8100-ABED_1: Glossary for LA 8 Units 4-5

Antagonist: one of the major characters; not necessarily the bad guy; the character who challenges the protagonist and stops the protagonist from reaching his or her goal

The antagonist does not have to be human; it can be a force of nature, an aspect of society, personal qualities, or a memory.

Example:

In Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas , the antagonist is the Christmas spirit. Although the Grinch tries to stop Christmas from coming, the spirit of the season, spread through the joy of the Whos, comes anyway and foils the Grinch's plan.

Antecedent: comes before; precedes

Atmosphere: the feeling that the characters in the story experience, such as suspense, peace, tension, gloom

Note the light, happy atmosphere in the following example:

There was talk everywhere, people walking along with baskets and parcels, people standing in shops where the lights were lit, all were talking. The first time David was aware of it, he could hardly bring himself to move on. Almost everybody was laughing! It was not the ugly laughter he was used to when they laughed at the prisoners. It sounded pleasant, even beautiful, as if they were all content with life and felt friendly toward one another. (p.44, I am David, Holm)

Author's style: his or her unique writing features, or the techniques he or she uses to tell the story and describe the events, characters, setting, ideas, and objects

Aspects of an author' s writing style include

word choice
sentence structure
figurative language
sentence arrangement

Character

Dynamic or developing character: a character who changes and grows throughout the story

However, this change must be significant; a simple change in appearance does not qualify a character to be considered dynamic.

Example:

The Grinch in Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas is a dynamic character. At the outset of the story, he is a lonely, grumpy, and conniving character who hates and eventually steals Christmas. However, by the end of the story, he changes. He returns Christmas to the Whos, his heart grows three sizes, and he learns meaning for the season (joy, peace, love).

Flat: a flat character has one or two traits that can be summarized in a few sentences

Foil: a character whose traits are the opposite of those of the major character

Because of this, the foil (who is often a side-kick) highlights the traits of that major character, as in the following example:

Example:

Max (the dog) in Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas is a tender and loving animal, which highlights the cruelty of the Grinch.

Motivation: the incentive or the reason that causes a character to act

Example:

In Dr. Seuss The Grinch who Stole Christmas , the Grinch creates a Santa suit, dresses Max as a reindeer, and steals from the Whos all because he is motivated to stop Christmas from coming.

Round: a round character is complex and has several traits, both good and bad

Static character: a character who stays the same from the beginning to the ending of the story

This character is not involved significantly in the drama or crisis of the story and, therefore, experiences minimal, if any, changes or developments.

Example:

Cindy-Loo Who, in Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas is a static character. She is as kind and generous at the end of the story as she is when the readers first meet her.

Stock: a stock character is a stereotypical character that occurs so often in fiction that his or her nature is known immediately

Sympathetic versus Unsympathetic character

A sympathetic character is one the audience favours.

The readers want this character to achieve his or her goals.

An unsympathetic character is one the audience does not favour.

The readers want this character not to achieve his or her goals. When stories are told from a first person point of view, the narrator, as the protagonist, is often a sympathetic character because it is his or her story that we hear.

Example:

Because he is a dynamic character, the Grinch, in Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas is first unsympathetic when he wants to steal Christmas and then, later, he becomes sympathetic when he is returning Christmas.

Traits: adjectives which define your personality, your underlying values and your beliefs. Traits are actions, attitudes and behaviours you possess.

Characterization: the process authors use to make the character seem “alive” to readers; is developed as the story progresses

Climax: the dramatic turning point in a story

This does not have to be the point of highest action; rather, you can define the climax as the point when the reader knows how the conflict will be resolved.

Example:

In Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas , when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes and he realizes the true meaning of Christmas, the story has reached its turning point. The readers know that the Grinch is no longer working to stop Christmas from coming.

Colloquial: informal phrases or expressions that might not be understood everywhere the language is spoken

Examples of colloquial language include slang, jargon, and dialect.

Complication: unexpected development(s) that complicate a situation and contribute to the rise in action of the story

Example:

When Cindy Loo Who wakes in the middle of the night and finds the Grinch (Santy Clause) stealing her family's Christmas Tree, the Grinch is faced with a complication, an unexpected development.

Conflict: the problem in a story that the characters have to work out, making up the main part of a story's plot

There are three types of external conflicts in which the source or antagonist in a conflict comes from outside the character. There is one type of internal conflict in which the source of the conflict is within the character.

