Literary Vocab (Tests 1-3)

Protagonist

Protagonist

The central character of a narrative, the character through whom the lesson of the story is learned.

Simile

A comparison of two items using “like” or “as.”

Point of View

The vantage point from which a story is told. (First and third person are basic examples of p.o.v.)

Connotation

Another significant meaning of a word, often steeped in symbol or feeling.

Characterization

The manner by which an author develops a character within a narrative.

Dialogue

The spoken words of two or more characters within a narrative.

Imagery

The picture in your mind that the words from the page create; can be figurative, symbolic, or literal.

Situational Irony

An event where the opposite of what’s expected happens.

Antagonist

The force, a character or element, that works against the protagonist.

Dramatic Irony

When the reader or audience knows something a character does not know, and that knowledge is important to the flow of events.

Ego

The representative of the outer world to the id; enforces the reality principle, oriented towards perceptions in the real world and associated with reason and sanity.

Historical Fiction

A narrative which tells the story of a real moment in history but embellishes it at least slightly.

Theme

The main idea of a work of literature; the message the author is sending to the reader.

Paradigm

A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

Dialect

A regional variety of language, often with distinct accents and usage, including but not limited to whole phrases.

Oedipus Complex

A psychological aspect where a child, usually a male, has strong, even desirous feelings for the parent of the opposite sex.

Denotation

The explicit meaning of a word or a particular meaning of a symbol.

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature or to a part of another work of literature or to a moment in history.

Conflict

The struggle between two opposing forces in a piece of literature, which the story is built around.

Setting

The time and the place of the action of the story.

Catharsis

The releasing of certain emotions in the audience: a feeling of pity and hatred for the actions of the tragic hero.

Act

A division within the drama, usually seen as the “chapter” of a novel.

Autobiography

A truthful account of the life of a person, as told and written by that same person.

Tone

The attitude the author has toward the work, displayed through the language being used.

Colloquialism

A local variation of language, as in a word or phrase, found within particular dialects.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.

Dynamic character

A character who undergoes growth and development during the literary work in which he/she resides.

Static character

A character of one dimension and personality trait who remains unchanged by the events of the literary work.

Biography

A truthful account of the life of a person, told and written by another person.

Scene

A small division of a drama within an act, usually of the same setting as the act.

Stereotype

A conventional and oversimplified opinion or belief about a person or group who may share similar characteristics.

Virtue

The quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and responsibility.

Vice

An evil, degrading or immoral practice or habit; a serious moral failing.

Complex character

A character with different traits and aspects of personality but who neither grows nor changes during the literary work.

Superego

The part of the personality which acts as a moral monitor to the behaviors of the individual.

Direct Quotation

Using the words of a source directly, in a word-for-word borrowing.

Plot

The events which make up the story line, in order of their happening.

Style

The language used by the writer, as well as the narrative techniques employed, working together to form the full aspect of the printed material.

Omniscient narrator

The third person narrator who sees all and knows all – even the thoughts – about the characters of the story.

Nemesis

That force which restores order within a tragedy, named for the goddess of retributive justice.

Metaphor

A comparison of unlike things without using “like” or “as.”

Irony

A contrast between what is stated and what is meant; includes verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.

Foreshadow

To use details and images to hint at events to come in the narrative.

Analysis

The separation of an intellectual whole into its component parts in order to better understand and to reach a truth.

Indirect Quotation

Using the words of the author, though not in a direct, word-for-word borrowing.

Paraphrase

To put the words of the author into your own words.

Novella

A prose fictional narrative containing all the elements of a novel but much shorter.

Tragic Hero

A person of noble birth whose personal destruction is in some way involved with the well-being of her/his world.

Insight

The act or outcome of grasping the inward or hidden nature of things which in turn tells the grasper a significant message about themselves.

Stream-of-consciousness

The unbroken flow of thought and awareness of the waking mind; a special mode of narration capturing a character's mental process.

Rhetoric

The body of principles and theory having to do with the presentation of facts and ideas in clear, convincing, and attractive language.

Ad hominem

Appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic or reason.

A priori

Involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by fact.

Purple Patch

A selection of writing with an unusual piling up of devices, evidencing a self-conscious literary effort.

Euphemism

The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.

Apostrophe

When an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed.

Dichotomy

Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions.

Tragedy

A literary work, usually a drama, which deals with human themes; a hero falls due to elements within their personality.

Hubris

Excessive pride, especially found within the tragic hero.

Local color

The interests or flavor of a specific locality as expressed in a story through language.

Narrative

The story of a fictional or actual event as told by the teller.

Naturalism

A factual representation, conforming to nature, especially in art and literature.

Realism

A truthful representation, with an inclination toward pragmatism, that is accurate to life’s expression.

Short Story

A fictional prose, dealing essentially with a single conflict, which can be read in a single session and has a single plot line.

Pleasure Principle

The concept that pleasure is the only thing that matters, often the role of the Id.

Reality Principle

The function which monitors the Id, valuing the continuation of pleasure after initial gain.

Denouement

The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the plot is resolved.

Drama

A full-length work of fiction that is written in dialogue, meant to be performed upon a stage.

Flashback

Stopping the flow of the narrative to return to an earlier setting or event.

Hamartia

The tragic flaw of a tragic hero; the trait that causes the hero's downfall.

Description

The words the author uses to fully detail a place or thing, bringing pictures to the mind.

Symbol

Something which stands for itself but also stands for something greater.

Climax

A moment of great intensity in the plot, leading to the conclusion.

Novel

A full-length prose fiction where narrative is the chief story-telling element with several conflicts, settings, and characters.

Parallelism

A structural arrangement of sentences or parts of sentences that are similarly developed and phrased.

Pathetic Fallacy

False emotionalism in writing, ascribing human emotions to nature.

Histrionics

A deliberate display of emotion for effect.

Hagiography

A biography that idealizes or idolizes the person.

Idiomatic

Peculiar to or conforming to the expression mode of a language.

Metonymy

A figure of speech substituting the name of an attribute for the thing meant.