Some Literary Terms

Literary Terms offer us the 'tools' for reading and responding to literature. Understanding not only what each term means, but how each term contributes to the overall meaning of the story is what is key. Each individual aspect of a story: the setting, the characterization, the plot, theme, symbols, and imagery, work together to produce an overall impression, and lend themselves to our interpretation of the narrative.


Plot: The series of events that make up a story:

Illustration from Linda Bloodworth, Wordpress.com

Medias Res: Literally, "in the middle of things". A writer may begin the story en medias res to focus on a specific plot point or conflict, and then will fill in details as the story progresses.

Exposition: Introduces the situation: any conflict, characterization, setting, and tone are introduced.

Climax: The point of greatest intensity in a narrative.

Suspense: The "pleasurable anxiety" the reader feels that "heightens...attention to the story," and adds to the reader's anticipation of the resolution (Kennedy/Gioia 12).

Protagonist: The main character of a story.

Antagonist: The 'bad guy,' or source of conflict (character) in a narrative.

Foreshadowing: Events in a story that drop hints to what will eventually happen.

Denouement: French word for "untying of the knot," the unraveling of the story's mystery.

Conclusion: The end of the story.

Flashback: A scene that is understood to represent a moment before the story began.

Tone: The attitude/mood of the narrator or story. Mood/tone can be accomplished through language, metaphor, and other writerly techniques and strategies.

Symbol: An object that represents another object, or idea.

Imagery: Images that the author includes to compel a feeling, attitude, or response from the reader. It's easy to confuse "image" with "symbol," as both terms refer to aspects of story that represent something else or add to the dimension of the story. "Image," though, can refer to images that add to the tone or mood of the story: a child in a red coat, for instance, as used in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, adds to the overall sense of sadness and tragedy of the Holocaust. 

Irony: A series of events that contradicts itself: when an outcome contradicts what preceded it. 

Metaphor: A comparison made without the use of "like" or "as."

Simile: A comparison using the words "like" or "as."

Setting: Where and when the story takes place. The setting might be New York City during the Great Depression; The Planet Mars in the year 3010, or Oxford, Mississippi, 1965.

Theme: "Theme" refers to the subject of the narrative, poem, play, or novel under consideration. Themes might broad terms such as "race" or "gender roles," or perhaps "regret," "revenge," "greed," or might refer to a child's coming of age, a soldier's traumatizing introduction to the horrors of war, an elder person's reflections on youth, for example.

Characterization: How a character is "built" by the author. Characterization can occur through the description of the narrator or another character, or can be revealed through dialogue.

Flat Character: One-dimensional character, usually used as filler, or part of the setting/imagery of the narrative.

Round Character: Multi-dimensional character that is more fully fleshed out and centralized.

Static Character: A character that does not undergo change.

Point of View (Perspective): The vantage point from which the story is narrated. Although there are many perspectival categories, we will limit our discussion to First Person Narrative and Third Person Omniscient (all-knowing) Narration.

Dynamic Character: A character that undergoes some sort of change--either physical, mental, emotional, or psychological, over the course of the narrative.


The Short Story
"When we evaluate a story, we consider it and place a value on it. Perhaps we decide that it is a masterpiece, or a bit of trash, or (like most of the fiction we read) a work of some value in between. No cut-and-dried method of judgment will work on every story. Still there are things we can look for in a story--usually clear indications of its author's competence" (Kennedy/Gioia 284). Even masterpieces can have flaws: "an inappropriate point of view," or "stilted dialogue" can distract us from an otherwise expertly written bit of fiction (285). However, it is the overall impression--what the reader is able to take from the narrative, how memorable it is, how timely, or how poignant--that determines the impact of the narrative on the reader. Unlike the novel, which builds character and plot line over hundreds of pages, the short story in its condensed form, must capture and retain the attention of its audience, and distill a scenario--or dramatic situation--in just a matter of pages.

The Canon:
A literary canon is a collection of works selected, usually, by a committee of writers, professors, editors, who agree on what are the most 'representative' or 'important' selections from a given culture. Usually in an anthology of American Literature, we find prominent novelists Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Jack London, Poets Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, playwrights David Mamet, Lorraine Hansberry, folklorist and essayist, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. However, canons shift over time and expand to include new and sometimes underrepresented authors. It was not until the 1960s that African American writers were included in American canons; not until the seventies and eighties were Native American, Latino/Chicano-American, and Asian-American authors included as well. So, as the canon reflects the changing attitudes and awareness of its readers, editors, and critics, so too does the literature itself. Literature reflects and comments on human interactions, experience, conflict, struggle, and triumph of its characters. It tells stories not only to delight and entertain, but to instruct and guide.

*Definitions and content borrowed from Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
Kennedy and Gioia. 9th Edition, New York: 2005