| A | B |
|---|
| allusion | a reference to a statement, person, place, or thing that is known from our culture |
| character | an individual in a story or play |
| conflict | a struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces, or emotions |
| exposition | the part of the story that introduces the characters and the setting |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot |
| climax | the point of greatest tension or emotional intensity in the play |
| irony | a contrast between expectation and reality |
| setting | the time and place of a story |
| point of view | the vantage point a writer uses to tell the story |
| short story | a short fictional prose narrative |
| symbol | a person, place, or thing that stands both for itself and for something beyond itself |
| theme | the central idea of a work of literature |
| tone | the attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a character, or a subject |
| protagonist | the main character in a story |
| antagonist | the character that serves as a foil to the protagonist |
| suspense | the uncertainty or anxiety one feels about what is going to happen next in a story |
| plot | the series of related events that make up a short story |
| resolution | the end of the short story |
| falling action | the events following the climax, leading to the resolution |
| rising action | in a short story, all the events leading up to the climax |
| connotation | set of ideas associated with it in additon to its explicit meaning |
| denotation | a word's dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the world may have |
| diction | an author's choice of words |
| essay | a short nonfiction work about a particular subject |
| imagery | descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader |
