Post on 27-Apr-2018
IRONY
Definition:
The contrast between expectation and reality. Irony can
create humor or strong emotion.
Example:
"I was never kinder to the old man until the day that I
killed him" (Poe).
Illustration:
Situational Irony
Definition:
Occurs when what happens is very different
from what we expect to happen.
Example:
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is drugged and as
Romeo finds her, he assumes she is dead,
thus kills himself. Juliet wakes up, seeing his
dead body, and kills herself as well
(Shakespeare).
Illustration:
Verbal Irony
Definition:
When what is said or written is different from
what is meant. Often using dialogue to show it.
Example:
"'Oh, goody,' Katherine said, a little bit too much
sarcasm in her voice" (Haddix 26).
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Dramatic Irony
Definition:
When the audience or reader knows something the
characters do not know.
Example:
In Macbeth, the readers know that Macbeth acts
loyal to Duncan while planning his murder
(Shakespeare).
Illustration:
Character
Definition:
A personal or animal in a story, play, or poem.
Example:
In the novel The Missing Series: Caught, it
speaks about the main character, Jonah
Skidmore, his physical appearance,
emotional status, and how he feels about
his classmates (Haddix 1-2).
Illustration:
Protagonist
Definition:
The main character in a work of literature who is
involved in the central conflict and forwards (pro) the
plot all along.
Example:
Jonah Skidmore, in The Missing Series:
Caught, brings along the story in his
perspective mainly, and showing his
thoughts only and what he sees (Haddix 1-
343). John at times can be good and bad.
Illustration:
Antagonist
Definition:
The character who opposes the main character and puts
the conflict or plot in motion.
Example:
Starting at page seven, Gary and Hodge in
The Missing Series: Caught, set the plot in
motion by making a conflict of time for the
protagonist (Haddix 7-218).
Illustration:
Dynamic Character
Definition:
A character who changes as a result of the story's events.
Example:
Mileva Einstein, Albert Einstein's wife
became a time traveler after she discovered
Jonah and Katherine's secret. In the next
showing, she has changed significantly both
physically and internally (Haddix 42-324).
Illustration:
Static Character Definition:
A character who does not change over the course of a
story.
Example:
In To Kill a Mockingbird: Calpurnia, the maid
and care giver of Scout and Gem, stays
constant in her diligence in raising these
children and does not change significantly
in the book (Lee 1-376).
Illustration:
Stock Character
Definition:
An over-simplified character that lacks dimension.
Example:
In The Missing series: Caught, The janitor and the lunch
lady Jonah and Katherine find at the back of the school is
an example of stock characters that aren't very
important (Haddix 12-13).
Illustration:
Personification
Definition:
An over-simplified character that lacks dimension.
Example:
in the book "Have You Got A Brook in Your Little
Heart," “Have you got a brook in your little heart,
Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go
down to drink, And shadows tremble so?”
(Dickenson).
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Point Of View
Definition:
The vantage point from which a story is told.
Example:
In Caught, The entire book is placed through Jonah
Skidmores' point of view (Haddix 1-324).
Illustration:
First Person
Narrator
Definition:
One of the characters is telling the story using the
personal pronoun "I."
Example:
“It was times like these when I thought my father, who
hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the
bravest man who ever lived" (Lee).
Illustration:
Third Person
Narrator
Definition:
The narrator focuses on thoughts and feelings of just one
character. Uses third person pronouns such as "he" and
"she."
Example:
"Jonah Skidmore was in science class before time
stopped"(Haddix 1).
Illustration:
Omniscient
Definition:
The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the
characters and understands their pasts.
Example:
The novel, Da Vinci Code, the narrator provides
information about the background and related
knowledge that characters are unaware of (Brown).
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Dialect
Definition:
A way of speaking characteristic of a certain
geographical area or a certain group of people.
Includes both accent and word choices.
Example:
"Reckon I have. Almost died first year I
come to school and et them pecans —
folks say he pizened ‘em and put ‘em
over on the school side of the fence"
(Lee).
Illustration:
Theme
Definition
The general idea or insight about life that a work of
literature reveals. It is more than a subject in a work.
Themes are the messages about a subject that a writer
wishes to convey.
Example:
In Caught, one would believe that the
theme of this novel is, "Don't trust the
things you see" (Haddix 1-324).
Illustration:
Setting
Definition:
The time and place of a story, play, or narrative
poem. It is usually described at the beginning of the
work in the exposition.
Example:
At the beginning of Caught, the setting is in
the 21st century, in Jonah and Katherine's'
middle school (Haddix 1-24).
Illustration:
Foreshadowing
Definition:
The use of clues or events suggesting events that will
occur later in the plot.
Example:
"Trapped watching.. in the early nineteen-
hundreds. His daughter is one of the
missing children of history. We had to
return her. We had to. He's not thinking
about right things. He..... I thought...."
(Haddix 28).
Illustration:
Mood
Definition:
The overall feeling of a work of literature. Can be happy,
sad, scary, horrific, etc.
Example:
The novel Wuthering Heights creates two contrasting
moods through two contrasting settings in two
neighboring houses: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross
Grange. A depressing mood is created whenever
Wuthering Heights is described (Brontë).
Illustration:
Plot
Definition:
The series of related events that make up a story.
