LITERATURE NOTES
1. Conflict: the struggle between two opposing forces, or beliefs which form the basis of the plot. The conflict is resolved when one force, usually the protagonist, succeeds or fails in overcoming the opposing force (antagonist) or gives up trying.
a) Conflicts in literature:
a) Person vs Person
b) Person vs Nature
c) Person vs Himself/Herself (internal conflict)
d) Person vs Technology
e) Person vs Time
f) Person vs Fate
g) Person vs Society
h) Person vs Supernatural
b) Protagonist: usually the main character (has no problem until the antagonist shows up)
c) Antagonist: the character or element that creates the problem(s) for the protagonist
2. Literary genres:
a) fiction
b) non-fiction
c) biography
d) autobiography
e) poetry
f) drama (play)
g) essay (opinion)
3. Elements of the short story:
a) Setting: refers to time and place of the story
b) Theme: the underlying idea of a piece of literature, it is universal and is expressed in one complete sentence.
c) Plot: the plan of a story where the main character(s) is or are brought through a conflict to an inevitable conclusion. This includes a series of incidents (rising action) which increases in intensity (suspense) until a climax is reached.
Plot diagram 4
1. Preliminary action 5
2. Complicating incident 6
3. Rising action (suspense) 3
4. Climax
5. Falling action
6. Conclusion 1 2
4. Categories of characters
Dynamic – changes; individualized; complex.
Static- does not change; stereotyped; one-dimensional; one personality trait.
5. Figurative language (figures of speech):
A form of expression (simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, etc…) Used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing one thing with another that has a meaning familiar to the reader.
a) Simile: a comparison of two things which in their general nature are different from each other. The simile contains like or as.
Example: That child is like a beautiful flower.
b) Metaphor: an amplified comparision which does not have like or as
Instead of making the comparison , as in the simile, the likeness is given in the form of a statement.
Example: The child is a beautiful flower.
c) Personification: In this figure of speech, some human characteristic is attributed to an inanimate object or animal.
Example: Death whispered in his ear.
d) Alliteration: Alliteration involves the repetition of the same first sounds in a group of words or line of poetry.
6. Pathos: a passage in a piece of writing that evokes in the reader a feeling of pity and
Compassion.
7. Point of view: the position from which something is observed, a matter is considered, a story told.
a) 1st person point of view : the narrator is “I” of the story. He may be the major
character, the author himself, as the minor character. By using this point of view, the author limits himself in that he only relates what the narrator himself thinks, observes, hears.
b) 3rd person point of view : the author tells the story with the focus on one (selective) character or more than one (multiple selective) usually the main one. The author can see into the mind of this character only (omniscient) – the author selects the point of view of a person who knows everything that happens.
8. Foreshadowing: the dropping of important hints by the author to prepare the reader for what is to come and to help him to anticipate the outcome.
9. Flash back: a device by which a writer interrupts the main action of a story to recreate a situation or incident of an earlier time as though it were occurring in the present.
10. Dialogue: an exchange of ideas or opinions between two characters.
11. IMAGERY
a) visual image: ont that appeals to the sense of sight.
Example: colours, a sunset, frothing at the mouth.
b) auditory image: one that appeals to the sense of hearing.
Example: loud, whistling, crackling rustle of leaves
c) tactile image: one that appeals to the sense of touch
Example: smooth, rough, velvet, humid, hot, cold.
d) gustatory image: one that appeals to the sense of taste
Example: sour, sweet, chocolate ice-cream
e) olfactory image: one that appeals to the sense of smell
Example: frying bacon, perfume.