Vocabulary
The literary term for the use of an object or idea to represent something else.
What is symbolism?
The punctuation mark needed to separate two independent clauses when there is no coordinating conjunction.
What is a semicolon?
The struggle between a character and an outside force, such as nature or another person.
What is External Conflict?
In the novel, the word diaphanous describes the water as being this: light, sheer, or see-through.
What is transparent (or light and sheer)?
A term for a character who changes significantly throughout the course of a story.
What is a dynamic character?
The grammatical error that occurs when a character or object is performing an action but the sentence structure makes it unclear who or what is doing the action.
What is a dangling modifier?
The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work, often established through setting and descriptive details.
What is mood?
Yann Martel's main purpose for writing the novel was to encourage readers to reflect on this human necessity, also called belief.
What is faith?
This is the noun form of the verb to appease, meaning a gesture made to pacify someone.
What is appeasement?
The writing strategy that involves restructuring a sentence to remove unnecessary or wordy phrases.
What is conciseness (or omitting redundancy)?
The literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.
What is foreshadowing?
The quality of being extremely poor or destitute is the meaning of this novel vocabulary word, penury.
What is poverty?
A pensive mood is characterized by this.
What is deep or serious thought (or thoughtfulness)?
The error in agreement when the subject of a sentence is singular but the verb used is plural (or vice-versa).
What is subject-verb agreement error?
The vantage point from which a story is told, often identified as first-person, third-person limited, or third-person omniscient.
What is point of view?
A significant purpose of the novel's two different stories is to show that this is necessary for survival and gives meaning to life.
What is storytelling (or imagination)?
The literary device that occurs when a character speaks to the audience or another character while others on stage are present but unable to hear.
What is an aside?
This coordinating conjunction should be used when you want to show a contrast or exception between two independent clauses.
What is but?
The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work.
What is theme?
This is the meaning of fastidious, often used to describe Pi's habits in organizing the raft and his provisions: having great attention to detail.
What is meticulous (or concerned with accuracy)?