OCT 6 Flash Cards Due
OCT 16 Introduction, Part 1 DUE
OCT 30 Part 2 DUE
NOV 3 No School
NOV 13 Part 3 DUE
NOV 18 Unit 2 Summative Exam
Bradbury & The Cold War
During the time when The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury's most famous work) was published, the United States was locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union.
Between the years of 1945 and 1963, America and the USSR went through a period where each nation sought to invent and create as many technological advancements as possible to show who was more dominant in firepower and science.
Many of the anxieties that came from this period run similarly to anxieties found in the book, The Martian Chronicles.
--when nuclear war breaks out in the book, the settlers are worried for the families they left on Earth
--Americans were worried about the implications of a full-on nuclear war with the Soviets so soon after coming out of WWII.
It was a shaky period during the nation’s history, filled with high emotion and an unknown future.
The Martian Chronicles reflected that time period effectively.
Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 at the beginning of the Atomic Age and the Cold War.
On August 6 and 9, 1945 following the successful testing of an A bomb in Trinity, New Mexico, the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, resulting in its surrender and the end of WWII.
The news that the Soviet Union had its own atomic bomb in 1949 heightened the growing tension between the East and West.
The most famous reference to the growing alienation between the Soviet Union and the West came in a speech delivered
by Winston Churchill in 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill described an “iron curtain”
dividing central and Eastern Europe from the West:
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that
line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest,
Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the
Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some
cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow."
A SPEECH
Speech is the vocalized form of human communication.
Speech is researched in terms of the speech production and speech perception of the sounds used in vocal language.
Winston Churchill Speech
More about Bradbury and The Cold War...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-who-made-science-fiction-respectable.html
All Summer in A Day Questions to consider as you read...
1. What is the setting of this story? Why is it so important?
2. Why are the children so excited at the beginning of the story?
3. What does Margot remember that the other children do not?
4. What happens while Margot is in the closet?
5. From what you know of her character based on her behavior throughout the story, how do you think Margot will react when she is let out of the closet? Should Bradbury have described what happens next, or do you like the story as it is?
6. What do you think the title of Bradbury’s story means? Do you think it’s a good title? Why or why not?
10 things you need to know...
Audio Book
Vocabulary List #2 Due October 6th!
1 olfactory
2 proclivities
3 tamped
4 minstrel
5 phoenix
6 amber
7 titillation
8 odious
9 tallow
10 cacophony
11 trajectory
12 dictum
13 centrifuge
14 ravenous
15 ballistics
16 waft
17 mausoleum
18 imperceptibly
19 filigree
20 sieve
21 falter
22 welter
23 suffused
24 patronage
25 intuitively
26 arsonists
27 praetorian
28 cadenced
29 harlequin
30 aesthetic
31 contemptible
32 insidious
33 trifle
34 linguists
35 exhalation
36 dentifrice
37 oblivion
38 teem
39 ricocheted
40 penance
41 wielding
42 desolation
43 valise
44 incessantly
45 incomprehensible
46 raveled
47 séance
48 pyre
49 juggernaut
50 liquefaction
51 phosphorescent
52 perpetual
53 cardamom
Fahrenheit 451: Part I, The Hearth and the Salamander
Respond to each question in an original, supported sentence.
For Example (Fill in the blanks with support for the novel):
1. At the beginning of Part I, Montage was working as a __________________________, so he was ____________________________________.
