Literary Terms and Elements. Your Gateway to Passing Criterion Reference Tests CRT s

Transcription

1 Literary Terms and Elements Your Gateway to Passing Criterion Reference Tests CRT s

2 Why do I need to know these terms? Because these are the basic building blocks of literature Because you will be asked to identify these concepts in literature Because they help breakdown literature into basic elements, which helps you better understand literature Because when you write a Literary Analysis these are the concepts you are expected to discusss

3 Narrator The voice that tells the reader the story.

4 Point of View The perspective from which the narrator tells the story

5 1 st Person When the narrator is a character in the story

6 2 nd Person When the narrator addresses the reader as You

7 3 rd Person When the narrator tells the story as an observer, not a participant

8 Omniscient When the narrator knows all the thoughts, history, and perspectives of the characters and events in the story. It is telling the story from God s perspective.

9 Limited When the narrator has limited information concerning the thoughts, history and perspectives of the characters and events in the story.

10 Plot Plot- the series of events in a story Hint: Every story has a plot. Every story has a beginning, middle and end, even if they do not follow in chronological order.

11 Structure of a story Basic situation- Setting and Characters Inciting incident- the events that lead to the conflict Conflict- the problem in the story Climax- the point at which the conflict becomes most intense Resolution- how the conflict in the story ends

12 Tone Tone- is the general feeling an author creates in an entire work or passage. Tone is described using words that express emotion.

13 Theme Theme- is the meaning of a story as it relates to some aspect of the human condition Hint- the theme of a story is not the moral. It is not telling what we should do or how we should act. It is a discussion about the author s point of view concerning the nature of humans and the experiences they have

14 Conflict Conflict- the problem in the story that the main character is trying to overcome Hint- without conflict in the story there can be no story Hint- the theme of the story can usually be found in understanding the nature of the conflict in a story There are three types of conflict

15 Man vs. Man Man vs. Man- a struggle in which the main character comes into conflict with another character or a group of people. So, it can be man vs. man individual (single) or man vs. a group of people (collective). It includes the idea of man vs. society Hint- most often a good guy vs. bad conflict i.e. kung fu movies and soap operas

16 Man vs. Himself Man vs. Self- this is internal conflict. It occurs when a character struggles with decisions or beliefs.

17 Man vs. Environment Man vs. Environment- a struggle between the main character and the external world. It is not restricted to the great outdoors. Nature in this sense is the external world. So it could include urban environments.

18 Types of Characters Dynamic Static

19 Protagonist Protagonist- the character in the story who is involved in or drives the action in a story. The protagonist is the character that we should strive to identify with. We as the readers hope that their best interest will be achieved

20 Antagonist Antagonist- the character who works against the success of the protagonist. Sometimes inner conflict can be the source of the antagonist in a character.

21 Dynamic Character Dynamic character- characters who drive the action and change from one perspective to another throughout the story. Protagonists are usually dynamic. When they are not the ending is usually tragic

22 Static character Static characters- do not change throughout the story. They may be complex, but they remain essentially unchanged.

23 Symbol An object that represents a concept or emotion relevant to the theme of a story Hint: usually an object that continues to appear or be referenced in a story. It is mentioned repeatedly.

24 Irony There are three kinds of irony: dramatic, situational and verbal. The characteristic they have in common is a sense of contradiction between apparent meaning and actual meaning.

25 Dramatic Irony When the audience knows the truth of the situation, but it is unknown to the characters. Example: In horror movies, we know the bad guy is hiding in the closet, before the main character foolishly goes to investigate the noise in the closet

26 Situational Irony When the meaning of the situation is the opposite of what we would normally expect. Example: When Jack Sparrow is stranded on the desert island with no food or water, but he does have a thousand year supply of rum. He has abundance, but it is an abundance that does not really help him survive.

27 Verbal Irony When the meaning of the words in the context of the situation has the opposite meaning of what we would expect. Example: When Arnold says I ll be back, we do not expect that means he is going to drive his car through the wall. Ordinarily the phrase simply means I will return.