Literature 1 Table of Terminology

Category Term Definition Examples

Exposition Beginning of the story; the author has set up who the Marlin and Nemo, who are fish in the big ocean.
characters are and where it takes place.
(Movie example: findimg nemo)

Inciting incident The event that sets the rest of the story in motion. Nemo gets kidnapped by a human.
PLOT (Freytag’s pyramyd)

Rising action Not one specific even, but a series of happening that Marlin and Dory escape sharks, an angelfish, ride with
builds up the story. turtles, hop on jellyfish and taken in by a whale.
Climax The most exciting part of the story; a big reveal or a After traveling through the ocean they find Nemo.. but
dramatic change. think he’s dead.
Falling action Events which are the result of the climax. Marlin goes home depressed. Nemo escaped the tank to
go after his dad.
Resolution The problem or conflict of the story gets dealt with. Marlin and Nemo get reunited.
Foreshadowing Hinting to an event in a story before it happens. When Marlin talks to the teacher Nemo looks at the boat,
hinting at him swimming towards it, or even hinting at the
boat being a part of the plot.
Internal A struggle happening in someone’s mind. Telling yourself to do your homework while convincing
yourself that the game you’re playing is too good to stop.
External A struggle between a person and someone or something You wanting your partner to put the toilet seat down, but
else your partner keeps leaving it up.
Person vs self A person having to overcome a struggle with themself to Mentally going back and forth with yourself to figure out if
reach their goal; an internal conflict. you want to go to a party or not.
Person vs person A person having a struggle with another person. You wanting to go to a part but someone tries to prevent
you from going to it.
CONFLICT

Person vs society A person seeing something in a different way, and acts Basically Mumble in Happy feet, when he got kicked out of
upon it. the graduation party because he sung so bad.
Person vs nature A person having to overcome a struggle with nature to You wanting to go to a party, but on the way there you get
reach their goal. stuck in quicksand.
Person vs fate A person having a destiny they don’t want to fulfil You wanting to party, but your parents make you believe
that you’re not allowed to party because being a party
animal brings shame to the family.
Protagonist The main character who’s living their life. Batman.
Antagonist The enemy/rival that’s in the way of the protagonist living The Joker.
their life. It can be a character, but it can also be a group
 of people.
Flat
Round
Static
CHARACTERISATION

Dynamic
CHARACTER &

Stereotype
Hero
Anti-hero
Foil
Sympathetic
Unsympathetic
Direct characterisation
Indirect characterisation
Physical setting A setting in which you can have physical contact with. Macro: Planet, country, space. Micro: House, room,
object.
Social context The social environment which influences the character(s) Religion, social class, age, gender.
SETTING
choices, circumstances, and experiences.
Mood A temporary state of mind or feeling which creates a Happy, sad, angry.
certain atmosphere.
Imagery A visual or figurative speech description. A picture of a woman in grey, rainy weather looking at her
hotdog with a frown because its soggy.
Symbols Using an object, person, action, or other item, as a way to A heart symbolizes love, a dove symbolizes peace.
suggest or represent a larger, maybe more universal,
SYMBOLISM

meaning.
Similes Expressing comparison by using connective words such as ‘As fast as a cheetah’ or ‘sleep like a baby’
‘like’ and ‘as’
Metaphors Stating something by comparing 2 different things without Saying ‘you’re a pig’ when someone’s gross.
using ‘like’ or ‘as’
Personification Giving non-human things human characteristics My laptop decided to stop working
Onomatopoeia Saying a word that mimics what an object is doing. the cow moo’d, the machine buzzed, the bee buzzed
Narrator The person who’s telling you what’s going on. David Attenborough during nature documentaries.
POINT OF

First person reliable The narration of a person which we believe is true and
VIEW

undistorted; we can trust what they are saying. (Ex.: the

narrator is honestly describing what they’re seeing.)
First person unreliable The narration of a person which can’t fully be trusted as
 truth (Ex.: immature, lying to the viewers)
First person naive
Second person
Third person omniscient
Third person limited
omniscient
Third person objective
(familiar / unfamiliar)
Dramatic irony When the audience knows about the situation, but the A cartoon character tries to throw away a ketchup bottle
character(s) in said situation are oblivious. and is confused why they can’t let go of it. The audience
knows that the person accidentally used superglue instead
of hand lotion earlier.
Can be very simple, like Clark Kent being Superman.
Structural irony Basically the POV of the person in a dramatic irony Kid opens the fridge and sees no food. The kid thinks the
situation. food became invisible.
IRONY

A child telling her class her dog is the world’s best sleeper
cause her dog slept for two weeks. Reality is her dog’s
dead.
Situational irony A situation where the opposite of what was expected Flash the sloth from Zootopia being really good at drag
happens racing
Verbal irony Saying the opposite of what you mean. The difference Saying ‘’I love when this happens’’ after stepping on gum.
between verbal irony and sarcasm is that sarcasm has a
hint of criticism/attitude.
THEME Theme