Literary Terms

CONFLICT

Conflict

Definition: the problem, issue or struggle in a story that triggers the action

• Protagonist versus MAJOR PROBLEM

• Other obstacles: conflicts

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS - Person vs. person - Person vs. society - Person vs. nature - Person vs. Fate

INTERNAL CONFLICTS - Person vs. self

Conflict Improv

1. Choose a conflict from the box.

2. With your group, create a brief improv skit. Your improv must have a beginning, a peak and a resolution.

Freytag’s Triangle

Rising Action

Exposition

Climax

Falling action/ Denouement

Resolution

Conflict Review

What type of conflict is portrayed in each of the following examples?

CHARACTERIZATION

Authors can describe characters in two major ways.

Direct

Indirect

Direct Characterization

The author tells us directly what the character is like.

Frank was a fun-loving guy who enjoyed baseball and synchronized swimming, but never had the courage to try either of these events himself.

Indirect Characterization

Indirect is when the author uses other means besides description to SHOW a character. These means include:

• Appearance

• Actions

• Speech

• Private thoughts

• Reactions of others

Characterization in Puerto Vallarta

• Find an example of direct characterization.

• Find an example of indirect characterization.

• Is this direct or indirect characterization?

“He would glance at his watch as though tracking events somewhere else” (316).

Characterization exercise

Character Types

FLAT characters, known as 2-D characters, generally do not develop during the course of the story. Also known as static characters. ROUNDED characters, known as 3-D characters, develop and grow as the story progresses. Also known as dynamic characters. STOCK characters are stereotypes, pulled off the shelf. Think of the jock, the nerd, the evil stepmother.

Characterization Exit Quiz

Write your name on the slip of paper. For each of the three following examples, write whether direct or indirect characterization is used.

1. “Thank God,” she [her mother] cried. “I thought you’d been robbed or something” (311).

2. Her father told jokes and chose restaurants, whatever people wanted. He was Master of Ceremonies (311).

3. Ellen smiled at him. She felt as though some force were acting on her, making her breathless and dizzy (321).

Heartache

• What is one example of indirect

characterization in this story?

• Is there any direct characterization?

• What is the conflict in this story? What type of

conflict is it?

Setting

• Definition: The time and place in which the events of the narrative occur

• What is the setting of Heartache? Turn to a partner and describe it.

Imagery

• Definition: The sensory details appealing to the five senses

• Find 3 quotations from the text (of 1-6 words each) that create imagery.

• How does this imagery affect your reading of the story?

Figurative Language

Metaphor: an implied comparison between two unlike things

Simile: an explicit comparison between two unlike things, often using “like” or “as”

Personification: a figure of speech in which human characteristics are assigned to nonhuman beings.

STRUCTURE

• Look at how you outlined this story. Compare it to a neighbor.

• Do any patterns emerge?

Irony

Definition: The contrast between what appears to be and what really is. (NOT coincidence)

Verbal Irony: art of using words to say one thing and mean

another (sarcasm, for example)

What a brilliant essay!

Dramatic Irony::when the reader or spectator knows more

than the characters do (horror movies)Irony

Situational Irony: a contrast between what is

expected or intended and what actually happens

Where is the irony in Heartache?

Theme

Definition: the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work A theme gives some idea or insight about human life and human nature that gives meaning to the story. • What does the story reveal to its readers? (NOT the

moral)

• What is the story’s message about human life or human nature?

Theme practice

What do we learn in each of these stories about humans or

human nature?

The Hunger Games

Beauty and the Beast

Other stories…

• What was the theme of “Heartache”?

• What was the theme of “Puerto Vallarta”?

What about “Foster”?

Symbol

Definition: a word, phrase, or object in a work of literature which signifies something beyond itself.

Passage Analysis

The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead.

• What story is this from?

• How does the author use personification in this passage?

“Come down to the well with me,” she says. “Now?” “Does now not suit you?” Something about the way she says this makes me wonder if it’s something that we are not supposed to do. “Is this a secret?” “What?” “I mean, am I not supposed to tell?” “She turns me around, to face her. I have not really looked into her eyes until now. Her eyes are dark blue, pebbled with other blues. In this light she has a moustache. “There are no secrets in this house, do you hear?” • What story is this from? • What is the CONTEXT of this passage? (“This is when…” Who is in the

scene? Where are they? What has happened or is about to happen?) • Describe either the author’s use of irony or foreshadowing in this

passage.

It was too late to turn back, for we had both wandered too far into a net of expectations and had left no crumbs behind.

• What story is this from?

• How does the author use metaphor in this passage?

• How does the author use allusion?

Allusion

Definition: A literary reference to a familiar person, place, thing, event, or other story

Example: It was too late to turn back, for we had both wandered too far into a net of expectations and had left no crumbs behind.

Leaving crumbs behind = allusion to the crumbs of Hansel and Gretel