Short Story Unit Literary Terms
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A comprehensive collection of vocabulary flashcards covering literary devices, point of view, character terms, and figurative language from the Short Story Unit.
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50 Terms
Plot
The sequence of events in a story…
Climax
The point of greatest emotional intensity…
Conflict
The heart of the plot…
External conflict
A conflict in which a character struggles with an outside force…
Internal conflict
A conflict that takes place within a character’s own mind.
Exposition
The introduction to the characters, setting, and situation…
Setting
The time and place of the events or action.
Resolution
The specific moment where the primary conflict is solved.
Denouement
The broader scene or chapter after the resolution…
Rising action
The series of events… that build tension…
Narrative hook
The opening literary device… to grab the reader’s attention.
Falling action
The part of a story that occurs immediately after the climax…
Theme
An insight into life that a work of literature reveals.
Tone
The attitude taken by the author or speaker…
Inference
Making an educated guess…
Atmosphere
The overall mood or feeling…
Fiction
Prose literature in which a world is recreated or invented…
Symbol
Any object… that stands for something else.
Foreshadowing
Hints or clues to suggest what will happen later…
Flashback
A scene… showing events that happened in the past.
Suspense
Uncertainty or anxiety about what will happen next…
Situational irony
When what happens is very different from what we expected…
Verbal irony
A contrast between what is said and what is meant.
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows something a character does not.
Personification
An object or animal spoken of as if it had human feelings.
Allusion
Referencing something or someone from history or literature.
Connotation
Associations or impressions carried by a word…
Narrator
The voice or speaker telling the story.
Point of view
The perspective from which a story is told.
1st person point of view
A character using ‘I’ tells the story.
3rd person point of view
Narrator knows thoughts/feelings of one or all characters.
2nd person point of view
Narrator uses ‘you’ to address the reader.
Character
A person or animal in a literary work.
Dynamic character
A character who changes as a result of events.
Static character
A character who does not change much.
Character traits
Qualities that make up a character’s personality.
Characterization
A writer’s development of a character’s personality.
Protagonist
The main character in a work of literature.
Antagonist
Character opposing the protagonist.
Flat character
A character with one aspect of personality.
Round character
A character with several aspects of personality.
Satire
A technique exposing foolishness or corruption using humor or irony.
Idiom
A common phrase with a figurative meaning…
Dystopia
An imagined world where people lead wretched, fearful lives.
Oxymoron
Contradictory words placed together.
Hyperbole
Over exaggeration.
Diction
A writer’s deliberate choice of words.
Anaphora
Repetition at the beginning of successive phrases…
Onomatopoeia
A word whose sound imitates its meaning.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech where a part represents the whole or vice versa.