Example:
In Pride and Prejudice, The plot of the story begins when
Lizzie’s sister, Jane. Lizzie develops and interest in for Mr.
Wickham, who accuses Darcy of destroying him
financially. Jane runs away with Mr. Wickham and Lizzie
realizes that Mr. Darcy is not as bad a man as she
thought him to be (Austen).
Illusrtation:
Exposition:
Definition:
The introduction of a story that introduces the setting,
(time and place) and the characters.
Example:
"Once upon a time, there were three bears. There was a
Daddy Bear, who was very big, a Mama Bear, who was
middle-sized, and a Baby Bear, who was very small. They
all lived together in a little cottage in the middle of the
woods. Their favorite breakfast was porridge. One
morning, after they made their porridge, Daddy Bear
said, ‘Let’s go for walk in the woods until it cools.'"
(Grimm).
Illustration:
Flashback
Definition:
Interruption in the present action of a plot to flash
backward and tell what happened at an earlier time. This
often has a trigger using the senses as a cue.
Example:
Death of a Salesman uses flashback to narrate Willy
Loman’s memories of the past. At one moment, Willy
talks with his dead brother while playing cards with
Charley (Miller)
Illustration:
Conflict
Definition:
A struggle between opposing characters or forces.
Example:
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is the tale of the
eponymous hero who must defeat three monsters. These
monsters include Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a
dragon. The three monsters are not human and
represent the fears that the Anglo-Saxons had about the
natural world and its ability to destroy humanity (Green).
Illustration:
Internal Conflict Definition:
A struggle within a single character. It is a struggle
between opposing needs, desires, or emotions.
Example:
“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
or to take arms against a sea of troubles
and by opposing end them. To die, to sleep”
(Shakespeare).
Illustration:
External Conflict Definition:
A character struggles with an outside force which may be
another character, society as a whole, or a natural or man-
made force.
Example:
In the novel The Lord of the Flies, Ralph (A
'Good Guy') steadily comes into conflict with
Jack (a bully). Jack gives in to their savage
instinct and make attempts to hunt or kill the
civilized batch of boys (Golding 1-236).
Illustration:
Man vs Man Conflict
Definition:
One character struggles against another character.
Example:
The play Othello’s key struggles are between
Othello and his nemesis, Iago. Iago is upset with
Othello for two main reasons—Othello has
promoted another man instead of Iago, and
Iago believes that Othello has slept with his
wife, Emilia. Hence Othello, a man is in conflict
with another man, Iago (Shakespeare).
Illustration:
Man vs. Nature Conflict
Definition:
One character struggles against the elements or forces of
nature.
Example:
The Old English poem Beowulf is the tale of the
hero who must defeat three monsters;
Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. The
three monsters are not human and represent
the fears that the Anglo-Saxons had about the
natural world and its ability to destroy
humanity (Anonymous).
Illustration:
Man vs. Society Conflict
Definition:
A character struggles against the rules or norms of
society.
Example:
The novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a
futuristic dystopia in which the
protagonist must confront the incredibly
unjust world in which she is living
(Atwood).
Illustration:
Man vs. Technology Conflict
Definition:
A character struggles against technology.
Example:
In Caught, there is a machine called an
Elucidator that has the ability to teleport or
listen to commands from a person, and
Jonah got it snatched away from Milevia
Einstein (Haddix 1-324).
Illustration:
Climax
Definition:
The most exciting moment in the story when the
outcome is decided one way or another.
Example:
In the play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo
realizes he has killed his wife’s cousin,
Tybalt (Shakespeare).
Illustration:
Tone
Definition:
The emotion given to a specific (shorter) passage or
character by the author.
Example:
“All morons hate it when you call them a
moron,” - from Catching In The Rye
(Salinger).
Illustration:
Alliteration
Definition: A repetition of sounds in one line that is stressed. Two or more sounds close together in a line create alliteration.
Example:
“Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole
story” (Poe).
Illustration:
Resolution (Also Called
Denouement) Definition:
When the story's problems are solved and the story
ends.
Example:
In Hamlet, the main character learns that he
himself has been poisoned and will die, so he
musters the courage and kills his treacherous
uncle, the king, and resolve an evil government
that existed (Shakespeare).
Illustration
Allusion
Example:
When Charlie Gordon in Flowers for
Algernon becomes fired, a static character
named Fanny Girden gives an allusion to a
reference in the Old Testament (Bible) by
saying, “It was evil when Eve listened to the
snake and ate from the tree of knowledge”
(Keyes 49).
Illustration
Definition: A brief and indirect reference to a person, place,
thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
Assonance
Definition:
caused by the repetition of vowel sounds within
sentences, phrases, or in poems.
Example:
“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
(Frost).
Illustration:
Consonance
Definition:
The repetition of consonant sounds within sentences,
phrases, or in poems.
Example:
“A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun, Or Nature spending with herself Sequestered afternoon” (Dickinson).
Illustration:
Anapestic Tri-Meter
Definition:
This is a poetic meter that has three anapestic metrical
feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables
followed by a stressed syllable.
Example:
"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee"
(Bryon).
Illustration:
Iambic Pentameter
Definition:
A foot is an iamb if it consists of one unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable, so the word remark is an
iamb. Pent means five, so a line of iambic pentameter
consists of five iambs.
Example:
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date"
(Shakespeare).
Illustration: