8631367046 | Archetype | A pattern or model of an action, a character type, or an image that recurs consistently enough in life and literature to be considered universal. Ex: the quest story, the wise old man, the witch, the seductress | 0 | |
8631367047 | Characterization | The method by which an author creates the appearance and personality of imaginary persons. The author may choose to tell the reader what a character is like through narration, show what a character is like through actions and dialogue, or have the character reveal him/herself through inner thoughts. | 1 | |
8631367048 | Confidant | Someone with whom the protagonist talks, enabling the audience or reader to become aware of the protagonist's motivation. Dori is Nemo's confidante in Finding Nemo. | 2 | |
8631367049 | Dystopia | An undesirable imaginary story. Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's Brave New World. | 3 | |
8631367050 | Flat Character | A character who can be summed up with one or two traits. | 4 | |
8631367051 | Intrusive Narrator | A storyteller who keeps interrupting the story to address the reader. Ex. Michael in the Office. | 5 | |
8631367052 | Motif | A recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation that appears throughout a work. Ex. Numbers in Life of Pi. | 6 | |
8631367053 | Motivation | The psychological and moral impulses and external circumstances that cause a character to act, think, or feel a certain way. | 7 | |
8631367054 | Naive narrator | The teller of the story is uncomprehending (a child or simple-minded adult) who tells a story without revealing its true implications. Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. | 8 | |
8631367055 | Narrative Voice | The attitude, personality, or character of the storyteller or narrator (NOT the author) as it is revealed through dialogue or descriptive and narrative commentary. The narrator in life of pi happens to be the journalist. | 9 | |
8631367056 | Point of view | The vantage point, or stance, from which a story is told; the eye and mind through which the action is perceived and filtered, sometimes called narrative perspective. | 10 | |
8631367057 | First person | The story is told by one of its characters, using the first person pronoun "I" which does not give the reader insight into other characters' motives or thoughts. | 11 | |
8631367058 | Third person objective | The author limits him/herself to reporting what the characters say or do; he or she does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings. | 12 | |
8631367059 | Third person omniscient | The author knows all (godlike) and is free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do. | 13 | |
8631367060 | Third person limited omniscient | The author limits him/herself to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tells us only what that one character feels, thinks, sees, or hears. | 14 | |
8631367061 | Reliability | The extent to which a narrator can be trusted or believed. The closer the narrator is to the story, the more his or her judgment will be influenced by forces in the story. | 15 | |
8631367062 | Round character | A character whose personality is complex, realistic, and many-sided. | 16 | |
8631367063 | Subplot | A secondary series of events that are subordinate to the main story; a story within a story. | 17 | |
8631367064 | Suspense | A quality that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events. | 18 | |
8631367065 | Suspension of disbelief | The demand made of an audience to provide some details with their imagination and to accept the limitations of reality and staging; also the acceptance of the incidents of a plot by a reader. The figure posing for photos at disney isn't actually mickey mouse. | 19 | |
8631367066 | Symbol | Anything that stands for or represents something else beyond itself | 20 | |
8631367067 | Theme | The statement made about life, human nature, or values in a work of literature. | 21 | |
8631367068 | Utopia | A desirable imaginary society. | 22 |
AP Literature Fictional Terms Flashcards
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