Short Story Literary Terms Study Guide

irony

The contrast between expectation and reality; between what is said and what is meant; between what is expected to happen and what really happens; between what appears to be true and what is really true. ( e.g., a funeral director who helps deliver a baby in a stuck elevator

external conflict

a conflict between a character and another character or between a character and something nonhuman (i.e., man vs. a storm, man vs. dog, man vs. God)

internal conflict

a conflict that happens within a character's mind. For instance, if a person finds a wallet filled with money, he might battle within himself about whether to turn the wallet in or not.

foreshadowing

a hint or clue of what will happen later in a story

theme

a main idea or underlying truth in a story

character

a person in a story

short story

a short fictional story that usually takes up ten to twenty pages.

narrator

a speaker or character who tells the story

conflict

a struggle or clash between opposing forces

symbol (symbolism)

something that stands for something else (dove = peace)

fiction

stories based on a writer's imagination (short stories, novels)

suspense

the anxiety a reader feels about how the story will turn out

exposition

the beginning of the story when we learn about setting, characters, and initial conflict; also called the BASIC SITUATION.

resolution

the end of the story when loose ends are tied up; conflicts are resolved; also called the DENOUEMENT

falling action

the events of a story that follow the climax and lead to the resolution

mood

the feeling a the writer tries to create inside the reader (suspense, humorous, sadness etc.)

protagonist

the main character in a story

climax

the most intense part of the story; the reader sees how the main conflict will be resolved

characterization

the process of revealing a character (appearance, dialogue, thoughts, behavior)

plot

the series of related events in a story

setting

the time, place, and mood of a story

rising action

this is the part of the story when characters try to solve the conflict; this leads up to the climax; also called the complication