10.T.T.1.a
(Narrative Techniques)
(Narrative Techniques)
This narrative technique occurs when a story interrupts the present action to reveal an event that happened earlier.
What is flashback?
An author uses short sentences, quick dialogue, and rapidly changing actions during a chase scene primarily to create this effect.
What is tension or suspense?
A story repeatedly shows characters being judged because of their appearance, background, or social status. The larger message that readers can infer from these repeated events is known as this.
What is theme?
A modern story features a young person who leaves home, faces challenges, gains wisdom, and returns transformed. This recurring character journey can be traced across many literary time periods and is known as this archetype.
What is the Hero's Journey?
"The classroom was a zoo after the teacher announced the surprise test."
What is metaphor?
When a novel allows readers to experience the same conflict through the eyes of two or more characters, this narrative technique can reveal that characters may interpret the same event differently.
What is multiple perspectives?
An author describes a character's expensive mansion as “a palace surrounded by families who have nothing to eat.” This craft technique places two contrasting images side by side to emphasize inequality.
What is juxtaposition?
A character watches someone being treated unfairly but remains silent. Later, the character speaks up when another person experiences the same injustice. This character development most strongly supports a theme about this.
What is the importance of standing up against injustice?
A modern character seeks revenge after being betrayed, but the revenge ultimately destroys the character's relationships and future. This modern storyline draws on this recurring literary event pattern.
What is the revenge tragedy?
"The wind whispered secrets through the trees."
What is personification?
A character repeatedly encounters a locked door throughout a story. Each time, the door appears when the character is facing a difficult decision. Near the end, the character finally unlocks it and enters a new phase of life. The door most likely functions as this.
What is a symbol?
An author wants readers to view a character as arrogant. Instead of directly stating that the character is arrogant, the author has him interrupt others, brag about his accomplishments, and dismiss other people's ideas. The author is developing characterization primarily through this technique.
What is characterization through actions and dialogue?
A story written 75 years ago explores discrimination and unequal opportunities. A teacher connects the story to current debates about fairness and access to opportunity. This connection demonstrates the text's ability to have this quality.
What is social relevance?
A contemporary novel features a character who sacrifices personal happiness to protect others. Similar acts of sacrifice appear in myths, epics, religious literature, and modern fiction. This demonstrates that literary works can carry this across different time periods.
She was so mad she was breathing fire:
What is hyperbole?
A young character leaves home, encounters a series of trials, receives guidance from a mentor, faces a final challenge, and returns home transformed. This recurring narrative pattern is an example of this.
What is a hero's journey archetype?
Two authors describe the same storm. One calls it “a gentle blessing from the heavens,” while the other calls it “a furious assault on the helpless town.” The contrasting descriptions demonstrate how this element of craft can shape a reader's perception.
What is diction/word choice?
Two different stories feature teenagers who challenge unfair rules. One character organizes a public protest, while the other quietly refuses to follow the rule. Although their actions differ, both passages develop this larger idea.
What is the theme of resistance to injustice?
A dystopian novel depicts citizens willingly giving up freedom in exchange for protection. A student connects this conflict to literature from earlier periods in which governments or rulers controlled citizens' lives. This type of analysis examines literature through this lens.
What is the relationship between literature and historical context?
A picture is worth a thousand words.
What is idiom?
In one chapter, a character describes an argument with her mother as calm and reasonable. In the next chapter, the mother describes the same argument as hostile and hurtful. This technique forces readers to question whose interpretation of events is most reliable.
What is multiple perspectives?
An author begins a story with a peaceful family dinner. At first, everyone speaks politely. Gradually, the dialogue becomes shorter, silence becomes more frequent, and characters begin avoiding eye contact. Finally, one character storms away from the table. These combined craft choices reveal how an author can gradually build this element of narrative.
What is conflict?
In a story, a character initially believes that anyone can succeed if they simply work hard. After experiencing poverty, discrimination, and limited educational opportunities, the character begins questioning that belief. The author's development of this character primarily complicates this theme.
What is the relationship between individual responsibility and social inequality?
A modern female protagonist challenges expectations placed upon women by her society. Her struggle resembles female characters from earlier literary periods, but her methods of resistance reflect contemporary society. This demonstrates how authors can take an established character type and do this.
What is adapting or reimagining a literary archetype for a different time period?
"She found herself playing the Lady Macbeth of the boardroom, washing imaginary blood from her hands."
What is allusion?