Examples:

External Conflicts

Character versus character: Two people with opposing goals and ideas.

Character versus society: A person versus the government, traditions, or some other aspect of society.

Character versus nature: A person struggles to survive a brutal winter storm, a flood, or some other force of nature.

Internal Conflicts

Character versus self: A person is challenged by an emotional conflict such as his or her own pride or fear.

Conclusion or Dénouement: a final wrap-up of all loose ends in the story; the ending

Example:

When the Grinch, in Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas, gathers with the Whos to sing around the tree and enjoy the Christmas feast, the readers know that the story is over.

Context: a statement or word that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.

Costumes: clothes worn by someone who is trying to look like a different person or thing

Dialect: a variation of a language used by people from a particular geographic area

Example:

Most Americans pronounce "z" as Zee . I've grown up saying Zed as do most Canadians.

Dialogue: a quoted conversation between two or more people

In a novel, dialogue is one means an author uses to describe the characters as well as to reveal the events in the story. What the characters say can reveal much about themselves and others.

Diction: specific words chosen for denotative or connotative effect

Drama/play: narrative intended to be performed and viewed by an audience

Dystopia: a frightening future society

Ending: a categorization of the events (resolution and dénouement) that occurs at the end of a story

To determine the type of ending presented, a reader must step into the shoes of the protagonist and determine how he or she might view the ending. The ending is not determined by the reader's point of view!

Story endings are considered in four categories:

happy ending: The major conflict is resolved in the protagonist's favour. The protagonist has reached his or her goal.

unhappy ending: The major conflict is not resolved in the protagonist's favour. The protagonist has not reached his or her goal.

surprise ending: Unexpected events occur at the end of the story.

indeterminate ending: The reader is left hanging because the author does not reveal how a major conflict is resolved.

**Important Note** An ending can be categorized as both surprise and happy, or surprise and unhappy.

Also, when determining the type of ending presented, one must give attention to the protagonist's goal. Often, the goal of the protagonist may change during the story, which would affect the decision of whether that character's goal has been reached.

Exaggeration (overstatement): Exaggeration intensifies some aspect of a character or situation, such as a physical trait, a behaviour, or manner of speech

Exposition: introduction of the reader to background information

This is the beginning of the story where the reader meets the major characters and the initial setting. In fairy tales, the exposition is followed by the lines "Once upon a time...".

Fable: a short and deceptively simple story whose characters are usually animals.

Falling action: events of the plot that lead to the resolution of the conflict

This is the action that occurs after the climax or turning point of the story, as in this example:

Example:

In Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the falling action occurs when the Grinch tries to return Christmas. He has to travel safely down the mountain with all the food, decorations, and presents that he stole the night before.

Fiction: a genre of literature with imaginary or made-up characters and plot

Flashback: the insertion of an earlier event into the time order of a story

Flashforward: a technique that shifts ahead to an incident in the future; explains a character's actions or feelings

Foreshadowing: a technique an author uses to create suspense; the author gives the reader hints about things to come

Example:

It was like a reprieve of some kind, I think now.The calm before the storm . (p. 32, What They Don't Know, Horrocks)

Genre: a category of literature

Examples include adventure, historical fiction, science fiction, realistic fiction, romance, fantasy, and mystery.

Hyperbole: exaggeration or overstatement used deliberately for effect

Note the highlighted exaggeration in the following quotations.

In the first, the speaker was not actually dying from anticipation.
In the second, the lady referred to was merely a kind and generous woman.

Examples:

Will you open the stupid thing? The suspense is killing me . (p.175, Who Is Francis Rain?, Buffie)

As far as he's concerned, she's a saint . (p.36, Peacekeepers, Linden)

Idiom: an expression whose meaning is different from the literal meaning

In the first example, the dad ended looking innocent; he did not actually smell like a rose.
In the second example, Mikey started to become quiet; his desire to fight had lessened.

Examples:

Dad came out of the whole thing smelling like a rose , of course. (p.14, The Tuesday Café, Trembath)

Mikey is quiet for a minute, like he's run out of steam . (p.33, Peacekeepers, Linden)

Imagery: vivid descriptions, figures of speech, or objects used to create mental pictures or to appeal to the senses and emotions

Example:

The soft, even light of the early morning was transformed into an almost painful brilliance. I turned my face to the sun, felt its warm hands on my cheeks, breathed in the crisp evergreen air.

