Unit 1: Modern Novel Flashcards
(34 cards)
Allegory
A story with two parallel and consistent levels of meaning, one literal and one figurative; rather like a parable.
Antagonist
The opponent or enemy of the main character (protagonist)
Archetype
An idea, symbol, pattern, or character type, in a story. It’s any story element that appears again and again in stories from cultures around the world and symbolizes something universal in the human experience
Conflict
A struggle between opposing forces. A conflict may be external (between the character and another person, society, nature, or technology) or internal (a struggle within the character).
Dynamic character
A character who undergoes a significant internal change over the course of a story. This may be a change in understanding, values, insight, etc.
Focalised narrative
Focalisation is when the narrative particularly follows and gives the perspective of a single character (or perhaps a single group of characters). So, for instance, if a chapter of a story describes a bad day at Jim’s office from Jim’s point of view, then one can say that the narrative in that chapter is focalised on Jim.
Idiom
A phrase that conveys a figurative meaning different from the words established by usage E.g. “kick the bucket” is an idiom for “death.” “over the moon” is an idiom for excited/thrilled.
Major character
A main or important character; a character who plays a large role in a story. Major characters usually face some sort of obstacle, and they will be present throughout all, or almost all, of a story. A story can have one major character or several.
Flashback
A scene in a story that occurred before the present time in the story. Flashbacks provide background information about events happening during the current narration. They may be presented as memories, dreams, or stories of the past told by characters.
Minor character
A character who does not play a large role in a story. Minor characters usually do not face any obstacles during the course of the story, and they usually do not change during the course of a story. The reader does not usually learn much about minor characters. They are just there for the major characters to interact with and to help advance the plot.
Mood
The feeling the reader gets from a work of literature. Another way to describe a story’s mood is atmosphere. For example, the mood could be calm, creepy, romantic, sad or tense. Authors create mood through word choice, imagery, dialogue, setting, and plot. The mood can stay the same from the beginning to the end of a story, or it can change.
Novel
An extended narrative in prose. Typically the novel relates to a series of events or follows the history of a character or group of characters through a period of time.
Plot
The sequence of events in a story. The plot includes the opening event (what happens at the beginning/ the main problem that the main character faces), the rising action (what happens to intensify the problem), the climax (when the problem reaches its most intense point and begins to be resolved), the falling action (what happens to solve the problem), and the resolution (how things end).
Protagonist
The main or central character of a work of literature. Usually, the main character is involved in a conflict or struggle with the antagonist.
Setting
The environment in which the story takes place, including the time period, the location, and the physical characteristics of the surroundings.
Static character
A character who does not undergo a significant change over the course of a story.
Theme
A story’s main message or moral or emotional concern.
Independent clause
A clause that makes complete sense by itself. It has one subject and one verb. (E.g. I enjoy sitting by the fireplace and reading.)
Subject
The person or the thing doing the action
Dependent clause
A clause that does not make sense on its own. (e.g. I went on on my bike that Mary gave me for my birthday)
Relative clause
A form of dependent clause. It is called ‘relative’ because the information it contains ‘relates’ directly back to the immediately preceding noun or phrase. (e.g. Let’s go to a country where the sun always shines)
Simple sentence
A sentence that consists of just one independent clause (e.g. The child laughed)
Compound sentence
A sentence that joins two simple sentences (or independent clauses) together using a conjunction. (e.g. It stopped raining, so I went to the park.)
Complex sentence
A sentence that has both an independent clause (makes sense by itself and can stand alone) and a dependent clause (does not make sense by itself and cannot stand alone). (e.g. I’m happy because we went out for lunch)
