| A | B |
|---|
| setting | time and place of the action of the story |
| protagonist | chief character; one who faces the conflict |
| foil | character with qualities that contrast with those of another character |
| dynamic character | one who changes as a result of the action of the plot |
| plot | actions and events in a dramatic or narrative work |
| conflict | struggle between opposing forces |
| episode | a piece of action within the plot |
| theme | writer's perception about life |
| mood | feeling, or atmosphere, that the writer creates |
| personification | human qualities attributed to an object, animal, or idea |
| irony | contrast between what is expected and what actually happens |
| foreshadowing | writer's use of hints to indicate events that will occur later in the narrative |
| stream of consciousness | a literary technique in which characters are presented through the flow of inner thoughts |
| stock character | a conventional fictional character rather than a representation of an authentic human being |
| satire | the use of ridicule to expose vice or folly |
| idiom | an expression that cannot be translated literally inot a second language |
| diction | word choice |
| interior monologue | the record of a character's thoughts |
| static character | one who does not change as a result of the action of the plot |
| rising action | building complications in the conflict |
| climax | the moment of highest intensity in a work of literature |
| antagonist | the character who creates the conflict |
| falling action | the portion of a piece of literature following the climax |
| character | people (and occasionally animals) who carry on the action in a piece of literature |
| denotative meaning | the way a word is defined in a dictionary |
| connotative meaning | the suggested meanings that surround the literal definition of a word |
| tone | the attitude a writer takes toward a subject |
| figurative language | language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary meanings of the words |
| simile | a stated comparison between two things using the words "like" or "as" |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things without the words "like" or "as" |
| understatement | the technique of creating emphasis by saying less than is actually true |
| hyperbole | a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis |
| symbol | a person, place, object, or idea that stands for something beyond itself |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate sounds |
| autobiography | the story of person's life written by that person |
| memoir | the record of a public person, meant for publication |
| eulogy | a written or spoken tribute that praises a person's virtues |
| hero | a person who gives up or risks his life or well-being for another |
| parody | a type of satire that mocks a specific type of literature |