Inferring: filling in the blank or finding the missing pieces

Initial incident: one action or incident that acts as a catalyst for the major conflict; it sparks the story and gets the action going

Example:

The initial incident of Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas is the Grinch having his awful idea and begins his plan to steal Christmas. Until this point, the readers were learning about the characters and setting (the exposition) of the story.

Irony: a twist in what is said or in what happens; irony has an element of surprise, or of things not being quite as they seem.

Verbal irony involves a character saying one thing but really meaning another.
Dramatic irony involves a character thinking events will turn out one way, but the reader knows the character is mistaken
Situational irony involves the outcome of a situation being different from what both the characters and the readers expect.

Examples:

calling someone an "honest man" (when the audience knows the character is not honest) -Verbal Irony
a character walks into a house where the audience knows a killer is lurking inside -Dramatic Irony

an Olympic swimmer drowns in the bathtub. - Situational Irony

Moral: lesson

Narration: storytelling or the recounting of a series of events arranged in a particular order and delivered by a narrator to an audience or reader

It describes what the characters do and how they behave and tells a great deal about their personalities. An author may also use narration to describe a character's physical appearance. See also point of view.

Narrative: a fiction or nonfiction story that has a beginning, middle, and an end

Narrator: a participating character who interprets information about events and other characters for the reader

A narrator cannot be trusted fully, and is referred to as an unreliable narrator.

Parody: similar to satire in that they both make people or ideas seem foolish to criticize those people or idea, but parody does so by imitation

When you imitate your sister's voice, repeating what she's said, you are parodying her.
When you walk behind your brother, copying his movements and gestures, you are using parody to make fun of him.

Plot: the series of actions and conflicts that make up a story

The plot is comprised of the

exposition
initial incident
rising action and complications
climax
falling action
resolution, and dénouement.

Essentially, the plot is the whole story.

Point of View: the voice of the story or the position of a story's narrator; how much a narrator knows about the character's thoughts and the story's outcome

Note: Unless you are reading an autobiography, the author of the story is not the narrator.

There are three types of point of view:

objective or dramatic The writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel; thus, the story-teller remains a detached observer
first person The story is limited to the narrator's point of view. The narrator uses me , and my to narrate the story. The recounting of the story might not be objective due to the narrator's involvement; therefore, it is the most unreliable point of view. (Remember that the author has created the story-teller!)
third person - The narrator does not participate in the story, but he or she lets us know exactly how the characters feel. We learn about the characters through this outside voice. The narrator uses she they him her them his her or their to narrate the story. The narrator controls all, and he or she chooses to tell us as much or as little as he or she chooses. Examples: first person: I disappeared on the night before my twelfth birthday. July 28, 1988. Only now can I at last tell the whole extraordinary story, the true story. (p.1, Kensuke's Kingdom, Morpurgo). third person: At first Maia had tried to defend Clovis and make them see what the mishap had meant to him. But soon she gave up. (p.88, Journey to the River Sea, Ibbotson)

Prologue: introductory chapter

Pronoun: a word that acts in place of a noun (represents a person, place, or thing)

Example:

She was a happy child.

Props: objects carried or handled by the actors (these might be purses, basketballs, telephones, tennis racquets, books, or shopping bags, for example.)

Protagonist: usually the main and dynamic character

The protagonist does not have to be the good guy; rather, the goal that this character wants to achieve serves as the basis for the action of the story.

Example:

In Dr. Seuss's story, The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the Grinch is the obvious bad guy, yet he is also the protagonist. As the main character of the story that has a goal to achieve, he wants to stop Christmas from coming.

Quotations: statements taken word-for-word from their source -- and acknowledged as such

Quoting from a source is one method of supporting your ideas and offering examples of your points. Direct quotes from a novel, for example, can be statements made by the narrator or they can be dialogue (statements made by characters).

Resolution: solution or ending of the problems or conflicts in a story

Example:

In Dr. Seuss's The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the conflict is resolved when the Grinch changes his mind. He no longer wants to stop Christmas, and instead, he works to undo the damage he has done.

Rising action: a series of complication (See also complication)

Sarcasm: also referred to as verbal irony ; type of humour; means the opposite of the word(s) used

Most often, sarcasm is used when speakers are intending to be rude or to mock the person to whom they are speaking.

