Short Story Vocab

Front 1

allegory

Back 1

a narrative in which characters and settings stand for abstract ideas or moral qualities

Front 2

ambiquity

Back 2

an element of uncertainty in a text in which something can be interpreted in a number of ways

Front 3

character

Back 3

person in poem or play

Front 4

protagonist

Back 4

the nice person in the story; the one you root for in the story

Front 5

antagonist

Back 5

the bad guy in the story; the one the reader usually doesn't like

Front 6

round character

Back 6

has many different character traits, which sometimes contradict one another

Front 7

flat character

Back 7

has only one or two traits and these can be described in a few words

Front 8

static character

Back 8

one who does not change much in the course of the story

Front 9

dynamic character

Back 9

changes as a result of the story's events

Front 10

foil

Back 10

a character who is used to contrast another character

Front 11

characterization

Back 11

when a character's personality is revealed

Front 12

indirect characterization

Back 12

allow you to observe characters in action

Front 13

1. dialogue
2. appearance
3. private thoughts
4. how other characters in the story feel about them
5. action

Back 13

methods of indirect characterization

Front 14

direct characterization

Back 14

writers plainly tell us about the people who inhabit their fictional worlds

Front 15

conflict

Back 15

struggle or clash between opposing characters or forces

Front 16

external conflict

Back 16

character struggles against an outside force
1. person vs. nature
2. person vs. person
3. person vs. society

Front 17

internal conflict

Back 17

conflict within characters own hear and mind
person vs. self

Front 18

flashback

Back 18

scene in a movie, play, short story, novel, narrative or poem that interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time

Front 19

foreshadowing

Back 19

use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in a plot

Front 20

irony

Back 20

contrast between expectation and reality between what is said and what is really meant, between what is expected to happen and what really does

Front 21

verbal irony

Back 21

a writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different

Front 22

situational irony

Back 22

occurs when there is a contrast between what would seem appropriate and what really happens or when there is a contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does take place

Front 23

dramatic irony

Back 23

occurs when the audience or the reader knows something important that a character in a play doesn't know

Front 24

mood(atmosphere)

Back 24

affects the way we feel created by a writers words choice and by details of setting

Front 25

narrator

Back 25

the voice telling a story

Front 26

unreliable narrator

Back 26

biased about or ignorant of what has actually occurred

Front 27

plot

Back 27

series of related events that make up a story or drama

Front 28

exposition (basic situation)

Back 28

part of the story in which the basic situation is outlined and the characters and main conflict are introduced

Front 29

initial incident

Back 29

introduction of a conflict

Front 30

rising action

Back 30

chain of events that takes place as the main characters struggle to achieve his or her goal

Front 31

climax

Back 31

the point of highest emotional intensity; sometimes the point where we learn the outcome of the conflict

Front 32

resolution(denouement)

Back 32

events following the climax in which many remaining issues are resolved

Front 33

point of view

Back 33

vantage point from which a writer tells a story

Front 34

omniscient point of view

Back 34

the narrator is not a story character and almost never refers to himself or herself directly

Front 35

first-person point of view

Back 35

a character in the story who talks to us, using the first-person pronoun

Front 36

third-person point of view

Back 36

plays no part in the story he or she just tells it

Front 37

satire

Back 37

type of writing that ridicules something a person, a group of people humanity at large, an altitude or failing, a social institution--in order to reveal a weakness

Front 38

setting

Back 38

the time and place of a story or play

Front 39

short story

Back 39

short, concentrated fictional prose narrative

Front 40

suspense

Back 40

uncertainty or anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen next

Front 41

symbol

Back 41

can be a person, place, thing or event that stands for something beyond itself
Ex: bald eagle to the USA

Front 42

theme

Back 42

central idea of a work of literature

Front 43

tone

Back 43

attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character, or the audience

Front 44

voice

Back 44

the writer's or speaker's distinctive use of language in a text