2201/3201 Narrative Terms

A character whose qualities or actions serve to emphasize those of another character

A brief story or account of a single incident without the elaboration

A reference in a literary work that identifies the passage of time.

When hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story are given.

Point of view in which the speaker knows and reveals everything (thoughts) about the characters

A series of difficulties forming the central action in a narrative.

The main character in a literary work.

Point of view in which the speaker uses 'I"

The struggle between two opposing forces within a work.

A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are symbolic

The events in a story that builds up to the climax.

The point of view in which the speaker's knowledge of a character is limited.

The perspective established by the narrator/speaker of a literary work.

A moment of enlightenment that may be caused by an everyday event or occurrence.

The time, place and circumstances of a literary work that establishes its context.

A recurring important idea or image in a literary work.

The author's arrangement of events that make up the action of a story.

An object/action in a literary work that stands for something beyond itself.

The voice and implied speaker of a fictional work.

An interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an event from the past

Occurs when the audience is aware of information that characters are not.

Point of view in which the speaker addresses the protagonist directly as "you"

Speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant. Sarcasm!

When something is expected to happen but the opposite occurs.

Follows the climax and leads to the resolution and a sharp decline in dramatic tension.

Follows the falling action and pulls together all the loose threads of the story;

The excited anticipation of an approaching climax.

A secondary or subordinate plot, as in a play, novel, or other literary work

The background material about the characters, setting, and dramatic situation. Occurs early.

The central observation about life or the human condition explored in a text.