Analysis of Fiction
Transcript of Analysis of Fiction
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Analysis of Fiction
PlotNarrationCharacter
ThemeTone
Figurative LanguageImagery
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Literary TermsPlot
The series of story events related by cause and effect. A plot usually begins with aCONFLICT (a struggle of opposing forces) and ends with a RESOLUTION (an ending of the
conflict). Between these points the plot traditionally rises (RISING ACTION) to a CLIMAX (the high point of action or conflict) and then falls (FALLING ACTION) to the DENOUEMENT (the explanation of any questions or mysteries of the plot).
1) Plot : A storyteller’s deliberate arrangement of events in a story; method of
organization.
2) Narrative: A tale or story.
3) Pyramidal structure: A graphic representation of the rising and falling of suspense ina story.
4) Freytag: Theorist and designer of the pyramidal model of story structure.
5) Exposition: Background information or explanation.
6) Setting: The time, place, and conditions in which a story occurs.
7) Atmosphere: An emotional response stimulated by the author’s descriptions
of setting.
8) Conflict : A problem to be resolved; a difficulty to be overcome; both plotand suspense are
impossible without this.
9) Internal conflict : Any problem to be confronted and resolved within the heart ormind of a character.
10) External conflict : Any problem between a character and some antagonist outside
himself.
11) Man vs. man / society : The two opponents in a conflict between a character and one ormore others.
12) Man vs. himself : The two opponents in any internal conflict.
13) Man vs. nature: The two opponents in a conflict between a character and the
weather, terrain, setting, orother non-human external elements.
14) Suspense: Tension or curiosity aroused concerning how a conflict will be
resolved; uncertaintyabout the future.
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15) Rising action: Events which stimulate suspense.
16) Falling action: Events after the climax; anticlimactic story details.
17) Climax : Apex in suspense or point of greatest tension.
18) Comic relief : A momentary injection of humor to provide a brief rest from suspense.
19) Main plot : Events in a story which focus on the primary conflict.
20) Subplot : Story events focused on a secondary conflict.
21) Denouement : Resolution; solving of the problem; literally, “unknotting” or“untying”.
22) Dark epiphany : A painful or demoralizingly unpleasant realization about life or
the self.
23) Red herring: An intentionally misleading or diversionary clue in a mystery.
24) Foreshadowing: Clues or hints about future events.
25) Surprise ending: A situationally ironic denouement.
26) in medias res: Mid-conflict; in the middle of things; immediately suspenseful
story opener.
27) Story-within-a-story : A narrative narrated by a character in a surrounding narrative.
28) Frame story : A narrative which surrounds and introduces a narrative contained
within it.
29) Flashback : An interruption in a narrative to tell a past event.
30) Cliffhanger : An intensely suspenseful unresolved conflict, especially at the end of achapter.
31) Dialog: A conversation between two or more characters.
32) Epiphany : A sudden realization or moment of understanding about life or the self.
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Narration
A NARRATIVE is a story. If the narrator is a character, the story is said to havefirst-person narration. If the narrator is not a character, the story is said to be third person.First-person narration may be DETACHED, SUBJECTIVE, or OBSERVER. Third-personnarration may be OMNISCIENT or LIMITED.
1) Narration: The act or process of telling a story.
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2) Narrator : The storyteller
3) Point of view: The identity of the narrator; or the label used to identify thenarrator.
4) First person: Narrated by any character.
5) Autobiographical : Narrated by the protagonist.
6) Observer / Participant : Narrated by a character other than main one.
7) Third Person: Narrated by any non-character.
8) Omniscient : Narrated by an all-knowing non-character who can be anywhere at any
time and evendescribe a character’s thoughts.
9) Limited omniscient : Narrated by a non-character who can report thoughts, but onlythose of the protagonist.
10) Objective: Narrated by a non-character capable of reporting only external,
observable actions ordialog.
11) Detached : Narrated by a character at a later point in his life, usually with
an “older-but-wiser” tone.
12) Subjective: Narrated by a naïve or misapprehending storyteller; also called“innocent eye”.
13) Innocent eye: See Subjective.
14)Stream of consciousness: Narration lacking the artificial neatness of an artistically
controlled story because thepresentation is intended to resemble spontaneous thoughts or
brainstorming; narrationfrom the mind, not the pen.
15) Epistolary : Narrated in the form of a letter or series of letters; alternatively,narrated in the forms of
diary or journal.
16) Unreliable narrator : A storyteller whose perspective on events is inaccurate,warped, self serving, dishonest,
or faulty in some other respect.
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Character
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The methods and means of presentation of persons in literature are calledCHARACTERIZATION. A person may be characterized through narration, through thecharacter’s actions, through his own and other characters statements, and throughsymbolism.
1) Characterization: The process and methods of defining and depicting a personality.
2) Protagonist : The main character.
3) Antagonist : The character or force opposed to the main character; whomever or
whatever the maincharacter is in conflict with.
4) Foil : a character who provides contrast with another so that both enjoy
clearer definition.
5) Hero: The good guy; the larger-than-life admirable character.
6) Villain: A bad guy; a character representing evil or immorality; a malevolentpersonality.
7) Flat : One-dimensional; undeveloped; single-traited.
8) Round : Multi-dimensional; developed; realistically multi-traited.
9) Stock / Stereotype: A character defined in terms of hasty generalizations or
prejudices; a character devoid of individuality because of assumptions made with respect to his
membership in a certain
group or class.