Examples:

Maybe it was kindergarten. I don't seem to recall any difficulties there. I guess maybe you're right, Mom. I'm sorry. I have done well at school before in kindergarten. I did well. I learned my alphabet and everything. (p. 76, The Tuesday Café, Trembath)

Did you hear me reading? he asks. Do owls have ears? I answer back. (p. 43, Peacekeepers, Linden)

Satire: a style of writing in which the writer makes fun of people or ideas to criticize them

Often, this takes the form of making the people or ideas seem silly or foolish.

Sentence errors: errors to be avoided in your formal writing

However, often authors use sentence errors in their writing to add effect to emphasize an idea or to develop a character.

Sentence fragments: incomplete sentences missing a subject, a predicate, or a complete thought

Example:

Today, for example. (p.6, A Single Shard,Park)

Run-on sentences: two or more sentences incorrectly or inappropriately joined as one

Example:

Man, they were death-ray eyes, and I think, hey, that's him, the robot boy, and it was like whoa! because Id forgotten all about him, daycare was a blank place in my head, and nobody had called me Kicker for a long time. (p.3, Freak the Mighty, Philbrick)

Sentence comma splice errors - similar to a run-on; two complete sentences have been joined incorrectly by a comma

Example:

Work gives a man dignity, stealing takes it away. (p.6, A Single Shard,Park)

Sentence types: basic sentence structure types include simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

Short, simple sentences can create a feeling of tension or drama, or they can speed the action of the story to create a sense of danger or excitement.

Examples:

Dad woke up four days later. He opened his eyes. He knew who we were. (p.236, What They Don't Know, Horrocks)

The bow plunged. The deck bucked. He fired all the same. The shot went wide and in a rage he flung the pistol at me. (p.204, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi)

Long, compound or complex descriptive sentences are used to slow the action of a story, to relieve the feeling of suspense, or to allow detailed description of the scene.

Examples:

The pillow of fluid that had formed on his palm during the long hours of wielding the axe had burst. Blood ran from the wound, mixing with dirt and small bits of bark. Tree-ear stared at it, and he could not stop the tears that pressed hot behind his eyes. (p.21, A Single Shard, Park)

Script: written basis of a play divided into acts and scenes

Set: materials on the stage that suggest the setting (these might be pieces of furniture, painted backgrounds, or plants, for example.)

Setting: place and time in which the action of a story occurs

Specific aspects of setting include where the story occurs:

place such as continent, country, province/region/state, city or town, urban or rural
physical building
time in history (era, century, decade)
time of year (seasonal, holidays)
time of month or week (full moon, Sunday, etc.)
time of day (morning, afternoon, evening, etc.)
specific dates or times
special occasions (weddings, funerals, birthdays, etc.)
length of time including the events ( day, month, few hours, 20 years, etc.)

Example:

In the candlelight I could see that much of the furniture was cracked. Many legs had splints. Upholstery was water stained. Frames on the walls hung crookedly. Some had pictures missing. (p.200, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi)

Stage directions: tell the director and actors

what to do as they speak
give hints how actors should say their lines

Subjective: personal taste or belief

Sub plot: a secondary plot in a novel or play

Suspense: technique used to make the reader anxious to learn how the characters will respond to something unexpected

Symbolism: the use of a simple object or picture to represent a more complicated or abstract idea or feeling

Examples:

Doves represent peace.

Flags represent patriotism. A storm could represent turmoil.

Theme: the point of a piece of writing; the author's message

Although a short story generally has only one theme, a novel may have several.

Be careful not to confuse theme with topic. Love is not a theme; it is a topic.
The theme is what the author has to say about a topic(s). For example, the author might mean that love helps people to do great things.

In the following example, the family is the topic, but the quoted statement reveals the theme.

I think that's what a real family does, somehow becomes stronger and better when things are worse. (p.236, What They Don't Know, Horrocks)

Tone: the author's attitude toward the subject that he or she is writing about

The following quotation offers an example of a negative and discouraged tone.

Example:

So now I'm an explorer all of a sudden. What does she want me to do, seek new frontiers? Boldly go where no kid my age has ever gone before? It's a stupid story I wrote in a stupid writing class. (p. 75, The Tuesday Café, Trembath)