Literary Terms

the attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

the moment of great emotional intensity or suspence in a plot

a character who does not change much in the course of the story (TV static/show)

a reference to a statement, a person, a plae or event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science or pop culture

a character used as a contrast to another character (Donkey in Shrek)

a scene in a movie, play, short story, novel, or narrative poem that interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time

the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning (snap, crackle, pop)

a person, place, thing or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself

a time or place of a story or play

the central idea of a work of literature

a type of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human

the main character in a work of fiction or drama

the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot

is when we do not have to decide for ourselves what a character is like because the author tells us directly

takes place entirely within a character's mind

has only one or two traits that can be described in a few words (Bruce the shark in Finding Nemo)

when the writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different

a figure of speech that makes the comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing becomees another thing without the use of like, as, than, or resemples

the force that blocks the main character in the story

when the person telling the story knows everything there is to know about the characters and their problems

a figure of speech that makes a comparison betweet two unlike things using words such as like, as, resembles or than

uncertaintly or anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen next in a story

when one of the characters is actually the narrator telling the story, using the pronoin I

a character that changes as a result of the story's events

the opening of the story, where characters and their conflict is usually introduced

the end of the story whether resolution is reached

the narrator that plays no role in the story but zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character

occurs when there is a conflict between what would seem appropriate and what really happens or when there is a contradiction between what we expect to happenand what really does take place

is the time between the climax and the resolution when things begin to calm in the story

when the reader has to use their own judgement to decide what a character is like, based on the evidence the writer has given

like a real person with many different character traits, which sometimes contradict one another

occurs in the part of the plot when the character begins to attempt to resolve the conflict but encounters more problems

occurs when the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know