Analysis of Fiction

7/30/2019 Analysis of Fiction

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Oana Cutoi-ToftHTX Skjern

Analysis of Fiction

PlotNarrationCharacter

ThemeTone

Figurative LanguageImagery




Literary TermsPlot

The series of story events related by cause and effect. A plot usually begins with aCONFLICT (a struggle of opposing forces) and ends with a RESOLUTION (an ending of the

conflict). Between these points the plot traditionally rises (RISING ACTION) to a CLIMAX (the high point of action or conflict) and then falls (FALLING ACTION) to the DENOUEMENT (the explanation of any questions or mysteries of the plot).

1) Plot : A storyteller’s deliberate arrangement of events in a story; method of

organization.

2) Narrative: A tale or story.

3) Pyramidal structure: A graphic representation of the rising and falling of suspense ina story.

4) Freytag: Theorist and designer of the pyramidal model of story structure.

5) Exposition: Background information or explanation.

6) Setting: The time, place, and conditions in which a story occurs.

7) Atmosphere: An emotional response stimulated by the author’s descriptions

of setting.

8) Conflict : A problem to be resolved; a difficulty to be overcome; both plotand suspense are

impossible without this.

9) Internal conflict : Any problem to be confronted and resolved within the heart ormind of a character.

10) External conflict : Any problem between a character and some antagonist outside

himself.

11) Man vs. man / society : The two opponents in a conflict between a character and one ormore others.

12) Man vs. himself : The two opponents in any internal conflict.

13) Man vs. nature: The two opponents in a conflict between a character and the

weather, terrain, setting, orother non-human external elements.

14) Suspense: Tension or curiosity aroused concerning how a conflict will be

resolved; uncertaintyabout the future.




15) Rising action: Events which stimulate suspense.

16) Falling action: Events after the climax; anticlimactic story details.

17) Climax : Apex in suspense or point of greatest tension.

18) Comic relief : A momentary injection of humor to provide a brief rest from suspense.

19) Main plot : Events in a story which focus on the primary conflict.

20) Subplot : Story events focused on a secondary conflict.

21) Denouement : Resolution; solving of the problem; literally, “unknotting” or“untying”.

22) Dark epiphany : A painful or demoralizingly unpleasant realization about life or

the self.

23) Red herring: An intentionally misleading or diversionary clue in a mystery.

24) Foreshadowing: Clues or hints about future events.

25) Surprise ending: A situationally ironic denouement.

26) in medias res: Mid-conflict; in the middle of things; immediately suspenseful

story opener.

27) Story-within-a-story : A narrative narrated by a character in a surrounding narrative.

28) Frame story : A narrative which surrounds and introduces a narrative contained

within it.

29) Flashback : An interruption in a narrative to tell a past event.

30) Cliffhanger : An intensely suspenseful unresolved conflict, especially at the end of achapter.

31) Dialog: A conversation between two or more characters.

32) Epiphany : A sudden realization or moment of understanding about life or the self.

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Narration

A NARRATIVE is a story. If the narrator is a character, the story is said to havefirst-person narration. If the narrator is not a character, the story is said to be third person.First-person narration may be DETACHED, SUBJECTIVE, or OBSERVER. Third-personnarration may be OMNISCIENT or LIMITED.

1) Narration: The act or process of telling a story.




2) Narrator : The storyteller

3) Point of view: The identity of the narrator; or the label used to identify thenarrator.

4) First person: Narrated by any character.

5) Autobiographical : Narrated by the protagonist.

6) Observer / Participant : Narrated by a character other than main one.

7) Third Person: Narrated by any non-character.

8) Omniscient : Narrated by an all-knowing non-character who can be anywhere at any

time and evendescribe a character’s thoughts.

9) Limited omniscient : Narrated by a non-character who can report thoughts, but onlythose of the protagonist.

10) Objective: Narrated by a non-character capable of reporting only external,

observable actions ordialog.

11) Detached : Narrated by a character at a later point in his life, usually with

an “older-but-wiser” tone.

12) Subjective: Narrated by a naïve or misapprehending storyteller; also called“innocent eye”.

13) Innocent eye: See Subjective.

14)Stream of consciousness: Narration lacking the artificial neatness of an artistically

controlled story because thepresentation is intended to resemble spontaneous thoughts or

brainstorming; narrationfrom the mind, not the pen.

15) Epistolary : Narrated in the form of a letter or series of letters; alternatively,narrated in the forms of

diary or journal.

16) Unreliable narrator : A storyteller whose perspective on events is inaccurate,warped, self serving, dishonest,

or faulty in some other respect.

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Character




The methods and means of presentation of persons in literature are calledCHARACTERIZATION. A person may be characterized through narration, through thecharacter’s actions, through his own and other characters statements, and throughsymbolism.

1) Characterization: The process and methods of defining and depicting a personality.

2) Protagonist : The main character.

3) Antagonist : The character or force opposed to the main character; whomever or

whatever the maincharacter is in conflict with.

4) Foil : a character who provides contrast with another so that both enjoy

clearer definition.

5) Hero: The good guy; the larger-than-life admirable character.

6) Villain: A bad guy; a character representing evil or immorality; a malevolentpersonality.

7) Flat : One-dimensional; undeveloped; single-traited.

8) Round : Multi-dimensional; developed; realistically multi-traited.

9) Stock / Stereotype: A character defined in terms of hasty generalizations or

prejudices; a character devoid of individuality because of assumptions made with respect to his

membership in a certain

group or class.

