Download Literary Terms for Discussing Fiction

Literary Terms for Discussing Fiction
Allegory: A complete and self-contained narrative which aims at communicating political, moral,
religious, or philosophical messages by making characters, objects or events personify ideas,
concepts, qualities, or other abstractions. It is a story with two parallel and consistent levels of
meaning—one literal and one figurative.
Allusion: A reference, explicit or implicit, to a familiar mythical, historical, or literary person,
place, or thing.
Ambiguity: Uncertainty or lack of clarity about meaning, where more than one meaning is
possible, usually intended by the author.
Antagonist: Any force in a story that is in conflict with or directly opposed to the protagonist. An
antagonist may be another person, an aspect of the physical or social environment, or a destructive
element in the protagonist’s own nature.
Archetype: A universal theme, image (or symbol), plot pattern, or character type that occurs
frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore and is, therefore, believed to evoke profound
emotions because it touches the unconscious memory and thus calls into play illogical but strong
responses.
Atmosphere (mood): The overall emotional aura of a literary work, often evoked by the setting or
landscape.
Character: The verbal representation of a human being, with all the good and bad traits of being
human. Character is revealed through authorial comments, interactions with other characters,
dramatic statements and thoughts, and statements by other characters. In his influential 1927 work
Aspects of the Novel, English novelist E. M. Forster classifies characters as round or flat. Round
characters are always well developed, closely involved in and responsive to the action, and "are
dynamic—capable of surprising the reader in a convincing way." They recognize, change with,
and adjust to circumstances. Flat characters are always static and do not grow. They may be one of
several special types, such as stereotypes or stock characters. One purpose of flat characters is to
highlight the development of round characters.
Conflict: A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story or drama or a struggle
that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces. Examples: man vs. man, man vs. nature,
man vs. himself, man vs. society, man vs. Fate or destiny where "man" is understood to mean
"human beings." Conflict is the essence of plot. It provides interest, suspense, and tension.
Dramatic or objective point of view: Third person point of view in which the dialogue and the
actions of characters are simply reported with no authorial commentary revealing characters'
thoughts.
Epiphany: Literally, a “manifestation”; for Christian thinkers, a particular manifestation of God’s
presence in the created world. For James Joyce: “a sudden sense of radiance and revelation that
one may feel while perceiving a commonplace object.” In literature, epiphany “has become the
standard term for the description . . . of the sudden flare into revelation of an ordinary object or
scene.” In short, it refers to some moment of insight, discovery or revelation by which a
character's life or view of life is greatly altered.
Fable: A story that features animals with human traits and "morals" or explanations.
1
First person point of view: Narration from the perspective of “I” or “We.” Often the narrator is a
major character who tells his or her own story and is the focus of that story. Sometimes, however,
a first-person narrator may tell a story that is primarily about someone else. Such a narrator may
be a minor character who plays a relatively small part in the story or simply an observer who
reports events experienced or related by others. A first-person narrator may also be reliable or
unreliable.
Imagery: Broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work; more narrowly, the use of
figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object. A pattern
of repeated imagery can help convey a particular impression about a character or situation, or a
writer may use such a pattern to communicate or reinforce a story’s theme.
Initiation story: a kind of short story in which a character—often but not always a child or young
person—first learns a significant, usually life-changing truth about the universe, society, people,
himself or herself. He moves from innocence to experience, from ignorance to knowledge,
initiated into experience or maturity. This also is called a "coming of age" story.
Irony: The discrepancy between what is perceived and what is revealed; language and situations
that seem to reverse normal expectations. Irony may be dramatic, situational, or verbal. Dramatic
irony occurs when a narrator or character perceives less than the readers or one or more other
characters do; situational irony occurs when what happens is at odds with what readers are led to
expect; verbal irony occurs when what is said is the opposite of what is meant.
Omniscient point of view: Point of view in which the all-knowing narrator moves at will from one
character’s mind to another revealing their thoughts. Such a point of view may include
commentary by the author.
Plot: The way in which a story’s events are arranged. A work’s plot explores one or more conflicts,
moving from exposition through a series of complications to a climax and, finally, to a resolution.
It includes the element of causation. For example, E. M. Forster: "The king died, and the queen
died of grief."
Point of view: The voice of the story; the story from the perspective of the person doing the
speaking. Examples: first person, second person, third person omniscient, third person limited
omniscient, third person dramatic or objective.
Protagonist: The main character of a story; the character around whom the conflict is centered.
Setting: The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs. The setting of a work
of fiction establishes its geographical, historical, political, cultural, and temporal location and
points to the theme of the work.
Story or narration: The reporting of actions in chronological sequence. For example, E. M. Forster:
"The King died, and then the Queen died."
Structure: The way in which a plot is assembled: chronologically, through dreams, speeches,
fragments, etc.
Style: The way in which a writer selects and arranges words to create certain effects. Style
encompasses elements such as word choice; syntax; sentence length and structure; and the
presence, frequency, and prominence of imagery and figures of speech.
Symbol: An object, person, place, speech, action, event or situation that, in addition to its literal
meaning, suggests a more complex meaning or range of meanings. Symbols enrich meaning,
expanding the possibilities for interpretation and for reader interaction with the text.
