level, it is just a flag, a piece of cloth.
  However, it also stands for this particular
  county, for freedom, etc.

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Allusion

• When one literary work references a well-known
  person, place, event, work of art, or another
  literary work to make a point.
• Example In Taylor Swifts song Love Story,
  she alludes to the play Romeo and Juliet.

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Dialogue

• A dialogue is a conversation between characters.
• It is often used to reveal things about a
  characters thoughts, motivations, and
  personality to the reader, and to advance the
  action of the plot.

• Example
• After walking into the kitchen, Susie cried,
  Mom, how could you eat the last cupcake?!
• Mom replied, I was hungry, and you werent here.
  It was delicious, my dear!

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Diction

• Word choice, including vocabulary used, word
  appropriateness, and vividness of language

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Characterization

• The way a writer reveals a characters
  personality and traits.
• There are two methods
• Direct Characterization The author directly
  states a characters personality and/or physical
  traits
• Indirect Characterization Uses a characters
  thoughts, actions, and feelings, to suggest the
  characters traits.

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Dynamic Character

• A character that develops and changes through the
  course of a story
• Example Ebenezer Scrooge? at the beginning of A
  Christmas Carol, he is a mean, lonely man that
  is only interested in money. By the end of the
  story, he is generous, and interested in the
  true spirit of Christmas.

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Static Character

• A character that does not change or develop
  through the course of the story
• Example
• Wile E. Coyote

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Round Character

• A character that exhibits many traits, faults as
  well as virtues
• Flat Character
• A character who seems to have only a single
  personality trait

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Stereotype

• A set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations
  about a group that allows others to categorize
  them and treat them accordingly.

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Topic Sentence

• A sentence that expresses the main idea or point
  of the paragraph, usually appearing at the
  beginning.

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Supporting Details

• Statements that support the main idea/topic
  sentence with explanations, descriptions,
  definitions, or other information.

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Purpose

• The authors reason for writing a specific piece
  (Examples To entertain, to inform, or to
  persuade the reader)

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Thesis Statement

• The sentence or two that contains the focus of
  the essay and tells your reader what your essay
  will be about.
• The thesis statement unifies the essay parts.

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Generalization

• A broad principle that is supported by evidence
  or particulars
  Evidence
• Particulars, or details, that lead to
  generalizations

Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence
GENERALIZATION (BIG PICTURE!!!)