EN102 Literary Terms I

Fiction

Literature in the form of prose that describes imaginary events and people or something that is invented or untrue. (Oxford Dictionary)

Nonliterary Fiction

(Nonfiction) not of, relating to, concerned with, or characteristics of literature or scholarly writing. (Collins Dictionary)

Example: newspapers, magazine articles, brochures, and advertisements

Fable

A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. (Oxford Dictionary)

Examples: The tortoise and the hare, The North and Sun

What is the moral of The Northwind and Sun?

Kind and gentle persuasion always wins over brute force and bluster.

Tale

An account that is fanciful and difficult to believe. (Oxford Dictionary)

Example: Sean comes into class saying that his AP Lang exam was the easiest thing he's ever done.

Tall Tale

An account that is fanciful and difficult to believe, usually with a hyperbole. (Oxford Dictionary)

Example: Sean comes into class saying that his AP Lang exam was the easiest thing he's ever done.

Fairy Tale

Genre of magical story, usually originating from folklore. (Oxford Dictionary)

Example: Cinderella, "Once upon a time…"

Moral

A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature. (Oxford Dictionary)

Example: Your ideas about right and wrong, especially how we should treat and act towards others.

Example: Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.

Plot

In fiction, the structure of interrelated actions, consciously selected and arranged by the author; involves a considerably higher level of narrative organization than normally occurs in a story or fable. (Britannica)

Example: The good army is about to face the evil army in a terrible battle. During this battle, the good army prevails and wins the war at last.

Dramatic Situation

The basic conflict that initiates a work or establishes a scene. (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: In Godfather Death, the father is faced with a dramatic situation of not having enough money to sustain 13 kids and needs to find a godfather for his youngest son.

Exposition

Opening portion that sets the scene, introduces main characters, tells us what happened before the story starts, and provides any other background information needed to know to understand the story. (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: The opening paragraph of Godfather Death, explaining the fathers situation and encounters with God and the devil.

Complication

introduction of a significant development in the central conflict in a drama or between characters (or between the character and their situation). (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: Death gives the son an herb but warns him not to use it when not given permission.

Hero

Central character of a narrative. (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: Death's Godson

Suspense

Pleasurable anxiety we feel that heightens our attention to the story and make the reader wonder what will happen next and what the outcome will be. (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: wondering if the doctor will heal the king even without Death's consent.

Foreshadowing

An indication of what is to come. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout declares "haints, Hot Steams, incantations, secret signs had vanished with our years," foreshadowing Boo's evolution from a fearful figure of the children's imaginations to a real person they respect.

Crisis

Moment of high tension. (revel-ise.pearson.com)

Example: when the doctor is deciding whether to go against Death's wishes and heal the princess or not.

Denouement

The final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: In the play's dénouement, the two lovers kill themselves.

Climax

(Greek: "ladder"), in dramatic and nondramatic fiction, the point at which the highest level of interest and emotional response is achieved. (Britannica)

Example: In Romeo and Juliet, the climax is often recognized as being the moment when Romeo kills Tybalt.

In Medias Res

In or into the middle of a narrative or plot. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: Forrest Gump starts with Forrest on a bench telling others his life which is then supplemented with flashbacks to the events he references.

Flashback

Scene relived in a character's memory. (Revel-ise.Pearson.com)

Example: a woman is about to get married. As she walks down the aisle she has a flashback to when her fiance proposed to her a year before and asked her to marry him.

Short Story

An invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter is a short story about a mischievous rabbit who doesn't listen to his mother and goes through a heart-pounding chase with Mr. McGregor.

Scene

A stage setting; the place of an occurrence or action. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Setting

The manner, position, or direction in which something is set. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: The movie changes the play's setting from the late 18th century to the year 2000.

Epiphany

A moment where you realize or understand something in a clearer or fuller way than before. (Britannica)

Example: In the middle of a typical argument with his wife, a man realizes he has been the one causing every single argument, and that in order to keep his marriage, he must stop being such an aggressive person.

