AP Literature Prose Terms Review

he resolution or conclusion of a literary work

the appearance of a comic situation or character in the midst of a serious action.

a protagonist who lacks one or more of the conventional qualities attributed to a hero.

 a discrepancy between what is expect to happen and what actually happens 

the events in a narrative that follow the climax and bring the story to its conclusion

a naive or childlike narrator

the intended meaning is the opposite of its literal meaning, discrepancy between what is said and what is meant 

the direct representation of conversation between two or more characters.

a Latin phrase meaning “in the midst of things”

the time and place of a literary work.

narrative in verse or prose in which the literal elements- character-consistently point to a parallel sequence of ideas

a brief, sometimes indirect reference in a text to a person, place, thing or prior text, be it fictitious or actual.

a person, place, or thing in a narrative that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense.

plot construction, the technique of arranging events and information in such a way that subsequent doings are prepared

the central struggle between two or more forces in a literary work.

a character with only one prominent trait.

an unsatisfying and trivial turn of events in a literary work that occurs in place of a genuine climax.

 a scene in a narrative that recounts a prior event.

a stereotypical character that occurs frequently in literature.

the prevailing topic or issue conspicuously running through a literary work.

a narrator that knows the inner workings of one character

a character who, during the course of the narrative, grows or changes in some significant way.

character that tells story providing readers w/ information and insight about characters and incidents in the narrative.

a person represented in a narrative or drama.

a character with the opposite traits of the protagonist; the contrast reveals themes in text

the basic definition of “____” is, simply, “a quality or state of indistinctness, equivocation, or duality”

the perspective from which a story is told (first person, second person, third person, omniscient, unreliable, ... 

the central character in a literary work.

narration that is unbiased; like a camera

the audience/reader knows something that a character(s) does not 

the thing that opposes the protagonist in a narrative or drama.

 the moment of greatest intensity in a story or drama

part of the narrative in which events start moving toward a climax.

the opening portion of a narrative.

 modern narration that employs literary devices, esp. interior monologue, in an attempt to duplicate the subjective

 a recurring symbol, character, landscape, or event found in myth and literature across different cultures and eras.

an element that recurs significantly throughout a narrative.

a complex character who is presented in depth and detail in a narrative.

anxiety created in readers and audiences by the author’s handling of plot.

the particular arrangement of events, actions, and situations in a narrative.