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Short Stories Literary Terms
Literary terms from Meyer
57
English
Undergraduate 1
01/04/2009

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Term
In media res
Definition
In the middle of things.
Term
Flashback
Definition
Informs us about events that happened before the opening scene of a work.
Term
Character
Definition
An imagined person.
Term
Exposition
Definition
Background information.
Term
Inciting Incident
Definition
An event that gets the plot moving.
Term
Rising Action
Definition
A complication that intensifies the situation.
Term
Crisis
Definition
Turning point.
Term
Falling Action
Definition
The protagonist's desperate attempt to prevent the inevitable.
Term
Climax/Catastrophe
Definition
The moment of greatest emotional tension.
Term
Resolution/Dénouement
Definition
The resolution of the conflict (untying of the knot).
Term
Conflict
Definition
A struggle within the plot between two opposing forces.
Term
Foreshadowing
Definition
A suggestion of what's to come.
Term
Protagonist
Definition
The hero or central character who engages our interest and empathy.
Term
Antagonist
Definition
A force that opposes the protagonist.
Term
Suspense
Definition
The reader is made anxious about what is to come.
Term
Characterization
Definition
The methods by which a writer creates people.
Term
Showing
Definition
Let's the reader infer.
Term
Telling
Definition
When the author describes.
Term
Motivation
Definition
The reasons for how characters behave.
Term
Plausible
Definition
Good motivation.
Term
Consistent
Definition
Having incessantly the same behavior.
Term
Absurdest Literature
Definition
The characters often alienated from themselves and the environment in an irrational world.
Term
Anti-hero
Definition
Has little control over events.
Term
Dynamic Character
Definition
Character who undergoes change.
Term
Static Character
Definition
Character who does not change.
Term
Foil
Definition
Helps reveal characteristics by contrast.
Term
Flat Character
Definition
Character who embodies one or two qualities, traits, or ideas.
Term
Round Character
Definition
A character that has more depth and requires more attention.
Term
Stock Character
Definition
Character who is a type, not an individual.
Term
Setting
Definition
The context in which the action of a story occurs (time, place, historical context).
Term
Point of View
Definition
Refers to who tells us the story and how it is told.
Term
Narrator
Definition
The teller of a story.
Term
Omniscient Narrator
Definition
An all knowing narrator (non-participant).
Term
Editorial Omniscience
Definition
The narrator evaluates the character for the reader.
Term
Neutral Omniscience
Definition
A narrator that allows a characters' actions and thoughts to speak for themselves.
Term
Limited Omniscient Narrator
Definition
The narrator restricts the narrator to the single perspective of either a major or minor character.
Term
Stream-of-Consciousness
Definition
The narrator takes a reader inside a character's mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings on a conscious or unconscious level.
Term
Objective Point of View
Definition
The narrator does not see into the mind of any character.
Term
First Person Narrator
Definition
(I) One character's consciousness.
Term
Unreliable Narrator
Definition
The interpretation of events is different from the author's.
Term
Naive Narrator
Definition
The narrator lacks sophistication to interpret accurately what they see.
Term
Symbol
Definition
A person, object, or event that suggests more that it's literal meaning.
Term
Conventional Symbol
Definition
Symbols that are widely recognized by a society or culture.
Term
Literary Symbol
Definition
Symbols that include traditional, conventional, or public meanings, but it may also be established internally by the total context of the work in which it appears.
Term
Allegory
Definition
A character, object, or incident that indicates a single, fixed meaning.
Term
Theme
Definition
The central idea or meaning of a story. Provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point-of-view, symbols, and other elements of a story are organized.

To be valid, the statement of the theme should be responsive to the details of the story.

It must be based on evidence within the story rather than solely on experiences, attitudes, or values the reader brings to the book.

Ultimately, the theme is expressed by the story itself and is inseparable from the experience of reading the story.
Term
Style
Definition
Refers to the distinctive manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects.
Term
Diction
Definition
Refers to a writer's choice of words.
Term
Syntax
Definition
The length and word order of a sentence.
Term
Tone
Definition
The author's implicit attitude towards characters, places, and events.
Term
Irony
Definition
Reveals a reality different from what appears to be true (opposite).
Term
Verbal Irony
Definition
Saying one thing but meaning the opposite.
Term
Sarcasm
Definition
Speech calculated to hurt someone with false praise.
Term
Situational Irony
Definition
When there is incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.
Term
Dramatic Irony
Definition
The reader knows more than the character(s).
Term
Cosmic Irony
Definition
When a writer uses god, destiny, or fate to dash the hopes and expectations of a character or of humankind in general.
Term
Surprise
Definition
There is no expectation of an event.
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