Test #1

Bartleby the Scrivener

Herman Melville

Symbolic Act

If you describe an event, action, or procedure as symbolic, you mean that it represents an important change, although it has little practical effect

A&P

John Updike

Greasy Lake

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Objective Narrator

The narrator is an observer, a "fly on the wall," but cannot enter into the minds of the other characters except in a speculative way. Such a narrator is trapped by the chronology and immediacy of the story, like a reporter "on the scene" of an event transpiring.

The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien

A Rose for Miss Emily

William Faulkner

Sweat

Zora Neale Hurston

Major Character

a character that is central to the development and resolution of the story's conflict. Most of the action of the story happens around the major character or characters, and their activity advances the plot and helps determine the outcome of the text.

Foil

a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character.

Fairy Tale

a children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.

Complication

a circumstance that complicates something; a difficulty.

Exposition

a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.

Tale

a fictitious or true narrative or story, especially one that is imaginatively recounted.

Novel

a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.

Irony

a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that may end up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated.

Magical Realism

a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy.

Dynamic character

a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude

Static character

a literary or dramatic character who undergoes little or no inner change; a character who does not grow or develop.

Theme

a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly.

Stream of Consciousness

a method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters.

Unreliable Narrator

a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised.

Character

a person in a novel, play, or movie.

Antagonist

a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

Narrator

a person who narrates something, especially a character who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem.

Anti-Hero

a protagonist or other notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities.

Motivation

a reason behind a character's specific action or behavior. This type of behavior is characterized by the character's own consent and willingness to do something.

Flashback

a scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story.

Conflict

a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

Novella

a short novel or long short story.

Fable

a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

Narrative

a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

Stock character

a stereotypical person whom audiences readily recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition

Short Story

a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.

Tall Tale

a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual

Legend

a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

Myth

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Epiphany

a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something

Gothic Novel

an English genre of fiction popular in the 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and having a pseudomedieval setting.

Tone

an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.

Foreshadowing

be a warning or indication of (a future event).

Literary Fiction

comprises fictional works that hold literary merit; that is, they involve social commentary, or political criticism, or focus on the human condition.

Dramatic Irony

expressed through a work's structure: an audience's awareness of the situation in which a work's characters exist differs substantially from that of the characters', and the words and actions of the characters

Round character

extremely realistic, behaving and speaking in a "real life" manner. The character is complex and increases in complexity throughout the story.

Science Fiction

fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets.

Geographical setting

includes both the time and geographic location in which the story takes place

In Medias res

into the middle of a narrative; without preamble.

Verbal Irony

irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

Participating (or First-Person) Narrator

is a point of view (who is telling a story) where the story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him or herself or sharing events that he or she is experiencing.

Symbolic Irony

it occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead.

Fiction

literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.

Historical setting

pertains to when events occur and when characters live or interact. A historical setting is a point in time.

Non-fiction

prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history.

Historical Realism

requires the writer's critical knowledge of the historicist who has a different interpretation of the historical events.

Diction

style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker or a writer.

Parable

succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.

Realism

the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly.

Conclusion

the end or finish of an event or process.

Fantasy

the faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.

Cosmic Irony

the idea that fate, destiny, or a god controls and toys with human hopes and expectations; also, the belief that the universe is so large and man is so small that the universe is indifferent to the plight of man

Protagonist

the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

Style

the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words — the author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood, images, and meaning in the text.

Climax

the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.

Limited omniscient Narrator

the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character. All characters are described using pronouns, such as 'they', 'he', and 'she'. But, one character is closely followed throughout the story, and it is typically a main character.

Non-participating (or Third-Person)

the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character. All characters are described using pronouns, such as 'they', 'he', and 'she'. But, one character is closely followed throughout the story, and it is typically a main character.

Point of View

the narrator's position in relation to the story being told.

Scene

the place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred.

Omniscient Narrator

the teller of the tale, who often appears to speak with the voice of the author himself, assumes an omniscient (all-knowing) perspective on the story being told: diving into private thoughts, narrating secret or hidden events

Setting

the time and place in which the story takes place

Dramatic Situation

the underlying plot line that is created to place the characters in conflict with themselves or others. It is a literary tool that is used to force the audience to become emotionally invested

Flat character

two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work.

Symbols

use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.

Physical setting

where a story takes place.

Minor Character

A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not focused on by the primary storyline, but appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo appearance.