Literary Terms Survival Guide

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Literary Terms Survival Guide
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Protagonist

• Has a goal to achieve, or a problem to solve the
  main character the action of the story revolves
  around this character

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Antagonist

• A force working against the protagonist such as
  another character, society, a force of nature or
  even a force within the main character prevents
  the protagonist from easily achieving the goal or
  solving the problem

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Major Character

• A character who plays a large (significant) role

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Minor Character

• A character who plays a small (insignificant) role

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Denotation

• The literal meaning of a word the dictionary
  meaning

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Connotation

• A secondary meaning or idea suggested by a word
  or phrase what a word makes us think of!

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Tone

• The writers attitude toward his/her audience or
  subject
• Ex formal, informal, bitter, hopeful, playful,
  etc.

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Symbol

• A symbol stands for something else. In addition
  to having its own meaning, a symbol also
  represents abstract ideas

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Theme

• The central message or the insight into life
  revealed through a literary work. Might be stated
  directly or implied

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Diction

• Authors word Choice!

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Irony

• Literary technique that portrays differences
  between appearances and reality, expectation and
  result (when the opposite of what you think is
  going to happen does happen!!)