1. What was Montag doing at the very beginning of the novel?
2. What did Montag see in the reflection of Clarisse's eyes?
3. Identify the season and time setting for this book.
4. In what way did Clarisse find Montag to be different from other firemen?
5. What did Montag's wife Mildred wear in her ears?
6. For Montag, what childhood memory was evoked from the soft, constant light of Clarisse's face?
7. Who did Montag meet outside his house, moving along on the sidewalk?
8. How old was Montag?
9. What was Clarisse's parting question to Montag?
10. Who was Mildred?
11. How did Montag feel about his job as a fireman?
12. What appliance decorated three walls in the parlor of Montag's house?
13. Why did Captain Beatty become suspicious of Montag?
14. What metaphor did the author use to create vivid images of the fire hose?
15. What treasures from the air conditioning vent did Montag share with Mildred?
16. According to Clarisse, why were their billboards two hundred feet long?
17. What did the Emergency men do when they reached Montag's house?
18. What was unusual about the fire call to Mrs. Blake's house?
19. What information concerning Clarisse did Montag learn from Mildred?
20. Why did Montag call the emergency hospital minutes after getting home?
Part II, The Sieve and the Sand
1. Where were the firemen summoned to minutes after Montag returned to the firehouse?
2. How did Mrs. Phelphs and Mrs. Bowles each react to Montag's reading of "Dover Beach"?
3. How did Faber react to Montag's initial phone call?
4. Where were the husbands of Mrs. Phelphs and Mrs. Bowles?
5. Why did the Mechanical Hound puzzle Montag when he returned to the firehouse to turn over a stolen
book to Captain Beatty?
6. Why did Faber retire from his college position at such a young age?
7. When Montag called Professor Faber at his home, what question did he ask him?
8. How did Mildred cover for her husband's rash book sharing?
9. Where had Montag obtained the book he showed Faber?
10. Whom did Montag seek out for help?
11. List three elements Faber felt were missing from their society.
12. Why did Montag seek out the help of Professor Faber?
13. Why was Faber frightened when he found Montag at this door soon after the phone call?
14. What homemade communication tool did Faber give Montag?
15. Angry, what did Montag do after he could not engage the women in a meaningful conversation?
16. What interrupted the firehouse poker game?
17. What was Mildred doing when Montag arrived home from Faber's house?
18. Why was Montag concerned about people in his society?
19. Infer who or what came to Montag's front door, scratching.
20. What book did Montag take along to Faber's house and why was Faber so awed by it?
Part III, Burning Bright
1. Led by Granger, what decision did all the homeless men make?
2. How did Montag escape the Mechanical Hound?
3. How did the camp members know their new arrival's name was Montag?
4. What safety precautions did Montag take when he reached the river?
5. Through the green bullet, what advice did Faber give Montag?
6. What concern was Mildred mumbling as she climbed into the waiting taxi?
7. After Montag set his own house ablaze, what did Beatty tell him?
8. What did Granger say they'd build first?
9. What tool did Montag use to set his own house afire?
10. After discovering the green bullet, what threat did Beatty announce?
11. When Montag reached the hobo camp, why did Granger give him a bottle of colorless fluid to drink?
12. What happened as Montag and his new friends headed south to move their camp farther from the
city?
13. Who did Beatty blame for influencing Montag's recent use of illegal books?
14. How did Montag counter Beatty's threats and taunts?
15. Why was Faber taking the bus to St. Louis?
16. What did Mildred do just as Montag and Beatty arrived?
17. Realizing Millie was killed in the bombing, why did Montag struggle to remember her?
18. What did Montag suddenly realize when he fell down in the alley, fleeing his home?
19. What did Montag gather from his home before fleeing?
20. Who lived in hobo camps, otherwise known as "walking camps"?
October 15, 2015
Review for Quiz 1
Vocabulary to KNOW:
1. cacophony
2. minstrel
3. dictum
4. waft
5. odious
6. titillation
7. tamped
8. amber
9. centrifuge
10. mausoleum
Into a graphic novel...
What is Theme?
THEME PRACTICE
Directions: read each short story and determine the theme or message in the story. Remember that a good answer will focus on big world lessons, not small world details of the story.
Even though they were sisters, Suzie and June were nothing alike. If Suzie wanted to jump rope, June wanted to play hopscotch. If June wanted to watch soap operas, Suzie wanted to watch talk shows. Tensions rose to the point that the girls could no longer stand one another’s company. It seemed that they had nothing in common, until the day that progress reports came out. While riding the bus home from school, the girls—startled by how upset the other looked—realized that they were both failing a subject. Suzie was failing math and June was failing reading. Since both girls wanted to pass their classes, they got to talking and agreed to help one another. So everyday after school for the next few weeks, Suzie tutored June in reading and then June tutored Suzie in math. By the time report cards came were distributed, Suzie and June were passing all of their classes. The girls were delighted, but their mother was happiest of all. Not just because her daughters passed their classes, but because they had learned to be good sisters.
