Say it with style
Name the figurative device: "Alejandro's smile was sunshine."
Metaphor.
This structure presents events in the order they happened.
Chronological structure.
Narrator says "I" but only knows their own thoughts.
First-person limited POV.
Term for a narrator who bends the truth.
Unreliable narrator.
Identify the POV and tone in this excerpt: "I couldn’t believe my luck; the world suddenly seemed brighter."
First-person POV; optimistic, hopeful tone.
How can formal diction make tone more serious?
It creates a sense of sophistication, authority, or professionalism, influencing the reader to take the content more seriously.
What do we call starting a story in the middle of the action?
In medias res.
POV where narrator knows every character’s thoughts.
Third-person omniscient POV.
Give one reason a narrator might be unreliable.
They may lie, misunderstand events, have bias, or suffer from mental instability.
Identify the structure and POV in a novel told entirely through letters.
Epistolary structure; first-person POV.
Identify the effect of personification in: "The wind whispered secrets to the trees."
It makes the wind seem alive and mysterious, creating a more vivid, intimate atmosphere.
A story within a story is called what?
Frame narrative.
Identify the POV of a novel written as a character’s diary.
First-person POV.
Name the narrator in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.
An unnamed, unreliable first-person narrator.
Explain how sentence length can affect how we perceive a narrator’s mindset.
Short, choppy sentences may suggest urgency or anxiety; long, flowing ones may suggest reflection or calmness.
Compare the tone of these two metaphors: "He was a rock" vs. "He was a ticking time bomb."
"Rock" conveys stability and dependability; "ticking time bomb" conveys danger and unpredictability.
What’s the term for jumping back in time in a narrative?
Flashback.
Identify the POV in The Great Gatsby.
First-person limited (Nick Carraway).
Why might Nick Carraway (The Great Gatsby) be unreliable?
He admits to selective honesty, personal bias, and limited perspective.
How can word choice influence a narrator’s reliability?
Biased or emotionally charged language may reveal partiality, exaggeration, or dishonesty.
How can varied sentence length create urgency in a passage?
Short sentences can create quick pacing and tension, while alternating with longer sentences builds rhythm and dramatic emphasis.
How can a non-linear structure influence reader perspective?
It can create suspense, reveal information gradually, and encourage the reader to actively piece events together, altering interpretation.
How does third-person limited POV affect the reader’s understanding of a story?
It restricts information to one character’s thoughts and perceptions, creating intimacy but limiting full knowledge.
Why is Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye) considered unreliable?
His account is influenced by emotional instability, exaggeration, and selective truth-telling.
In an excerpt with fragmented sentences, shifting time frames, and first-person POV, what effect might this have on the reader?
It can create a sense of confusion, mimic a chaotic mental state, and signal unreliability while immersing the reader in the narrator’s perspective.