Narrator

A person who gives an account or tells the story of events, experiences, etc. (Dictionary.com)

Point of View

A position or perspective from which something is considered or evaluated. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: The Great Gatsby (1st person), Fahrenheit 451 (3rd person), A&P (naive narrator, 1st person participant)

Omniscient Narrator

A person who has full knowledge of the events of the story and the narrator typically speaks in third person. (OxfordReferecne.com)

Example: an example of an omniscient narrator is God. 1 John 3:20 "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." (BibleGateway NIV).

Naive Narrator

A narrator whose perception is immature or limited through their point of view. They don't have any insider knowledge and they only have their own perspective. (Wikipedia)

Example Forrest Gump in the movie Forrest Gump did not always fully understand what was happening, but he still narrates what he sees and understands. Because it is a movie the audience can see what is happening, even if it differs from what the narrator says is happening.

Example: A&P narrator because he doesn't have any insider knowledge.

Unreliable Narrator

An individual who are innocent and do not understand the depth of their story (bias). (Defenition-of.com)

Example: Forrest Gump, Nick Carraway from Gatsby

Stream of Consciousness

A style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process. (Litcharts.com) Example: Virginia Woolf's books

Interior Monologue

A usually extended representation in monologue of a fictional character's thought and feeling. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: When you are trying to solve a problem, you might play out a conversation in your mind.

Motivation

The reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way and the feeling of wanting to do something, especially something that involves hard work and effort. (Oxford Learners Dictionaries)

Example: Growing up, the little boy always wanted to be a famous singer because his grandmother would work on singing with him. When his grandmother passed away, he still continued to practice and train, and his grandmother's love was his motivation.

Flat Character

Two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. (Britannica)

Example: Screwtape from the Screwtape Letters is a demon and isn't able to change himself from the evil that he is.

Round Character

Complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader. (Britannica)

Example: Darth Vader goes through multiple developments through the six original Star Wars movies by changing sides multiple times and eventually redeeming himself.

Allusion

The act of making an indirect reference to something. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: Chocolate cake is my Achilles heel.

Antihero

A protagonist or noble figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: The film, Gone with the Wind required the most likable and popular actress of her generation to play an antihero.

Example: Godfather Death instead of God or the Devil he became the boy's godfather.

Example: Gatsby

Tone

Style or manner of expressing in speaking or writing. (Merriam Webster Dictionary) Example: "I couldn't wait to go to the carnival, smell the hot dogs, taste the cotton candy, and feel the exhilaration of riding the Ferris Wheel!" (excited)

Style

A distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech). (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: expository, descriptive, persuasive, narrative

Example: Barn Burning

Diction

Choice of words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: "I will address the issue right away" (formal)

Antagonist

A person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. (Dictionary.com)

Example: Voldemort in the series Harry Potter

Protagonist

The principle character in a literary work (such as a drama or story). (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Verbal Irony

When a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

Example: A character stepping out into a hurricane and saying, "What nice weather we're having!"

Sarcasm

A way of using words that are the opposite of what you mean in order to be unpleasant to somebody or to make fun of them. (Oxford Learners Dictionaries)

Example: If someone were to say, "I love your sweater" even though they were just making fun of it to their friends.

Ironic Point of View

Narration from an ironic point of view, which is distinct from the mere use of irony in narration. (Oxford Academic)

Example: When the reader knows something is about to happen, but the character does not know (dramatic irony)

Cosmic Irony

Occurs when a higher power (ex: gods, fate, the Universe) intervenes to create an ironic situation.

Example: How we expect the wind to be of higher strength in the story but ultimately is weaker and less effective.

Example: When Aladdin is transformed into a rich man by the Genie, only for Jasmine to reject him.

Example: Thanos seeks to refine society by eliminating a majority of it, however he is doing harsh evil by killing billions of beings.

Example:Godfather Death- death helps the boy to be successful but kills him in the end.

Theme

A subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Example: power, family, identity, love

Science Fiction

A form of fiction that handles imagining or using forms of science or scientific ideas to show their impacts on society or the world to form a story. (Britannica)

Examples: Movies such as The Martian, Interstellar, Avatar, Star Wars, Fahrenheit 451