1. What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. What happens in the story that leads you to believe this? _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
All Victor ever wanted to do with his life was be a singer. He didn’t pay attention in school and he spent all of his time at home watching music videos online and impersonating his idols. His mother tried to teach him the value of getting an education and having a backup plan, but Victor would respond the same way every time, “Mom, I won’t need to know any of that boring old stuff when I’m famous. You’ll see.” But there was one major problem with Victor’s plan: he wasn’t any good at singing. Victor wanted to be a singer so badly, that he didn’t notice the pained look on the faces of those who endured his singing. Because he wanted to be a singer so badly, when honest people told him to find something else to do with his life, he accused them of being “jealous haters” and ignored their advice. After Victor dropped out of high school to focus on his music career, the years passed and the doors never opened.
3. What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. What happens in the story that leads you to believe this? _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Kyle liked Lucy more than any other girl in the school, but he had an odd way of showing it. When she walked ahead of him in line, he kicked at her shoe. When she passed him on the school yard, he called her “lame Lucy.” He even wrote a mean word on her homework during the bus ride to school. But what puzzled Lucy the most was receiving an invitation to Kyle’s birthday party. Figuring that he was just planning a mean trick on her, Lucy decided not to go, and while Kyle eagerly awaited Lucy’s arrival, Lucy talked on the phone to Jacob. When Kyle finally realized that Lucy was not coming to his party, he was crushed.
5. What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
6. What happens in the story that leads you to believe this? _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
The little grey mouse that lived in my wall prospered for many days on nibbles of my lunch. I’d pack a meal before bed and, while I slept, he would take small bites of my lunch, which I left on the counter. He’d take a cracker crumble here, and a bread crumb there, but he wouldn’t take too much and he’d always clean up after himself. Things were going quite well for him and I didn’t even know he existed, until he got sloppy. One night while I slept, he ate all of my chips and left behind a big mess. When I awoke to this sight, I knew what had happened to my chips. So the next night when he returned for another snack, he found a nice, delicious piece of cheese… lightly balanced on a mouse trap. Now I don’t have to share my chips anymore.
7. What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What happens in the story that leads you to believe this? _____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Ulysses spent all of his free time reading books and felt that he was very intelligent. One day a nice student from his class asked him if he wanted to go sledding and Ulysses responded, “I’ve read about sledding in books, and it sounds miserable. No, thank you.” On another day, a different friendly student asked Ulysses if he wanted to go out for hotdogs after school. Ulysses responded, “I’ve read that hotdogs are filled with rat parts and pig bellies. No, thank you.” Nobody asked Ulysses to hang out again, but he did read about friends in his books.
9. What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10. What happens in the story that leads you to believe this? ____________________________
_______________________________________________
Related Texts:
Poems
"Burning a Book," by William Stafford
Protecting each other, right in the center
a few pages glow a long time.
The cover goes first, then outer leaves
curling away, then spine and a scattering.
Truth, brittle and faint, burns easily,
its fire as hot as the fire lies make---
flame doesn't care. You can usually find
a few charred words in the ashes.
And some books ought to burn, trying
for character
but just faking it. More disturbing
than book ashes are whole libraries that
no one
got around to writing----desolate
towns, miles of unthought in cities,
and the terrorized countryside where
wild dogs
own anything that moves. If a book
isn't written, no one needs to burn it----
ignorance can dance in the absence of fire.
So I've burned books. And there are many
I haven't even written, and nobody has.
(1987)
Barter
BY SARA TEASDALE
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Informational Texts (Nonfiction)
• “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass
• “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie
• “The Great Imagination Heist,” Reynolds Price
• “You Have Insulted Me: A Letter,” Kurt Vonnegut
• “Reading Books Is Fundamental” from The New York Times, Charles M. Blow
• “The Country That Stopped Reading” from The New York Times, David Toscana
• “The Science of Storytelling: Why Telling a Story Is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains,” Leo Widrich
• “Video Games and the Future of Storytelling” from Big Think, Salman Rushdie
GROUP FINDINGS
September 16, 2015
Gaige: Pioneer of Sci Fi Genre
Boston: Published first story in 1941.
Nakotah: The author of over 500 works.
Gabe: in 1967 fahrenheit 451 into a film. Fahrenheit 451 was first published in 1951
Maddie: When he was twelve, Ray began to put his imagination into words, by banging out his first stories on a six-dollar typewriter. Two years later, his family moved to LA. It was around this time that he decided he wanted to write professionally.
