Short Story Unit

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Short Story Unit

• Terms to Know

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Fiction

• Prose writing that tells about imaginary
  characters and events

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Short Story

• A short piece of narrative fiction

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Myth

• A fictional tale that describes the actions of
  gods and heroes or explains the causes of natural
  phenomena
• Unlike legends, myths emphasize the supernatural,
  rather than historical events

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Tall Tale

• An outrageously exaggerated and obviously
  unbelievable humorous story

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Fable

• Brief story in prose or verse that teaches a
  moral, or a practical lesson about life

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Folk Tale

• Anonymous traditional story originally passed
  down orally from generation to generation.
• Examples fairy tales, fables, legends, ghost
  stories, tall tales, anecdotes, and jokes.
• There are multiple versions of Folk Tales across
  cultures.
• (Ex 900 versions of Cinderella)

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Anecdote

• Very brief account of a particular incident

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Archetype

• A type of character, detail, image, or situation
  that appears in literature from around the world
  and throughout history.
• Can reveal deep truths about human experience.

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Moral

• A lesson taught by a literary work, especially a
  fable

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Paradox

• A statement that seems contradictory but that
  actually may express a deeper truth
• It is surprising, so catches the readers
  attention

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Parody

• A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious
  piece of literature
• Created to mock, comment on, or make fun of an
  original work, author, etc.

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Foreshadowing

• The use of clues in a literary work that suggest
  events that have yet to occur

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Analogy

• Comparison made between two things to show how
  they are alike

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Allusion

• Reference to a statement, person, place, event,
  or thing that is known from literature, history,
  religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or the
  arts

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Plot

• Series of related events that make up a story or
  drama
• Basic Situation (Exposition)Rising Action
  (Conflict Complications)ClimaxFalling
  ActionResolution

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Exposition

• Type of writing that explains, gives information,
  or clarifies an idea
• Also the first part of a plot, the basic
  situation

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Climax

• The high point of interest or suspense in a
  story, novel or play
• The events that make up the rising action lead up
  to the climax, which is the turning point, before
  the events that make up the falling action

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Surprise Ending

• A conclusion that violates the expectations of
  the reader but in a way that is both logical and
  believable