LITERARY ELEMENTS AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (TERMS AND EXAMPLES)

Protagonist

Cinderella

Antagonist

Cinderella's step-mother

Person vs. person conflict

The custody battle for May Ling between Bebe Chow and Linda McCullough

Person vs. nature conflict

The narrator's father trying to catch Flora, the runaway horse in "Boys and Girls"

Person vs. society conflict

Mia Warren vs. Shaker Heights

Person vs. Self conflict

The cultural shame the narrator feels in "Fish Cheeks"

Imagery

From "Everyday Use": "Dee [got out of the car] next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurt my eyes" (317).

First person point of view

From "Boys and Girls": "I loved the sound of my own voice, frail and supplicating, rising in the dark" (2).

Second person point of view

Remember, readers: irony may sting, imagery may dazzle, and symbolism? Always hiding in plain sight. Keep your eyes open, because class might be over, but the lessons never are. You know you love it. XOXO, Gossip Girl.

Third person omniscient point of view

"Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down" (Ng 1).

Third person limited point of view

From The Giver: “It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word, Jonas thought” (Lowry 1).

Symbolism

The tweed mini skirt in "Fish Cheeks"

Theme

Girls and women should have the freedom to plan their own futures

Setting

Mama and Maggie's home in "Everyday Use"

Simile

From "Boys and Girls": "I found it reassuringly seasonal, like the smell of oranges and pine needles" (1).

Metaphor

From "Fish Cheeks": "A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires." (Tan)

Foreshadowing

Flora, the horse in "Boys and Girls," temporarily breaking free only to be caught by the Girl's father hints at what her future will be like.

Characterization

From "Boys and Girls": "These stories were about myself, when I had grown a little older; they took place in a world that was recognizably mine, yet one that presented opportunities for courage, boldness, and self-sacrifice, as mine never did" (2).

Allusion

Taylor Swift's reference to Romeo and Juliet in "Love Story"

Hyperbole

It's a million degrees out today!