Literary Terms

NOTES:


Setting:

Where and when a story takes place.

(example: Place—New York City; Time—1930’s)


Characters: The people or animals in a story.


Plot: The sequence (order) of events in a story. It has six parts.

1) Exposition: This is the set-up of the story. It introduces us to the main character and gives us the background on the character and setting needed for the story to happen. It is usually the 1st paragraph to the first couple of pages
2) Inciting: the event that begins the conflict


3) Rising Action: These are events in the problem or conflict that get more complicated or dramatic as they led up to the climax


4) Climax: The height of the problem/conflict/action.


5) Falling Action: The action that occurs immediately after the climax and leads to the resolution.


6) Resolution: How the problem/conflict is resolved.



THEME: The main idea of the story.



Conflict

1) Person vs. Person (or man vs. man): conflict between two or more people in the story. It usually is an outward conflict, usually physical in nature (example—a gunfight)
2) Person vs. Society: conflict between the main character and the conventions or structures of society (examples: laws)
3) Person vs. Self: inward conflict—a conflict within the main character’s mind. Usually a decision the main character has to make in the story and the anguish over that decision.
4) Person vs. Nature: outward conflict—a conflict between the main character and forces of the natural world.
5) Person vs. Fate (or person vs. God): An inward or outward conflict in which the main character comes up against forces outside his/her control—supernatural forces or forces of chance.


POINT OF VIEW: The position/ stance of the narrator.

1st person point of view—an “I” voice. The narrator who is telling the story is usually part of the story.

3rd person limited—a “She/He” voice. The narrator follows one character through out the story.

3rd person All-Knowing—a “He/She” voice, but the narrator knows everything that happens in the world of the story.


FORESHADOW: hints at what is going to happen in the story (example: the gunshots Rainsford hears before falling into the ocean, the story Whitney tells about Ship-Trap island are hints at future events that will take place in the story)


IRONY: A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy. There are three kinds of irony:

Verbal irony: A figure of speech in what is said is opposite of what is meant.

Michael Jackson’s lyrics “I’m Bad” doesn’t mean he’s evil. Rather, it means he is above average—it implies a good meaning.

Verbal irony is more than just sarcasm

Dramatic irony: An incongruity of discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives ad what the author intends the reader to perceive). The speaker’s words may be straightforward, but the author, by putting these words in a particular speaker’s mouth, may be indication to the reader ideas or attitudes quite opposed to those the speaker is voicing.

“The Chimney Sweeper”

Irony of situation: A situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfillment, or between the actual situation and what would seem appropriate.

“The Most Dangerous Game” plays on irony of situation. It is ironic that a celebrated hunter like Rainsford should become the hunted, for this is a reversal of his expected and appropriate role. It’s ironic that such an outwardly refine character as Zaroff—a man who speaks and reads in three languages, who hums classical music, eats and drinks the finest foods and wines, wears the best clothes, and who seems to be a good host—should be so crude in his outlook on the value of human life.



Allusion: A reference, direct or implied, to something in previous literature or history (a famous person, place, thing).

Examples: In “The Most Dangerous Game” Zaroff alludes to the debacle in Russian (The Russian Revolution) where “Many noble Russians lost everything.” And where Zaroff alludes to World War I by saying, “I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to harbor romatic ideas about human life. Surely your experiences in the war.”

Symbol: A person, a place, an object, an image that represents a greater idea

Example: Zaroff’s name represents the Czar of Russian and the elitism of Imperialism and the fallen Empires of Europe.