english focus skills

fiction

-Works of prose that have imaginary elements.
-Can be inspired by actual events and real people, but usually springs from the writers’ imaginations.
-Meant to entertain, but can also provide the reader with a deeper understanding of life.

Escape Literature

-written for enjoyment, to take the reader away
-includes Fantasy Fiction, stories with supernatural or magical elements

Interpretive Literature

written to broaden and deepen awareness, to provide understanding

short story

brief work of fiction where, usually, the main character faces a conflict that is worked out in the plot of the story

Plot

Sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed, presented in a significant order.

Exposition

-Section that introduces characters, the setting, and presents other background facts necessary to understanding the story.
-May also hint at what the conflict, or problem will be.

character

a person in a story, poem or play.

round

-fully developed
-has many different character traits

flat

-stereotypical
-one-dimensional
-few traits

dynamic

changes as a result of the story's events

static

does not change

characterization

-How the author develops the characters, especially the main character.
-Done through what the character does or says; what others say of and to the character; author’s word choice in descriptive passages

direct characterization

The author directly states what the character’s personality is like. Example: cruel, kind

indirect characterization

Showing a character’s personality through their actions, thoughts, feelings, words, appearance or other character’s observations or reactions

protagonist

-Main character of the story that changes (death is not a change)
-The most important character
-Changes and grows because of experiences in the story

antagonist

-A major character who opposes the protagonist (people, nature, society)
-Does not change

setting

-The time and place of the story’s action
-Weather conditions
-Social conditions
-Mood or atmosphere

flashback

The present scene in the story is interrupted to flash backward and tell what happened in an earlier time.

foreshadowing

Clues the writer puts in the story to give the reader a hint of what is to come.

rising action

-Consists of a series of complications
-Typically longest part of the story
-Occurs when the main characters take action to resolve their problems and are met with further problems (fear, hostility, threatening situations

conflict

A struggle between two opposing forces

internal conflict

-takes place in a character’s own mind
-Man vs. Him(Her)self

external conflict

-a character struggles against an outside force
-Man vs. Man
-Man vs. Nature
-Man vs. technology, progress
-Man vs. Society
-Man vs. Supernatural

climax

-The turning point in the story
-The high point of interest and suspense
-The outcome of the conflict is decided at this time.

falling action

-All events following the climax.
-Result of the action taken at the climax.

resolution (denoument)

-The end of the central conflict
-Shows how the situation turns out and ties up loose ends

point of view

Vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

first person

One of the characters is actually telling the story using the pronoun “I”

third person

Centers on one character’s thoughts and actions.

omniscient

-All knowing narrator.
-Can center on the thoughts of any actions and all characters.

diction

author’s choice of words and phrases

stream of consciousness

narrative method in which the author tells the story through an unbroken flow of thought

denotation

precise, literal meaning

connotation

-associative meaning
-positive/negative vibe of a word

allusion

calling something to mind without mentioning it outright

tone

How the author feels about a subject

mood

How the author makes his/her reader feel

theme

-The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work.
-The “main idea” of the story

symbol

An object, person, or event that functions as itself, but also stands for something more than itself.

figurative language

-Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation (metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia)

literal language

stating the facts as they are

irony

contrast between expectation and reality

verbal irony

saying one thing but meaning something completely different.

situational irony

A contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does happen

dramatic irony

occurs when the reader knows something important that the characters in the story do not know.

imagery

-Language that appeals to the senses.
-Touch
-Taste
-Sight
-Sound
-Smell

allegory

-story that can be interpreted to have a double or deeper meaning
-usually moral or political

artistic unity

-when a writer only includes ideas/events that advance the central intention of the story.
-incidents and episodes included are placed in an effective order.

plot manipulation

-When the author gives a story a turn unjustified by the situation.
-When the author uses improbable chance to affect a resolution to the story.

deus ex machina

-“god from a machine”
-Resolution of a story is based on chance or coincidence.