Literary devices

Allegory

A comparison between the characters, events, and settings with larger meanings outside of the story. (Surface meaning and deeper meaning)

Antagonist

The character that opposes the protagonist

Protagonist

The character who solves the conflict

Atmosphere/mood

The feeling or emotion the writer creates in the overall story (joy, creepy)

Simple (flat) characters

Characters who only have 1-2 traits and is easy to understand

Complex (round) characters

realistic characters having many feelings and would change throughout the story

Flashback

When the story goes back to an event happened before

Foreshadowing

Small hints about what will happen later in the story

Genre

Different types of stories (horror, mystery)

Imagery

Words that helps you create an image of what something looks, smells, feels, or sounds like

Irony

When something happens that’s the opposite of what you normally expect

Metaphor

Comparing two things by saying one is another without using “like” or “as”

simile

Comparing two things using “like” or “as”

Moral

A less that gets taught in the story

Theme

The main idea the story is trying to convey

Parody

A funny copy of the style of a writer, artist, film that exaggerates it to make the audience laugh

Pathetic fallacy

When the nature/weather matches the emotions of a character

Pathos

making/persuade people feel emotions

Poetic justice

When someone get what they deserve often making the audience satisfied

Plot

Events that happen throughout the story

1st person

When the protagonist is telling their own story, often using “I, me, my”

2nd person

When the narrator is telling the story using “you” (the narrator is in the story as well)

3rd person

The narrator is not in the story and knows everything about the characters, uses “He, she, they”

Satire

Using humor or exaggeration to make fun of something

Symbol

Something that stands for or represents something else