Series of events that introduce and develop the central conflict of the story; usually begins around the time the antagonist makes his/her first appearance, but may also be signaled by an unusual event or change of setting
What is Rising Action
100
Most important character; his/her point of view dominates; struggles, suffers, and (sometimes) changes; the hero (but not necessarily heroic)
What is Protagonist
100
Main topic of a story, usually something broad and/or abstract, such as love or death. OR What the story says about a topic, such as true love is eternal or love pales in significance to death.
What is Theme
100
Cumulative effect of diction, syntax, figuration, and tone.
What is Style
100
Pictorial images arranged in a sequence to narrate a story with or without words
What is Graphic Stories
200
Time, place, and social milieu of a story
What is Setting
200
Character who relates the events of the story, usually in the grammatical first or third person
What is Narrator
200
Any concrete/material object, person, or animal in a literary text that conveys abstract meaning
What is Symbol
200
Narrative or events in a narrative that have no possible existence in reality and could not have occurred in a real world
What is Fantasy
200
Discrepancy between the intended outcome and actual outcome of an action
What is Structural Irony
300
Technique of exposition in which the flow of the action is interrupted to present to the reader prior events or information that bear on the story
What is Flashback
300
Third person narrator who knows everythin about the characters and the events
What is Omniscient Narrator
300
Discrepancy between what a character says and what he/she means
What is Verbal Irony
300
Word choice
What is Diction
300
Sentence structure and length
What is Syntax
400
Introduction to a story; establishes narrative point of view, setting, and main characters
What is Exposition
400
Main character who opposes the protagonist. The villain, but not necessarily villainous.
What is Antagonist
400
Types and frequency of figurative language (similes, metaphors, etc.). May include images and symbols.
Term invented by Ursula K. Le Guin to characterize certain of her stories whose purpose is to explore and illuminate features of the collective unconscious. Such stories are a subset of the fantasy genre.
What is Psycho-Myth
500
Last event in the story; sometimes reverses the climax
What is Anti-Climax (resolution, denoument)
500
Third person narrator who doesn't know everything about the characters and events
What is Limited Narrator
500
Any element repeated within a single text or across a number of texts. Elements can include episodes, character types, symbols, or images.
What is Motif.
500
Fiction that interweaves realistic and fantastic details juxtaposing the marvelous with the ordinary as in the stories of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez
What is Magical Realism
500
Discrepancy between what a character knows and what the audience knows.