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Literary Terms and Elements
Your Gateway to Passing
Criterion Reference Tests
CRT’s
Why do I need to know these
terms? Because these are the basic building blocks of
literature
Because you will be asked to identify these concepts in literature
Because they help breakdown literature into basic elements, which helps you better understand literature
Because when you write a Literary Analysis these are the concepts you are expected to discusss
Narrator
The voice that tells the reader the story .
Point of View
The perspective from which the narrator tells
the story
1st Person
When the narrator is a character in the story
2nd Person
When the narrator addresses the reader as
“You”
3rd Person
When the narrator tells the story as an
observer, not a participant
Omniscient
When the narrator knows all the thoughts,
history, and perspectives of the characters
and events in the story.
It is telling the story from “God’s
perspective.”
Limited
When the narrator has limited information
concerning the thoughts, history and
perspectives of the characters and events in
the story.
Plot
Plot- the series of events in a story
Hint: Every story has a plot. Every story
has a beginning, middle and end, even if
they do not follow in chronological order.
Structure of a story
Basic situation- Setting and Characters
Inciting incident- the events that lead to the conflict
Conflict- the problem in the story
Climax- the point at which the conflict becomes most intense
Resolution- how the conflict in the story ends
Tone
Tone- is the general feeling an author
creates in an entire work or passage. Tone
is described using words that express
emotion.
Theme
Theme- is the meaning of a story as it
relates to some aspect of the human
condition
Hint- the theme of a story is not the moral.
It is not telling what we should do or how we
should act. It is a discussion about the
author’s point of view concerning the nature
of humans and the experiences they have
Conflict
Conflict- the problem in the story that the main character is trying to overcome
Hint- without conflict in the story there can be no story
Hint- the theme of the story can usually be found in understanding the nature of the conflict in a story
There are three types of conflict
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Man- a struggle in which the main
character comes into conflict with another
character or a group of people. So, it can be
man vs. man individual (single) or man vs. a
group of people (collective). It includes the
idea of man vs. society
Hint- most often a good guy vs. bad conflict i
.e. kung fu movies and soap operas
Man vs. Himself
Man vs. Self- this is internal conflict. It
occurs when a character struggles with
decisions or beliefs.
Man vs. Environment
Man vs. Environment- a struggle between
the main character and the external world.
It is not restricted to “the great outdoors.”
Nature in this sense is the external world.
So it could include urban environments.
Types of Characters
Dynamic
Static
Protagonist
Protagonist- the character in the story who
is involved in or drives the action in a story.
The protagonist is the character that we
should strive to identify with. We as the
readers hope that their best interest will be
achieved
Antagonist
Antagonist- the character who works against
the success of the protagonist. Sometimes
inner conflict can be the source of the
antagonist in a character.
Dynamic Character
Dynamic character- characters who drive
the action and change from one perspective
to another throughout the story.
Protagonists are usually dynamic. When
they are not the ending is usually tragic
Static character
Static characters- do not change throughout
the story. They may be complex, but they
remain essentially unchanged.
Symbol
An object that represents a concept or
emotion relevant to the theme of a story
Hint: usually an object that continues to
appear or be referenced in a story. It is
mentioned repeatedly.
Irony
There are three kinds of irony: dramatic,
situational and verbal. The characteristic
they have in common is a sense of
contradiction between apparent meaning
and actual meaning.
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows the truth of the
situation, but it is unknown to the characters.
Example: In horror movies, we know the
bad guy is hiding in the closet, before the
main character foolishly goes to investigate
the noise in the closet
Situational Irony
When the meaning of the situation is the
opposite of what we would normally expect.
Example: When Jack Sparrow is stranded
on the desert island with no food or water,
but he does have a thousand year supply of
rum. He has abundance, but it is an
abundance that does not really help him
survive.
Verbal Irony
When the meaning of the words in the
context of the situation has the opposite
meaning of what we would expect.
Example: When Arnold says I’ll be back, we
do not expect that means he is going to
drive his car through the wall. Ordinarily the
phrase simply means I will return.