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The central character of a narrative, the character through whom the lesson of the story is learned

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Protagonist

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A comparison of two items using "like" or "as"

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Simile

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The vantage point from which a story is told (first and third person)

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Point of View

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Another significant meaning of a word, often steeped in symbol or feeling

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Connotation

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The manner by which an author develops a character within a narrative

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Characterization

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The spoken words of two or more character within a narrative

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Dialogue

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The picture in your mind that the words from the page create; can be figurative, symbolic, or literal

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Imagery

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An EVENT where the opposite of what's expected happens

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Situational Irony

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When the reader or audience knows something a character does not know, and that knowledge in important to the flow of events

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Dramatic Irony

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Represents and enforces principle reality. Oriented towards perceptions in the real world and associated with reason and sanity

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Ego

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A narrative which tells the story of a real moment in history but embellishes it at least slightly (factual, dated)

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Historical Fiction

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The main idea of a work of literature; the message is the author sending to the reader

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Theme

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A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

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Paradigm

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A regional variety of language, often with distinct accents and usage, including but not limited to whole phrases

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Dialect

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A psychological aspect where a child, usually male, has strong, even desirous feelings for the parent of the opposite sex

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Oedipus Complex

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The EXPLICIT meaning of a word or a particular meaning of a symbol

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Denotation

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A reference to another work of literature or to a part of another work of literature or to a moment in history

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Allusion

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The struggle between two opposing forces in a piece of literature, which the story is built around- The forces are the protagonist and the antagonist

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Conflict

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The time and the place of the action of the story

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Setting

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The releasing of certain emotions in the audience: a feeling of pity and hatred for the actions of the tragic hero

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Catharsis

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A division within the drama, usually seen as the "chapter" of a novel

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Act

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A truthful account of the life of a person, as told and written by that person

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Autobiography

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The attitude the author has toward the work, displayed through the language being used

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Tone

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A local variation of language, as in a word or phrase, found within particular dialects

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Colloquialism

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A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true

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Paradox

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A character who undergoes growth and development during the literary work in which he/she resides

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Dynamic Character

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A character of one dimension and personality trait who remains unchanged by the events of the literary work in which he/she resides

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Static Character

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A truthful account of the life a person, told and written by another person

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Biography

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A small division of drama within an act, usually of the same setting as the act, but not by definition

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Scene

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A conventional and oversimplified opinion or belief about a person or group of people who may share similar characteristics; taking one characteristic of an individual and spreading that characteristic over the group that individual belongs to

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Stereotype

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The quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and responsibility, probity; goodness

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Virtue

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An evil, degrading or immoral practice of habit; a serious moral failing

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Vice

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A character w/ different traits and aspects of personality but who neither grows nor changes during the literary work in which he resides

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Complex Character

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The part of the personality which acts as a moral monitor to the behaviors of the individual. It is the faculty that seeks to police what it deems unacceptable desires; it represent all moral restrictions

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Superego

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Using the words of a source directly, in a word-for-word borrowing

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Direct Quotation

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The events which make up a story line, in order of their happening

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Plot

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The language used by the writer, as well as the narrative techniques used, working together to form the full aspect of the printed material in front of us

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Style

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The third person narrator who sees all and know all -even the thoughts- about the character of the story

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Omniscient

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That force which restores order within a tragedy, named for the goddess of retributive justice

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Nemesis

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A comparison of unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'

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Metaphor

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A contrast between what is stated and what is meant; there are verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony

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Irony

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To use details and images to hint at events to come in the narrative

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Foreshadow

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The separation of an intellectual whole into its component parts in order to better understand and to reach a truth

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Analysis

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Using the words of the author, though not in a direct, word-for-word borrowing

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Indirect Quotation

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To put the words of the author into your own words

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Paraphrase

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A prose fictional narrative containing all the elements of a novel but much shorter

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Novella

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A person of noble birth whose personal destruction is in some way involved w/ the well being of his/her world and who faces a battle of morals; her/his destruction comes from a flaw with his/her personality

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Tragic Hero

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The act of outcome of grasping the inward or hidden nature of things which in turn tells the grasper a significant message about herself/himself; makes the learning personal, owned

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Insight

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The unbroken flow of thought and awareness of the waking mind; a special mode of narration that undertakes to capture the full spectrum and the continuous flow of a character's mental processes

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Stream-of-consciousness

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The body of principles and theory having to do with the presentation of the facts and ideas in clear, convincing, and attractive language

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Rhetoric

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Appealing to persona considerations rather than to logic or reason

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Ad hominem

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Involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by facts

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A priori

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A selection of writing which contains an unusual piling up devices in such a way as to evidence a self-conscious literary effort; a colorful passage standing out from the writing around it

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Purple patch

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The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive

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Euphemism

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When an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed.

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Apostrophe

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Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions

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Dichotomy

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A literary work, usually a drama, which deals with human themes; several elements are involved: hamartia, hubris, catharsis, nemesis; in a tragedy, a hero will fall due to elements within the personality

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Tragedy

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Excessive pride, especially found within the tragic hero

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Hubris

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The interests or flavor of a specific locality as expressed in a story through language

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Local color

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The story of a fictional or actual events as told by the teller

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Narrative

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A factual representation, conforming to nature, especially in art and literature

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Naturalism

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A truthful representation, with an inclination toward pragmatism, that is accurate to life's xpression

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Realism

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A fictional prose, dealing essentially with a single conflict, which can be read in a single session

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Short Story

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The concept that pleasure is the only thing that matters and any manner of attaining it is fine; often this is the role of the Id, the earliest part of the developing personality

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Pleasure Principle

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The function which monitors the Id; the concept that some things are more important than immediate pleasure, namely, the continuation of pleasure after the initial gaining of it.

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Reality Principle

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The point in the story after the conflict is resolved

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Denouement

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A full-length work of fiction that is written in dialogue, meant to be performed upon a stage

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Drama

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Stopping the flow of the narrative to return to a setting or even earlier in the tale, even to events that predate the earliest part of the plot

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Flashback

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The tragic flaw of a tragic hero; that which will make the hero fall; this needs to be a trait that is generally considered a good thing

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Hamartia

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The words the author uses to fully detail a place or thing; these words will bring pictures to the mind

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Description

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Something which stands for and represents itself but also stands for something much greater than itself

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Symbol

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The point in the story when the conflict is resolved- where we know who wins this conflict, the protagonist or the antagonist

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Climax

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A full-length prose fiction where the narrative is the chief story-telling element and several conflicts, settings, and characters will dwell

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Novel

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A structural arrangement of parts of a sentence, sentences, paragraphs, and larger units of composition by which one element of equal importance with another is similarly developed and phrased

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Parallelism

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False emotionalism in writing resulting in a too impassioned description of nature; it is the carrying over to inanimate objects the moods and passions of a human being

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Pathetic Fallacy

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A deliberate display of emotion for effect

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Histrionics

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A biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)

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Hagiography

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Of or pertaining to, or conforming to, the mode of expression peculiar to a language

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Idiomatic

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Substituting a word for another word closely associated with it

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Metonymy

Literary Vocabulary Word List – Flashcards

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