Literary text

Setting: The time, place and social conditions of a story.

  • Historical period

  • time of day

  • Season, year

    Characterization

  • Direct Characterization- the author tells the reader exactly what the character is like

  • Indirect Characterization- the author shows the reader what the character is like through actions and interactions

Character traits- aspects of ones behavior and attitudes that make up that persons personality

Characters-

Static- Does not change through whole story

Dynamic- changes or grows as a result of story

 -Round: Many sides, lot of traits, life-like, good/bad traits

-Flat: not life-like, few traits, all good or all bad

Protagonist- Main character.

  • major events important to character
  • Pushes toward goal

Antagonist- Character/force

-Tries to stop protag. from reaching their goal

-Sometimes force or self

Conflict: struggle between two opposing forces

External- Struggle between character and force outside self

-Character vs. Character; another character (antag.)

-Character vs. supernatural; vampire, ghost

-character vs. society; ideas, customs

-character vs. nature; shark attack, hurricane

-Character vs. tech

Internal- Struggle w/ ones self

- Character vs. fate; marrying royal, fulfilling destiny

- Character vs. self; decisions,

Theme: Message story sends about life or human nature

**Can be hidden or directly stated

-Recurring; message that repeats itself throughout several stories

-Universal; one which sends message about life which almost everyone can relate to

Plot: plan, design, or sequence of events of play, poem, or work in fiction.

Mood/tone:

Mood- the overall feeling or emotions that are created in reader

Tone- Author/speaker attitude toward subject they wrote about (it’s not what you said but how you said it)

Perspective/POV

perspective from which the story is told

1st- Reader knows the inner thoughts and feelings of only the narrator (I, me, my)

2nd- You/your… used for cookbooks and instructions

(“Take out your packet” = you is subject)

3rd- She/he/they

Limited- Knows inner thoughts and feelings of 1 character

Omniscient- Reader knows inner thoughts and feelings of all characters

Objective- Reader doesn’t know inner thoughts and feelings