Faith: Born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois.
Gaige- Used visons of the future to explore the problems of today, such as technological advancement issues. ; The Martian Chronicles was written in a poetic form.
Katie: Was a creative consultant for Epcot & Disney.
Maddie: The most widely recognized author in Sci Fi.
Luke: Began submitting stories to national magazines at 15.
Abby: Co- Screen Writer for Moby Dick.
Jordan: Predicts the future and exposes society.
Olivia: had an intense fear of the dark as a child.
Kennealy: fascinated by technology, but feared it being "unchecked"
Justin: Nearly blind
Grace: Started writing when he was 12
Sydnee: first published story 1941
Julianna: As of 2010, he wrote over 500 short stories.
Lawson: writing influenced by horror films that he began watching at 6
Grace: Sold newspapers on the street corner
Justin: Wrote every day
Carmen: Began submitting his stories at 15
Zayda: Began writing full time after HS graduation
If you would like to add to our notes, please create a comment!
"The Flying Machine"
Characters:
Emporer
farmer
flyer
servants
guards
Executioner
Setting:
400 AD, morning
The Great Wall of China, near the Emporer's palace
Message/ Theme(s):
Fear advancements.
To remain beautiful, drastic measures may have to be taken.
September 21, 2015
The Flash Dance
September 22, 2015
1 Discuss "The Pedestrian" By: Ray Bradbury
2 Imagery
3 Similes & Metaphors
4 Group Task
Each group will be given a paragraph or scene from "The Pedestrian."
Secretary: Record Metaphors & Similes
Artist: Design an Image of the scene
Speaker: Present poster, metaphors, and similes
Members: Help make the image come to life!
Groups:
2ND
1 Carmen, Jonathon, Ashlynn, Alyssa P 1-2
2 Madison, Zayda, Cecie, Alex, Andrew P3
3 Justin B, Madison D, Jon, Erin P4
4 Sydnee, Jade, Martina, Ben P 5-6
5 Justin D, Kinsey, Mathew G, Olivia P 7-8
6 Emily S, Emily H, Bre I, Grace P 9-10
7 Lawson, Molly, Julianna, Desean PG 5 "The Police, of course, what a rare, incredible thing... Every night for years."
8 Kaya, Kennealy, Jordan, Will PG 6 "The police car sat... chill November night." The End
5TH
1 Emily B, Chandler, Jagger, Emily H P 1-2
2 Ryan, Katey B, Haley H, Faith P3
3 L'Shae, Luke, Maddi D, Nick P4
4 Haleigh E, Boston, Chloe, Gabe P5-6
5 Charlie, Parker, David, Kristen P 7-8
6 Katie W, AJ, Abby, Gaige P 9-10
7 Mitchell, Brady, Macy, Kenady PG 5 "The Police, of course, what a rare, incredible thing... Every night for years."
8 Jordan, Riley, M'Shae, Ashley S, Nakotah PG 6 "The police car sat... chill November night." The End
September 23, 2015
Complete Group Task & Present
September 24, 2015
1 What is Poetry?
POWERPOINT
2 "The Other Me" By: Ray Bradbury
https://books.google.com/books?id=rnWY_tjp9WgC&lpg=PA37&ots=vxmpksvMb6&dq=i%20do%20not%20write%20the%20other%20me%20demands%20emergence%20constantly&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q=i%20do%20not%20write%20the%20other%20me%20demands%20emergence%20constantly&f=false
"The Other Me" reminds me of one of my favorite rock songs:
3 Read "from The Martian Chronicles"
4 Respond
Credit Steve Castillo/Associated Press
Create Note Cards for ALL the BOLD terms.
Fiction v. Nonfiction
Texts are commonly classified as fiction or nonfiction.
The distinction addresses whether a text discusses the world of the imagination (fiction) or the real world (nonfiction).
Fiction: poems, stories, plays, novels
Nonfiction: newspaper stories, editorials, personal accounts, journal articles, textbooks, legal documents
Fiction is commonly divided into three areas according to the general appearance of the text:
stories and novels: prose--that is, the usual paragraph structure--forming chapters
poetry: lines of varying length, forming stanzas
plays: spoken lines and stage directions, arranged in scenes and acts
Other than for documentaries, movies are fiction because they present a "made up" story. Movie reviews, on the other hand, are nonfiction, because they discuss something real—namely movies.