Theme: The central or dominant idea of a work.. Every element of a story, such as the title, a
2
narrator’s or character’s statement, the arrangement of events, the conflict, the symbols, the setting,
etc. can shed light on its themes. The theme is usually stated briefly. "Coming of age," "clash of
generations," "man's inhumanity to man" are just a few ideas that can be used to develop a
statement of theme.
Third person limited omniscient point of view: Point of view in which one third-person character's
thoughts are revealed but the other characters' thoughts are not. In other words, events are limited
to one character’s perspective, and nothing is revealed that the character does not see, hear, feel, or
think. A limited omniscient narrator is flexible: he take readers into a particular character’s mind
just as a first-person narrator does, but without the latter’s subjectivity, self-deception, or naïveté.
Tone: The ways in which the narrator or author conveys attitudes toward the subject matter,
characters, or audience. Word choice and grammatical structure help create a work’s tone, which
may be intimate or distant, bitter or affectionate, straightforward or cautious, supportive or critical,
humorous or serious, amusing or ironical, respectful or condescending.
Study Guide for Fiction Interpretation and Evaluation
1. Elements of Fiction
As you read works of short fiction, you are supposed to pay careful attention to elements
such as plot; character; setting; point of view; style, tone, and language; symbol, imagery and
allegory; and theme, etc.. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you read through a story. Use
these questions to stimulate your understanding and evaluation of the story:
(1) Title: What light is thrown on the story by its title? Given the central theme of the story,
does the title mean anything? How does the author get it or where does it come from (I.e.
Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury”; Frank O’Connor’s “My Oedipus Complex”)? Has the
story’s title ever been changed by the author or editor? What is the significance of the
change?
(2) Plot: What is the story’s plot? How are events in the story relate to one another, and how
do they relate to the story as a whole? What conflicts or contrasts occur in the story, and how
are they developed or resolved? Does the author use any particular plot devices, such as
flashbacks or foreshadowing in the story?
(3) Setting: When and where is the story set? How does the setting relate to the theme? Why,
for example, is the story set in winter instead of summer; or night instead of day? How does
the setting influence the characters? How does it put pressure on them to react or prevent
them from reacting? Does the setting create a mood for the story or symbolize the characters’
moods or personalities? What is the social and historical context of the story?
(4) Characters: Why do the characters act as they do? Is their dress significant? Their names?
What are their most striking traits? Are they fully developed, or are they stereotypes whose
sole purpose is to express a single trait (good, evil) or to move the plot along? What change
does the main character go through in the story? Is he a different person at the end than he
was at the beginning? Does he awaken from an illusion at the end? Or is he stuck? Who is the
protagonist of the story? Who or what is the antagonist?
3
(5) Style: Does the writer make any unusual use of diction or syntax? What figures of speech
are used in the story? Is the story’s style plain or elaborate? How does the author’s writing
style reflect the theme and characters (I.e. the short, blunt sentences of Hemingway reflect
characters who have stripped life to its bare essentials)?
(6) Tone: Is the tone of the story intimate, humorous, affectionate, respectful, nostalgic,
distant, ironic, bitter, satirical, serious, condescending? Does the narrator’s tone reveal his or
her attitude toward characters or events? By what means and how effectively is it
communicated?
(7) Point of view: Who is telling the story? Is the story told in the first person or in the third
person? Is the narrator a major character, a minor character, or just an observer? Is he
trustworthy? Why or why not? Does the author share the same view or attitude as the narrator?
Imagine the story told from a different point of view; would such a change be for the worse
or for the better?
(8) Symbols and images: Does the author use any objects or ideas symbolically? What do
they symbolize? What motifs (recurring elements) occur in the story and how do they
develop the theme or express the characters’ personalities (I.e. why are there recurring images
of circles–suns, moons, cycles, droplets of water)? How do the symbols or images relate to
the characters or central theme?
(9) Structure: How is the story structured? How is the time order arranged? Does it follow a
linear pattern or circular pattern or both? Is there a flashback? What is the effect of this
structure?
(10) Theme: Does the story have a central theme? What is it? Is it implicit or explicit?
(11) Ending: Does the story have a closed ending or open ending? Do you find the ending
believable, satisfactory, necessary, or unbelievable, unsatisfactory, unnecessary? Why? Does
the ending reveal anything important about the characters or the central theme of the story?
2. Possible Topics for Essay Questions
Although these are broad topics rather than specific questions, you can expect that at least
one of the essay question choices will be drawn from this list.
(1) appearance/illusion and reality and the failure of characters to distinguish between them
(2) initiation, or the process by which a character progresses from innocence/ignorance to
experience/knowledge
(3) an examination of how a specific setting contributes to the themes and ideas of the story
as a whole
(4) the conflict of good versus evil within a particular story
(5) the conflict between a protagonist and a society (or circumstances) that threaten to stifle
his or her individuality
(6) the use of a particular symbol or image pattern (such as the woods, light and dark imagery,
water/rebirth, the journey, and so forth) in certain works
(7) a comparison between two characters who seem to share similar situations or outlooks on
the world
(8) a specific passage that you need to analyze closely in terms of the relevance of its themes
and symbols to the work as a whole
(9) comparing point of view in two different stories
(10) the racial or religious problem reflected in a particular story
4