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Literary Terms

ENC 1102

+Fable

A brief, often humorous narrative told to illustrate a moral( a message sometimes stated at the end).

A fable many times employs animal characters with human capabilities

Example: “ Appointment in Samarra” – W. Somerset Maugham

“ The North Wind and the Sun”

+Parable

A brief narrative that teaches a moral, but unlike the fable its plot is plausibly realistic and the main characters are human rather than anthropomorphized animals or natural forces.

Parables have more mysterious and suggestive tones.

The moral is not explicitly stated and their meanings can be open to several interpretations

+Tale

A story, usually short, that sets forth strange and wonderful events in more or less bare summary , without detailed character-drawing.

Examples- Paul Bunyan, John Henry ( tall tales)

Fairy Tales. “ Once upon a time…

+Plot-artistic arrangement of details

+Elements of Plot:

Conflict- struggle against opposing forces. Characters in a story may face opposition with Nature, Society , other characters, or a supernatural entity. A character may face an internal conflict between opposing psychological impulses or between different aspects of their own personality

Exposition: the portion of the story that sets the scene, introduces characters, tells us what happened before the story opens and provides any other background information that we need in order to understand and care about the events that follow.

+Elements of Plot:

Complications- elements that make the conflict difficult to resolve

Crisis: a moment of high tension

Climax – the moment of greatest tension at which the outcome of the narrative is to be decided

Conclusion: ( resolution or denouement- untying of the knot)

+Narrative Techniques:

In medias res ( Latin- in the midst of things) The writer chooses to skip over the exposition and present some exciting or significant moment, then fills in with what happened earlier.

Flashback ( Retrospect) A scene relived in a character’s memory

+Epiphany- some moment of insight, discovery, or revelation by which a character’s life or view of life is greatly altered.

+Suspense:

Heightened emotion which arouses interest in how the story will turn out.

+Story of Initiation:

A story featuring a character who is initiated into experience or maturity.

+Source:

Glau, Gregory R., Barry M. Maid, and Duane Roen. The McGraw-Hill Guide Writing for College, Writing for Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.