English Terms Short Story

Plot; Story line

Conflict (3)

  1. Man vs Man

    • 1+ People

    • External conflict

  2. Man vs Environment

    • Nature/Fate/Society

    • External conflict

  3. Man vs Himself

    • Physical & Mental/ Moral

    • Internal conflict

Protagonist- Main Character

Central character

Antagonist- Against Protagonist

  • Forces arrayed against the protagonist

Suspense (2)- Quality to make you want to read on

  1. Quality in a story makes readers ask, impels to read on find answers

  2. Mystery

    • Craves explanation

  3. Dilemma

    • Achieved in 2 ways

    • A choice/decision

Surprise- when the story departs radically from our expectation

Types of Characters (5)

Flat Character- 1 /2 traits, minor characters remain flat
Round Character- complex/ many sided
Stock Character- stereotyped figure
Static Character- not moving; still; doesn’t develop; same at end-beginning
Developing Character- changing small or large change

POINT OF VIEW (3);

Omniscient POV

  • 3rd person

  • free to go wherever he wishes, to peer inside the minds and hearts of his characters at will and tell us what they are thinking and feeling

Limited Omniscient

  • 3rd person

  • one character in the story

  • The story through his characters yes and through his mind

  • The author shows no knowledge of what OTHER characters are thinking or feeling or doing—except for what his chosen character knows or can infer

First Person- I, me, my

Objective- No ones POV

Symbol- means MORE than what it is

Irony (3(only doing 1))- “When the opposite of what you expect to occur, occurs”

Irony of Situation

  • The discrepancy is between what is and what would seem appropriate. For example, an unarmed Captain Torres, who expects to be killed, sits at ease while the barber with a razor, who has Torres at his mercy, is overcome by fear. This illustrates that the thought of killing can sometimes be more frightening than being killed.

introduction/exposition —> Rising action(conflict—>suspense)—> Climax —> Denouement

Short Story Endings (3)

Surprise/ Shock ending

Unfinished ending- cliff hanger

Natural ending- things are neatly tied up- no real surprises

Complication or Complicating incident

Climax— Resolves the conflict; established at the beginning