Term
|
Definition
| the main events of a novel, a drama, a movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
where and when the story takes place.
Example: In “Mrs. Sen’s,” East coast beach/college town, 1970’s or 80’s. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| information about the characters, the setting, and the conflict; usually provided early in the story. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the main problem in the story.
Example: In “Mrs. Sen’s,” a conflict is the unhappiness in the marriage caused by Mr. Sen’s inability to help Mrs. Sen in overcoming her feelings of alienation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the main character.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” Eliot and Mrs. Sen. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the opposing force in the story; he/she often is in conflict with the protagonist.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” it is Mr. Sen. (See “conflict” in #3 above.) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
clues or hints that the writer uses to suggest what is to come in the story.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” the mention of former babysitters and their problems foreshadows that Mrs. Sen will not be Eliot’s babysitter longterm. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
writer goes back in time to provide us with more information.
Example: In “Mrs. Sen’s,” the voices and songs on the cassette tape of Mrs. Sen’s family saying farewell to her before she leaves India. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
point of highest tension in the story.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” it is the car accident. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and represents something beyond itself also.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” it is the blade for chopping; it represents her severance from India. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
an image that appears again and again in a story; author often intends for the reader to relate the image to something thematic.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” it is Mrs. Sen chopping vegetables with her blade from India. This relates to the theme of Mrs. Sen’s sense of displacement in her new culture and her desire to remain close to the traditions of India. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the lesson or moral of the story.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” a theme is the issue of identity; Mrs. Sen is culturally displaced in the U.S. and struggles to fit in (by driving a car) while retaining her Indian traditions (by cooking fish). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the overall emotional feeling of the story.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” it is one of melancholy or sadness as Eliot senses Mrs. Sen’s loneliness. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the author’s attitude towards the audience or the subject.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” the author’s attitude is one of dismay and concern that Mrs. Sen is not helped by anyone in her efforts to assimilate into her new culture and that Eliot is being raised by an unhappy and reserved mother. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a contrast between what happens and what is expected to happen.
Example: in “Mrs. Sen’s,” the car that is a symbol of independence for Mrs. Sen is also a symbol of her inability to escape her unhappy life in the U.S. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the angle from which a narrator tells a story. Three types: 1st person, 3rd person limited and 3rd person omniscient |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| narrator tells his/her own story using the pronoun “I.” |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| narrator is outside the story and can read minds of one or two characters. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| narrator is outside the story, is all-knowing, and sees into minds of all characters. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| how the writer reveals a person’s character. Characters may be classified as static or dynamic, or as flat or round. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| one who does not change much during the story; example: Mr. Sen |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| one who changes as a result of the story’s events; example: Mrs. Sen |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| has only one or two traits; a stereotype (a widely-believed but overly simplified image of a type of person); example: Mr. Sen, a workaholic |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
like a real person; has different traits that can contradict one another;
example: Mrs. Sen, who displays warmth, sensitivity, sadness, anxiety, happiness, etc.
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the end of the story; provides answers to readers’ questions about the outcome of the story.
Example: Mrs. Sen is depressed by the realization that she probably will never drive again. Also, Eliot never returns to Mrs. Sen’s care; instead, he becomes a “latchkey” child. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a comparison between two unlike items on the basis of a shared quality; uses the words like or as.
Example from “Mrs. Sen’s” : “Instead of a knife she used a blade that curved like the brow of a Viking ship, sailing to battle in distant seas” (Lahiri 114). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
compares two dissimilar things, but instead of saying that one is like another, it equates them.
Example from “Mrs. Sen’s”: “Mrs. Sen pointed to the water, and said that at a certain moment, each wave resembled a sari drying on a clothesline” (Lahiri 129). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
author hints or suggests an abstract idea; requires reading between the lines.
Example from “Mrs. Sen’s” : It is implied that Mr. Sen has had no difficulty with immersing himself in the professional, collegial life that has brought him to the U.S. as a mathematics professor. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
existing in reality or in real experience.
Example from “Mrs. Sen’s,” the fish that Mrs. Sen buys and cooks. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
theoretical; takes place in the mind; is not tangible.
Example from “Mrs. Sen’s,” the idea that the fish gives Mrs. Sen a sense of closeness to her homeland. |
|
|
