denouement
Example: Huck survives the feud and rejoins Jim on the river after the Grangerford episode (Huck Finn)
What is the resolution to the story.
100
mood (or atmosphere)
Example: "The Cask of Amontillado" takes place during "the supreme madness of the carnival season."
What is the feeling a work gives the reader?
100
external conflict
Example: In Huck Finn, Miss Watson is always "peckin'" on Huck for his uncivilized ways.
What is a man vs. man or man vs. nature/society?
100
imagery
Example: Huck describes the furnace of a steamboat as "looking like a black cloud with rows of glow-worms around it...and...a long row of wide open furnace doors shining like red-hot teeth."
What is vivid description that appeals to one of the five senses?
100
simile
Example: He lived like a king.
What is a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as"?
200
allusion
example: She's a real Einstein when it comes to math and science. "So Eden sank to grief" (Frost).
What is reference to another piece of literature or history?
200
3rd person limited point view
Example: In Hemingway's "Indian Camp" the narrator tells the story from the young Nick's point of view.
What is point of view told through one character's perspective?
200
situational irony
Example: In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor gets his revenge on Fortunato, but afterward his "heart grew sick."
What is when the opposite of what is expected happens?
200
1st person point of view
Example: the narrator of "The Black Cat", the narrator of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator of The Great Gatsby.
What is a story told from one character's view?
200
metaphor
Example: His room is a pig sty.
What is a comparison between two unlike things?
300
dramatic irony
Example: In "The Cask of Amontillado," Fortunato says, "I will not die of a cough." Montresor responds, "True--true."
What is when the audience knows something that the characters do not?
300
paradox
Example: The moment you're born you begin to die. The more that Poe's characters try to assert control over their lives, the more they lose control.
What is it when two things that seem to contradict each other are actually true?
300
satire
Example: In Huck Finn, Twain presents the rich, elite Grangerford family as savage and violent.
What is a work that makes fun of problems in society and human nature?
300
3rd person omniscient
Example: the narrator of Native Son
What is a story where the narrator knows the thoughts of all characters?
300
hyperbole
Example: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
What is an exaggeration?
400
foreshadowing
example: In Huck Finn, Jim scolds Huck for wanting to talk about the dead man they discovered on the floating house because it will "fetch bad luck." The next chapter Jim is bit by a snake.
What is a hint at what is to come?
400
allegory
Example: Huck Finn represents the journey from a boy to a man.
What is a work where characters or situations are symbols or represent larger ideas?
400
tone
Example: The narrator of "The Tell-tale Heart" begins the story by saying he is "Nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous."
What is the author's attitude toward characters/events or subjects in the story?
400
setting
Example: the Mississippi River of the 19th century in Huck Finn; Long Island of the 1920's in The Great Gatsby; south side of Chicago of the 1930's in Native Son; Italy during World War I in Farewell to Arms
What is time and place of a story?
400
personification
Example: The flames danced in the fire.
What is when human characteristics are given to a non-human thing?
500
internal conflict
Example: In "The Black Cat," that because of his drinking he became "more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others."
What is a struggle with the character him/herself (man vs. self)?
500
archetype
Example: In Huck Finn, Huck and Jim represent "outsiders" in society.
What is a repeated character quality told in many different stories?
500
foil
Example: Huck tries to debate with Jim about the wisdom of "King Sollermun'," but Jim proves Huck's argument as illogical.
What is a character used to contrast another character?
500
verbal irony
Example: In "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor claims to drink to Fortunato's "long life."
What is when the opposite of what is said is meant?
500
alliteration
consonance
Example: The slithering snake hissed through the grass.
What is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words?
What is the repetition of consonant sounds throughout a line or stanza?