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100
A major character who opposes the main character in a story or play. Example: It is often the “bad guy,” that we are against!
Who is the antagonist?
100
A character name that has special significance and tells us something important about the character. Example: The character 'Jaggers' in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a sinister, sharp-minded character, whom people are apprehensive of.
What is a charactonym?
100
The beginning of a story where we meet the main character and find out the setting. Example: In Beauty and the Beast, we meet Belle and her father. We also find out they live in a small French village near an enchanted forest, during a time before modern technology.
What is the exposition or the introduction?
100
The physical and emotional background of a narrative, such as geographic details, placement of physical objects, time period, and time of year/day/etc. Example: Frozen takes place in Arendelle. Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in space sometime in the future.
What is setting?
100
When you give an inanimate object or animal human characteristics. Example: “The flames reached for the child hovering in the corner.”
What is personification?
200
The underlying central idea or lesson in a story. Example: In The Lion King, the idea that... no matter where you run, you cannot outrun your problems.
What is theme?
200
When a character says one thing but means another. This is also called sarcasm. Example: “We have a test today? Awesome!”
What is verbal irony?
200
The humorous use of sounds and/or words. A play on words. Example: “The roundest knight at King Arthur’s table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from far too much pi.”
What is a pun?
200
A comparison that does NOT use “like” or “as.” Example: He’s a rock, or I am an island.
What is a metaphor?
200
The main character of a novel, play, or story. Example: The “good guy” or think about another meaning of “for.”
What is the protagonist?
300
A reference to something or someone well known; it is often something literary. Example: “Cause you were Romeo – I was a scarlet letter, and my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet" ("Love Story" by Taylor Swift).
What is an allusion?
300
Any episode in a serious work introduced to relieve the tension for a few moments through comedy. Example: When things get too serious in The Lion King, Timon and Pumba make jokes or do something goofy.
What is comic relief?
300
The tension and anxiety felt by the audience towards a character whose fate is uncertain. Example: How we feel when the author emphasizes how impossible it will be for the good guys to win. Also, when the character is backed into a corner or dangling off a ledge.
What is suspense?
300
It is something that stands for something else; It can mean different things in different circumstances. Example: Light and dark represent good and evil, and green represents envy and jealousy
What is symbolism?
300
The series of actions that make up a story. Example: The basic ideas of a story in the order that they happened. This creates the story.
What is a plot?
400
The original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies. Examples: Sage/Wise Man, Villain, Outcast, and Tragic or Flawed Hero.
What is an archetype?
400
The struggle between two forces in a plot. Example: It can be internal or external. Person vs. Nature, Person vs. Self, Person vs. Person, etc...
What is conflict?
400
A technique in which an author gives clues about something that will happen later in the story. Example: You hear the dramatic music in jaws. Then, the shark attacks!
What is foreshadowing?
400
When an event is the opposite of what is reasonably expected. Example: In Frozen, we expect Hans to really like Anna, but we find out that he was just using her.
What is situational irony?
400
A comparison that uses “like” or “as.” Example: “I’m as hungry as a wolf.” “Her eyes are like the stars in the sky.”
What is a simile?
500
A story with a second distinct meaning, usually moral or political, partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. Example: Many books and movies, such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are also Christian ________________.
What is an allegory?
500
When the true meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters. Example: When Shrek overhears Fiona talking about the hideousness of ogres, he assumes she’s talking about him, but the audience knows she’s talking about herself.
What is dramatic irony?
500
A saying that is meant to be taken figuratively, because the literal meaning would be nonsense. Example: “Kick the bucket.” “What’s eating you?” “You look blue.”
What is an idiom?
500
When a theme, character, or verbal pattern recurs in literature or folklore. It can recur throughout the same book or multiple books. Examples: Fire in The Hunger Games, lies and cons in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and small town life in To Kill a Mockingbird.
What is a motif?
500
The manner of “speaking” that an author uses, which controls spirit and attitude for the work. The author creates this through word choice and sentence structure. Example: Family Guy is sarcastic, comical, and satirical.
What is tone?