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Literary terms
Literary Terms
Setting: The time and place of the action of the story
Plot: The actions and events that take place in s story. Typically the plot includes an introduction, rising action, a climax, and a closing or wrap-up.
Conflict: Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces that is the basis of plot in drama and fiction Conflicts include person against person, person against himself, and person against nature or society.
Character¨ The people or animals who participate in the action in a literary work.
Characterization: The techniques the author uses to create characters
Character development: The changes in a character during a novel.
Theme: The main idea in a story. It is a writer's perception about life or humanity. In books for children, it is usually lesson learned by the main character. In adult works, it may be more of a philosophical statement about about the human condition.
Point of View or Voice. Point of view and voice both refer to who is speaking in the passage. The narrator and the author are not the same person. In first person point of view, a character in the story tells the story. (Students usually assume that this character is the author. It is not, unless it is an autobiography.) In third person limited point of view, the narrator tells us what one character sees, but uses the third person pronoun (he, she, it). In third person omniscient point of view, the narrator can get into the minds of any of the characters or tell us things that are going on anywhere.
Voice is another term which identifies the speaker. Voice is usually used when you are talking about the style of the writer.
Symbol: An object or an action that stands for something else. In a literary work, a symbol often stands for an idea or a feeling.
Irony: A contrast between appearance or expectations and reality. People may say one thing and mean something else. Something unexpected may happen, or the audience may know something that the characters do not.
Tone: the attitude of the author to the subject and the audience. The tone may be objective as in scientific writing. The author may be serious or making fun.
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