Note that newspaper articles are nonfiction—even when fabricated. The test is not whether the assertions are true. Nonfiction can make false assertions, and often does. The question is whether the assertions claim to describe reality, no matter how speculative the discussion may be. Claims of alien abduction are classified as nonfiction, while "what if" scenarios of history are, by their very nature, fiction.
The distinction between fiction and nonfiction has been blurred in recent years. Novelists (writers of fiction) have based stories on real life events and characters (nonfiction), and historians (writers of nonfiction) have incorporated imagined dialogue (fiction) to suggest the thoughts of historical figures.
Novels / Stories
Perspective
A novel is an extended story written in prose. Or, to put it more simply, novels tell stories.
The novel is a relatively modern form of literature. The modern novel has existed for only the past three hundred years. Earlier narratives—such as Homer's Iliad or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales —were written in verse.
Novels and stories portray the trials and tribulations of life and the crises of human existence. The characters and settings reflect real life, although a sub-set of novels features more unrealistic (and often melodramatic) plots in imagined historical or future times (as with J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit , Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , or modern science fiction).
While written in prose, stories often exhibit poetic use of language and dialogue commonly associated with drama. (See Poetry and Drama .)
The Author and the Narrator
The author of a story often plays an active role within a story. The author, in the voice of the narrator, can openly comment on characters and their actions and predicaments. This "point of view" has been compared to the angle from which a camera might observe actions. The two major options for the point of view of a story are named after the pronouns authors might use:
first person narrator who participates in the story – I did this.
third person narrator who stands outside the story itself – He/she did/thought this
The two different forms of narrator enable two different effects. A first person narrator might be an observer who sees all events, a minor character (as with Ishmael in Moby Dick), or even a major participant (as with the main character in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye). When a character in the story, the narrator is limited in his or her understanding. Such narrators cannot be privy to other characters' thoughts or to actions at which they are not present.
First-Person Narrator
I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water.
Ernest Hemingway, After the Storm
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
"Good-bye, my son. Bless you!" Mr. Turveydrop said this in quite a pious manner, and it seemed to do his son good, who, in parting from him, was so pleased with them, so dutiful to him, and so proud of him that I almost felt as if it were an unkindness to the younger man not to be able to believe implicitly in the elder.
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
A third person narrator can be all-knowing and might describe the action from one or many character's viewpoints. Such a narrator can guiding the reader's understanding by commenting on and evaluating actions as they occur (as in the novels of Dickens or Austen) or simply describe the action without much commentary.
Third-Person Narrator
(In the opening line the narrator, describing the story in the third person, nevertheless speaks to the reader in the first person.) We have as yet hardly spoken of the infant; that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion. How strange it seemed to the sad woman, as she watched the growth, and the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child! Her Pearl!--For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned luster that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant "Pearl," as being of great price,--purchased with all she had,--her mother's only treasure! How strange, indeed! Man had marked this woman's sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Reading Stories: Content
Our first concern when reading a story or novel is following the plot or story line—a term encompassing both the characters and their actions. These two elements—character and action—contribute the major content of the story.
The plot must have a context; it must take place somewhere and at some time. We can thus add a third element of content, the setting (see below). Analysis of stories looks at the interrelationship between patterns of these three aspects of the story: character, action, and setting.
Character
Characters (i.e., personalities in a story) have unique characters (i.e., human qualities). We judge character by how characters are described and how their actions are depicted. That is, we look at both what is said about characters by a narrator or other characters and at the actions and behaviors attributed to them. Characters often represent common character types: e.g., the bureaucrat, the bully, and the siren.
Action
Stories recount the loves, struggles, and confrontations of the characters. Stories involve conflict and its resolution. Conflict can arise from tension between individuals, between an individual and legal religious, political, or other institutions, or with one's own conscience. Conflict can thus involve an internal or external battle. Conflict with others can involve differing values, competing goals, the possession of a certain object (such as an inheritance or the crown in Hamlet), or the conflict can take symbolic form (as in Captain Ahab's struggle against nature represented by the whale Moby Dick).
In the actions of characters we see values, goals, and alliances. From each action we infer behaviors, character traits and values—what the action is an example of. Such an understanding constitutes "explaining" the action.
