| A | B |
|---|
| allusion | reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or pop culture |
| aside | words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be overheard by the others onstage. |
| character | person in a story, poem, or play |
| static character | character who doesn't change much |
| dynamic character | character who changes |
| flat character | character who has only one or two traits |
| round character | character who has many different character traits |
| conflict | struggle or clash between opposing characters or between opposing forces |
| drama | story that is written to be acted for an audience |
| flashback | scene in a movie, play, short story, or narrative poem that interrupts the present action of the plot to "flash" backward and tell what happened at an earlier time |
| foil | character who is used as a contrast to another character |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot |
| irony | contrast between expectation and reality |
| verbal irony | contrast between what is said and what is really meant |
| situational irony | contrast between what would seem appropriate and what really happens |
| dramatic irony | contrast between what the reader/audience knows and what the character knows |
| novel | long fictional story that is between 100 and 500 pages long and uses the elements of storytelling: plot, character, setting, theme, and point of view |
| plot | series of related events that make up a story or drama |
| exposition | point in story where background is given on characters and setting |
| narrative hook | point in story where author "hooks/catches" the attention of the reader |
| rising action | point in story where complications and problems arise |
| climax | highest point of intensity in the story |
| falling action | point after the climax |
| resolution | point in story where all problems are resolved and the story is closed |
| point of view | vantage point from which the writer tells the story |
| omniscient point of view | narrator knows everything |
| first-person point of view | character serves as narrator and uses the pronoun "I" |
| third-person limited point of view | narrator zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character |
| setting | time and place of a story or play |
| short story | short, concentrated, fictional prose narrative |
| soliloquy | long speech in which a character who is on stage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud |
| theme | the central idea of a work of literature |
| tragedy | play, novel, or other narrative that depicts serious and important events in which the main character comes to an unhappy end |
| antagonist | character that conflicts with protagonist |
| protagonist | main character in the story |
