Character & Conflict
A character’s reasons for acting a certain way.
What is motivation?
A story told in chronological order is called this type of plot.
What is linear?
The time and place of a story.
What is setting?
Authors usually reveal a theme through these story elements.
What are characters and events?
The feeling a story creates for the reader.
What is mood?
In Thank You, Ma’am, Roger’s motivation at the beginning of the story.
What is wanting money for blue suede shoes?
When the narrator looks back at past events, this device is used.
What is flashback?
In Thank You, Ma’am, the late-night city street setting makes this believable.
What is Roger’s attempted theft?
In Thank You, Ma’am, Mrs. Jones shows Roger kindness instead of anger, which develops this theme.
What is people deserve second chances to change?
The author’s attitude toward the subject.
What is tone?
In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney hides the murder weapon for this reason.
What is to protect herself and her unborn child?
When an author hints at events that will happen later.
What is foreshadowing?
In After Twenty Years, the dark street symbolizes this.
What is secrecy and uncertainty about trust?
In The Treasure of Lemon Brown, Greg learns this theme about family from Lemon.
What is true treasures are found in love and legacy, not money?
In Thank You, Ma’am, describing Roger as “frail and willow-wild” is an example of this.
What is figurative language (metaphor/alliteration)?
In Long Way Down, Will’s actions are driven by these three “rules” of his community.
What are don’t cry, don’t snitch, get revenge?
Long Way Down uses this type of plot structure as ghosts appear in the elevator.
What is non-linear (flashbacks, interruptions)?
In The Treasure of Lemon Brown, the abandoned tenement building contributes to this mood.
What is eerie/suspenseful?
In After Twenty Years, Jimmy chooses duty over friendship, showing this theme.
What is loyalty to the law can outweigh personal ties?
In After Twenty Years, the surprise twist ending is an example of this device.
What is situational irony?
In The Treasure of Lemon Brown, how do Greg’s changing motivations resolve the conflict?
What is he learns to appreciate his father’s lessons and Lemon’s treasure?
In Lamb to the Slaughter, the ending shows this type of irony when the police eat the murder weapon.
What is situational irony?
In Long Way Down, the elevator symbolizes this internal struggle.
What is Will being trapped between revenge and change?
In Long Way Down, Will wrestles with revenge, revealing this central theme.
What is the cycle of violence and whether it can be broken?
In Long Way Down, Reynolds uses short lines and broken stanzas for this purpose.
What is to create suspense and mirror Will’s emotional state?