10) Static: Unchanging.
11) Dynamic: Changing; in motion; energetic.
12) Archetype: A character or experience representing a universal type or experience,
repeated inliterature across the ages and across cultural barriers, derived from the
collective
unconscious of the entire human race. (Race memories)
13) Dialect : The use of unorthodox spelling in dialog to reflect a regional
accent (pronunciation) orvocabulary.
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Theme
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1) Theme: The underlying meaning of any piece of literature; the generalmessage implied by the
specific events; usually expressed as a statement describing sometruth about life.
( ex. “Money can inspire evil.”)
2) Moral : A message implied by (or explicitly stated at the end of) a story to tell
the reader how tolead his life better; usually expressed as a command or imperative.(ex. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”)
3) Implicit theme: A theme implied but not actually stated.
4) Explicit theme: A theme stated outright in the story.
5) Text vs. subtext : Two different focuses of careful reading contrasting the
difference between what is statedand what is implied; the source of learning to “read between the lines”.
6) Title: The name of a story; often implies theme.
7) Beginning: The story opening; often implies theme.
8) Ending: Story conclusion; often implies theme.
9) Diction: Word choice; often implies theme.
10) Carpe diem: Literally “seize the day,” this common moral means that one should
cherish and takeadvantage of every moment in life, especially since life is short.
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Tone
1) Tone: The narrator’s or speaker’s implicit attitude toward his subject.
2) Objective / detached : Matter-of-fact; unemotional; disinterested; impartial.
3) Editorial : Partial; opinionated; emotionally involved; undetached.
4) Irony : Feeling created whenever actuality contradicts expectations orintentions.
5) Verbal irony : Tone of saying the opposite of what is meant.
6) Sarcasm: Caustic, biting, mean-spirited verbal irony.
7) Dramatic irony : Tone when what a character believes contradicts what theaudience knows.
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8) Situational irony : Tone created by a surprise ending.
9) Comic irony : Irony which is amusing, entertaining, fortunate, witty.
10) Tragic irony : Irony which is serious, sad, unfortunate, evoking pity or fear.
11) Naive; ingenuous: Youthfully ignorant, unaware, innocent, uninformed.
12) Diction: Speaker’s or narrator’s word choice.
13) Inflated diction: Use of unfamiliar, difficult, poly-syllabic words; bombast;pomposity.
14) Malapropism: Accidental misuse of one word for another.
15) Ambiguity : Uncertainty; possibility of multiple interpretations.
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Figurative Language
Expressions that depart from the literal sense to add an imaginative meaning.Expressed through figures of speech rather than through literal language.
1) Literal : Explicit; carrying only a primary or surface meaning; not figurative.
2) Metaphorical : Carrying only an intended, implied meaning; not literal;figurative.
3) Rhetorical : Concerned with effect; showy; elaborate.
4) Allusion: A reference, usually indirect, to some detail outside the poem,
story, novel, etc.
5) Symbolic: Carrying both a literal meaning and an implied figurativemeaning at the same time.
6) Tenor : The intended meaning in any figurative device.
7) Vehicle: The word (s) or idea (s) used to convey the intended meaning in
any figurative device.
8) Metaphor : An implicit comparison, sometimes using a to be verb.
9) Simile: An explicit comparison, usually using words such as like, as, seems,than, resembles.
10) Hyperbole: An intentional exaggeration.
11) Understatement : Saying less than is actually meant.
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12) Metonymy : The substitution of an associated word or idea in place of what isactually meant.
13) Synecdoche: A substitution of a part for a whole, or vice versa. (ex. “The White
House made animportant announcement today.”)
14) Paradox : A contradictory statement, which usually makes sense in a
bizarre sort of way when readcarefully.
15) Oxymoron: A pair of juxtaposed opposites.
16) Pun: A play on words, especially homophones or words with multiple
meanings.
17) Personification: Treating an inanimate, non-human object as if human.
18) Apostrophe: An address or speech to a listener who is absent, dead, non-human,
inanimate, incapableof responding to the speech.
19) Symbol : A word or object which stands for both itself (concretely) and
some other ideas(abstractly).
20) Analogy : A comparison; a parallel showing similarities.
21) Litotes: The negative of the opposite of what is meant. (ex. “not bad”)
22) Anachronism: A detail out of sync with the chronological setting; a historicalinaccuracy.
Imagery
The representation, through language, of a sense experience – The term image usually suggests a mental picture (visual imagery is the most commonly used form of imagery), but images may represent any of the senses: VISUAL – sight, AURAL orAUDITORY – hearing; sound, OLFACTORY – smell, TACTILE – touch, ORAL orGUSTATORY – taste, KINESTHETIC – movement.
1) Image: A mental picture.
2) Imagery : The collective stimulation of the senses in the creation of mental pictures or mental sense
experiences; the use of images.
3) Visual : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of sight.
4) Olfactory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of smell.
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5) Auditory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of hearing.
6) Tactile: Imaginatively stimulating the sense of touch.
7) Gustatory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of taste or flavor.
8) Kinesthetic: Imaginatively stimulating the emotions or sense of internal biological
feeling.
9) Synesthetic: A mixed-up stimulation of the senses; one sense confused with
another.
10) Concrete: Describing the real, actual, specific, tangible, and particular; not
the ideal.
11) Abstract : Describing the theoretical or ideal; not the particular, solid, ortangible.