“Soldier’s Home”

Literary Notes

Literary Terms

• Protagonist – the main actor in the plot; the one who initiates the action.– Not necessarily the hero

• Antihero – contrast with the model of a typical hero– He gives in to disillusionment, hopelessness, and

inaction

More Literary Terms

• Climax – the point in the story that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest– Usually the point in the story when the conflict is

resolved

• Conflict – struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story– Can be internal or external

Freytag’s Pyramid

• Exposition – when the characters are introduced; the scene is set

• Rising action – the story builds and gets more exciting; complications become apparent

• Climax – moment of greatest intensity; usually the most exciting event

• Falling action – events happen as a result of the climax• Denouement (day-noo-moh) – the ending; the story’s

problems, questions, or mysteries are solved by the characters or explained by the author

Story Info.

• Protagonist and antihero – Harold Krebs– Young man who just returned from the war– Possibly suffers from Post-traumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD)

• Setting is 1919 in a small town in Oklahoma

War background• Soldiers in France would spend their days and nights in

mud-filled trenches.– Trenches reeked of urine, poisonous gas, wet sandbags, and

decomposing bodies• Soldiers fought against

– Rain– Cold– Lice– Rats– Trench mouth– Gangrene– Dysentery

• There was a constant threat of death from the enemy.

Trench mouth

Gangrene