Name:______Date:______Per:______

Literary Terms – Quiz #2

Character: A person, an animal, or a thing that takes part in the action of a literary work.

Characterization: The author’s way of explaining the people in the story.

5 Modes of Characterization:

  1. What the character says
  2. What character thinks
  3. How the character effects others
  4. Actions the character takes
  5. How the character looks

Protagonist: The main character who takes the leading part in a drama, novel or short story (not the “good” guy).

Antagonist: A person or force fighting against the main character, or protagonist, of a story.

Dialogue: This refers to the talking that goes on between characters in a story. A conversation between characters. (Dialogue tag is the part of the dialogue that describes how the words are spoken. Ex. “I want to tell you a secret,” Jim whispered.)

Setting: The time and place of the action.

  • The setting includes all the details of a place and time – the year, the time of day, even the weather. The place may be a specific country, state, region, community, neighborhood, building, institution, or home.
  • Details such as dialect, clothing, customs, and modes of transportation are often used to establish setting.
  • In most stories the setting serves as a backdrop – a context in which the characters interact. The setting of a story often helps to create a particular mood, or feeling.

Conflict: The struggle or problem that takes place between two opposing forces

TYPES OF CONFLICT

  • External Conflict: A character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate.
  • Person vs. Person: Individual must face another individual in competition or combat
  • Person vs. Nature: Individual must battle the forces of nature, usually for survival
  • Person vs. Society: Individual struggles against larger societal forces such as governments or cultures.
  • Internal Conflict: A struggle between opposing desires or emotions inside a person.
  • Person vs. Self: Individual must struggle with him/herself in order to learn and grow.

Point of View: The perspective, or vantage point from which the story is told.

  • First-Person Point of View: Told by a character who uses the first-person pronouns I-me-my-mine in his or her speech.
  • Third-Person LimitedPoint of View: The point of view where the narrator uses third-person pronouns such as “he” and “she” to refer to the characters. Character does not see, hear, or know all.
  • Third-Person Omniscient Point of View: The view that is “all-knowing”. (Often described as being able to look down from above to see and hear all.