Term
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Definition
| “any force in a story that is in conflict with the protagonist. An antagonist may be another person, an aspect of the physical or social environment, or a destructive element in the protagonist’s own nature.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “the occurrence of an event that has no apparent cause in antecedent events, or in predisposition of character. In an automobile accident in which a drunk, coming home from a party, crashes into a sober driver from behind, we say that the accident was a chance event in the life of the sober driver but that it was a logical event in the life of the drunk driver.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| the high point or turning point in the plot, at which the major conflict is usually resolved |
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Term
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Definition
| “the chance occurrence of two or more events that share a particular correspondence. If the two drivers in the accident that illustrates ‘chance’ had been brothers and were coming from different places, it would be coincidence.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “a clash of actions, desires, ideas or goals in the plot of a story. Conflict may exist between the main character and some other person or persons (MAN AGAINST MAN), between the main character and some external force—physical nature, society, or ‘fate’ (MAN AGAINST ENVIRONMENT), or between the main character and some destructive element in his own nature (MAN AGAINST HIMSELF).” [LP] |
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Term
| denouement, or resolution |
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Definition
| or resolution- (French for “unknotting”); following the climax, “that portion of the plot that reveals the final outcome of its conflict or the solution of its mysteries.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “a situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “an ending in which events turn out well for a sympathetic protagonist.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “an ending that turns out unhappily for a sympathetic protagonist.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “an ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “a completely unexpected revelation or turn of plot at the conclusion of the story.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| early in a narrative, the 1) introduction of the major characters; and 2) revelation of the setting |
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Term
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Definition
| all of the action following the climax |
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Term
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Definition
| “interpolated narratives or scenes (often [presented] as a memory, a reverie, or a confession by one of the characters) which represent events that happened before the time at which the work opened.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| a detail within the narrative about something that will happen later in the story. Foreshadowing may contribute to the development of suspense. |
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Term
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Definition
| outmoded literary terms for “protagonist.” These terms have fallen out of favor with the rise of protagonists who possess no character traits traditionally considered “heroic.” |
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Term
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Definition
| “an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation, used to create suspense.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “in a dramatic or narrative work… the events and actions, as these are rendered and ordered toward achieving particular artistic and emotional effects.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| “a situation in which an author gives his plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “the chief character in a plot, in whom our interest centers.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| all of the action preceding the climax |
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Term
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Definition
| the time and place in which the action occurs |
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Term
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Definition
| a secondary story, complete and interesting in itself, contained within the larger plot |
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Term
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Definition
| “an unexpected turn in the development of the plot.” [LP] |
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Term
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Definition
| “a lack of certainty, on the part of a concerned reader, about what is going to happen, especially to characters with whom the reader has established a bond of sympathy.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| like “hero” and “heroine,” a literary term that has fallen mostly out of use, but may be used if an “antagonist is evil, or capable of cruel and criminal actions.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| “authors are individuals who, by their intellectual and imaginative powers, purposefully create from the materials of their experience and reading a literary work which is distinctively their own.” [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| the character or voice that conveys the story |
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Term
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Definition
| signifies the way a story gets told—the mode (or modes) established by an author by means of which the reader is presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting, and events which constitute the narrative [MHA] |
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Term
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Definition
| usually in the third person, the narrator knows all and is free to reveal anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do |
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Term
| limited omniscient point of view |
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Definition
the narrator, usually in the third person, is limited to a complete knowledge of one character in the story, revealing what that one character experiences, thinks, feels. The limited omniscient narrator generally falls into one of two types, depending on whether he possesses insight into a
a) major character, or
b) minor character |
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Term
| first person point of view |
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Definition
the story is told by one of its characters, in the first person. The first person narrator may be either a
a) major character, or
b) minor character
first point of view |
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Term
| objective (or dramatic) point of view |
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Definition
| the third person narrator is limited to revealing the actions and dialogue of the characters, but does not interpret their behavior or reveal their thoughts [LP] |
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