10) Static: Unchanging.

11) Dynamic: Changing; in motion; energetic.

12) Archetype: A character or experience representing a universal type or experience,

repeated inliterature across the ages and across cultural barriers, derived from the

collective

unconscious of the entire human race. (Race memories)

13) Dialect : The use of unorthodox spelling in dialog to reflect a regional

accent (pronunciation) orvocabulary.

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Theme




1) Theme: The underlying meaning of any piece of literature; the generalmessage implied by the

specific events; usually expressed as a statement describing sometruth about life.

( ex. “Money can inspire evil.”)

2) Moral : A message implied by (or explicitly stated at the end of) a story to tell

the reader how tolead his life better; usually expressed as a command or imperative.(ex. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”)

3) Implicit theme: A theme implied but not actually stated.

4) Explicit theme: A theme stated outright in the story.

5) Text vs. subtext : Two different focuses of careful reading contrasting the

difference between what is statedand what is implied; the source of learning to “read between the lines”.

6) Title: The name of a story; often implies theme.

7) Beginning: The story opening; often implies theme.

8) Ending: Story conclusion; often implies theme.

9) Diction: Word choice; often implies theme.

10) Carpe diem: Literally “seize the day,” this common moral means that one should

cherish and takeadvantage of every moment in life, especially since life is short.

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Tone

1) Tone: The narrator’s or speaker’s implicit attitude toward his subject.

2) Objective / detached : Matter-of-fact; unemotional; disinterested; impartial.

3) Editorial : Partial; opinionated; emotionally involved; undetached.

4) Irony : Feeling created whenever actuality contradicts expectations orintentions.

5) Verbal irony : Tone of saying the opposite of what is meant.

6) Sarcasm: Caustic, biting, mean-spirited verbal irony.

7) Dramatic irony : Tone when what a character believes contradicts what theaudience knows.




8) Situational irony : Tone created by a surprise ending.

9) Comic irony : Irony which is amusing, entertaining, fortunate, witty.

10) Tragic irony : Irony which is serious, sad, unfortunate, evoking pity or fear.

11) Naive; ingenuous: Youthfully ignorant, unaware, innocent, uninformed.

12) Diction: Speaker’s or narrator’s word choice.

13) Inflated diction: Use of unfamiliar, difficult, poly-syllabic words; bombast;pomposity.

14) Malapropism: Accidental misuse of one word for another.

15) Ambiguity : Uncertainty; possibility of multiple interpretations.

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Figurative Language

Expressions that depart from the literal sense to add an imaginative meaning.Expressed through figures of speech rather than through literal language.

1) Literal : Explicit; carrying only a primary or surface meaning; not figurative.

2) Metaphorical : Carrying only an intended, implied meaning; not literal;figurative.

3) Rhetorical : Concerned with effect; showy; elaborate.

4) Allusion: A reference, usually indirect, to some detail outside the poem,

story, novel, etc.

5) Symbolic: Carrying both a literal meaning and an implied figurativemeaning at the same time.

6) Tenor : The intended meaning in any figurative device.

7) Vehicle: The word (s) or idea (s) used to convey the intended meaning in

any figurative device.

8) Metaphor : An implicit comparison, sometimes using a to be verb.

9) Simile: An explicit comparison, usually using words such as like, as, seems,than, resembles.

10) Hyperbole: An intentional exaggeration.

11) Understatement : Saying less than is actually meant.




12) Metonymy : The substitution of an associated word or idea in place of what isactually meant.

13) Synecdoche: A substitution of a part for a whole, or vice versa. (ex. “The White

House made animportant announcement today.”)

14) Paradox : A contradictory statement, which usually makes sense in a

bizarre sort of way when readcarefully.

15) Oxymoron: A pair of juxtaposed opposites.

16) Pun: A play on words, especially homophones or words with multiple

meanings.

17) Personification: Treating an inanimate, non-human object as if human.

18) Apostrophe: An address or speech to a listener who is absent, dead, non-human,

inanimate, incapableof responding to the speech.

19) Symbol : A word or object which stands for both itself (concretely) and

some other ideas(abstractly).

20) Analogy : A comparison; a parallel showing similarities.

21) Litotes: The negative of the opposite of what is meant. (ex. “not bad”)

22) Anachronism: A detail out of sync with the chronological setting; a historicalinaccuracy.

Imagery

The representation, through language, of a sense experience – The term image usually suggests a mental picture (visual imagery is the most commonly used form of imagery), but images may represent any of the senses: VISUAL – sight, AURAL orAUDITORY – hearing; sound, OLFACTORY – smell, TACTILE – touch, ORAL orGUSTATORY – taste, KINESTHETIC – movement.

1) Image: A mental picture.

2) Imagery : The collective stimulation of the senses in the creation of mental pictures or mental sense

experiences; the use of images.

3) Visual : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of sight.

4) Olfactory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of smell.




5) Auditory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of hearing.

6) Tactile: Imaginatively stimulating the sense of touch.

7) Gustatory : Imaginatively stimulating the sense of taste or flavor.

8) Kinesthetic: Imaginatively stimulating the emotions or sense of internal biological

feeling.

9) Synesthetic: A mixed-up stimulation of the senses; one sense confused with

another.

10) Concrete: Describing the real, actual, specific, tangible, and particular; not

the ideal.

11) Abstract : Describing the theoretical or ideal; not the particular, solid, ortangible.

Analysis of Fiction

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