lit terms

Epiphany

A sudden realization of truth about oneself or reality

Autobiography

A life's story about oneself

Aristocracy

The highest class in certain societies, especially those holding hereditary titles, lands, or offices

Realism

Attempting to describe nature and life “as they are” without idealization, and with attention to detail, especially the everyday life of ordinary people

Cliffhanger

An ending to an episode that leaves the audience in suspense

Melodrama

A sensational dramatic piece with exciting events that appeals to the emotions

Resolution

The unfolding of a complicated issue in a story

Ignorance

The lack of knowledge or information

First person narrator

A character in the story tells the story

Third person omniscient

The narrator knows all thoughts and emotions about characters in the story

Patriarchy

A society or culture in which the father oldest male was head of the household

Archetype

A typical character that seems to represent universal patterns

Unreliable narrator

A narrator who cannot be trusted

Naturalism

A movement that implied the social conditions heredity and environment had an escapeable Force in shaping human character

Satire

A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human weakness or society problems often with the intent of correct

Victorian literature

A type of literature characterized by the struggle working class people in the triumph the right over wrong

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Classical allusion

A reference to a particular event or character in classical works of literature such as ancient Roman or Greek works

Subjective

And approach that is either opinion based or emotional based

External conflicts

A conflict that exists outside of the mind

Rising action

A series of relevant incidents that create suspense

Third person limited

Knows everything of one character

Gothic novel

Characterized by an atmosphere of horror

Bildungsroman

A coming of each story

The other

A person who is an outcast or who is separated by his or her culture

Serialized novel

Published in sequential l installments

Climax

The point in the plot where the problem comes to an Apex or is at its most intense point in the development of the story

Falling action

Events that occur following the climax

Duality

Having two parts often with opposite meanings like Good and evil

Diction

The distinctive vocabulary or word choice of a particular author

Rite of passage

An important act or event that serves to Mark a passage from one stage of life to another

Chicano or Chicana

A chosen identity of some Mexican Americans in the United States

Latino or Latina

People Latin American origin includes Brazil excludes Spain

Hispanic

Spanish speaking person includes Spain excludes Brazil

Stream of consciousness

Literary style where a person's thoughts and reactions to events are written as a continuous flow

Male gaze

Tendency and visual culture especially film to depict the world and women from masculine point of view and in terms of men's attitude

Domesticity

Home or family life

Tenor

In a metaphor the subject or literal half of the metaphor

Vehicle

In a metaphor the object whose attributes are borrowed

Vignette

A brief narrative description account or episode

Feminism

Literary movement that focuses on the rights of women

Foreshadowing

A warning or indication of a future events

Heroes journey

A common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on an adventure and in a decisive crisis wins the victory

Indirect characterization

The author provides clues as to what type of person a character is

Herald

An official messenger who brings news

Internal conflict

A conflict that exists in the mind of a character

Segregate

To divide from the main body or mass and collect

Desegregation

A process to add segregation in public areas based on race

Trope

A device image character portrayal plot line or other phenomenon that appears again and again in literature

Historical romance

19th century novels and other works of fiction that deal with adventures and exotic locales or extraordinary events and characters

Dialect

Speech specific to a geographic region