Setting
The setting includes all of the forces and institutions acting on the characters. Setting includes the geographical location, social climate, the historical period, and the cultural mores—any and all factors that influence the characters and against which the characters act and against which their actions are measured.
An understanding and/or appreciation for the Puritan beliefs of sin, for instance, is essential for understanding and /or appreciating Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In some instances, locations can represent forces: fields can suggest openness and opportunity, rooms can suggest seclusion or isolation,
Imagine the action taking place elsewhere, at another time, in another culture to realize the effect of a particular setting.
Reading Stories: Language
Of the three elements examined here (content, language, and structure), language is the least important, although hardly insignificant, element of a story. Language plays a role predominantly in terms of the use of symbolism and projecting an overall tone. We might think of this as part of the mental setting in which the action takes place. Analyzing The Scarlet Letter, we might note how language is used to indicate the lightness of the scene of Hester and her daughter Pearl in contrast to the darkness of the scene in which Hester confronts Reverend Dimmesdale. Language also can play a major role in terms of accents or dialects, as in Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
Reading Stories: Structure
Description of the structure of a story can be understood in two ways.
In the first case, we have the linear progression from chapter to chapter. Within this structure, there is the building of suspense, the unfolding of conflict and its resolution. It is here that we discuss the plot, the rising action, climax, and resolution.
Alternatively, we can look at the patterns of actions and interrelationship of characters occurring throughout the story.
Note that stories, unlike non-fiction, are generally read and or appreciated only in their entirety. We can read a portion of a nonfiction work for specific information; to understand a story we must follow the complete unfolding and resolution of the plot. The same is generally true for drama as well.
Vocabulary
Plot Diagram- The diagram used to map the plot of a story.
Exposition- The essential background information at the beginning of a literary work
Rising action- the development of conflict and complications in a literary work
Climax- the turning point in a literary work
Falling action- results or effects of the climax of a literary work
Resolution/denouement- end of a literary work when loose ends are tied up and questions are answered
Alliteration – repetition of the initial consonant sounds of words: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”
Allusion – a reference to something well-known that exists outside the literary work
Antagonist- character that is the source of conflict in a literary work
Aside – a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage
Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds: “Anna’s apples,” “the pond is long gone”
Characterization- The manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities
Conflict - struggle between two or more opposing forces (person vs. person; nature; society; self; fate/God.
Dialogue - direct speech between characters in a literary work
Diction - word choice to create a specific effect
Figurative Language –language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal language). Includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbol)
Flashback- the method of returning to an earlier point in time for the purpose of making the present clearer
Foreshadowing- hint of what is to come in a literary work
Genre – type or category to which a literary work belongs
Hyperbole – extreme exaggeration to add meaning
Imagery – language that appeals to the five senses
Irony - Dramatic… when the reader or audience knows something a character does not
Situational… when there is a disparity between what is expected and what actually occurs
Verbal… when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite
Metaphor – an implied comparison between dissimilar objects: “Her talent blossomed”
Motif- a recurring feature of a literary work that is related to the theme
Onomatopoeia – use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning: “hiss”
Oxymoron – phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory: “living dead” or “Microsoft works”
Personification – figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics
Plot- The sequence of events in a literary work
Point of view- the vantage point or perspective from which a literary work is told…
1st person point of view- the narrator is a character in the story (use of ‘I’)
3rd person point of view- the narrator is outside of the story (use of ‘he’ ‘she’ ‘they’)
Protagonist- the main character in a literary work
Rhyme – repetition of similar or identical sounds: “look and crook”
Rhyme Scheme – pattern of rhyme among lines of poetry [denoted using letters, as in ABAB CDCD EE]
Setting- The time and place of a literary work
Simile – a direct comparison of dissimilar objects, usually using like or as: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
Soliloquy - a dramatic device in which a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud
Speaker – voice in a poem; the person or thing that is speaking
Stanza – group of lines forming a unit in a poem
Stereotype- standardized, conventional ideas about characters, plots and settings
Suspense – technique that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next
Symbol/symbolism – one thing (object, person, place) used to represent something else
Theme – the underlying main idea of a literary work. Theme differs from the subject of a literary work in that it involves a statement or opinion about the subject.
Tone – the author’s attitude toward the subject of a work.
