Literary Terms for Quiz #1

• Plot: The structure used in a literary work; what happens in a story.
  
  
• Character: An individual being in a story that helps move the story along.
  
  
• Setting The time and place in which a particular literary work establishes for the story to take place. The time and place may be somewhat vague or very specific.
  
  
• Diction: Word choice of the author. Diction helps set the mood, can establish locale, and can imply attitudes.
  
  
• Imagery: Word patterns that help the reader paint pictures in his or her mind. Word choice that indicate comparison, i.e., words to describe an evening may be gloomy if the story is suspenseful, or words to describe an evening may be enthralling if the story is light and airy.
  
  
• Structure: "systems of relationships, which endow signs (e.g., words)" (Gueren et al. 368-69). According to DiYanni, structure is "the design or form of the completed action.... In examining structure, we look for patterns, for the shape of the story as a whole process" (50-1).
  
  
• Point of View: Refers to the perspective of the storyteller. Is the voice telling the story a character in the story? Is the voice telling the story outside of the story? Is the story being told by the main character?
  
  
• Protagonist: The principal character in a story -- the character trying to resolve a problem or reach a goal. The protagonist may be very moral, may be immoral, or may be amoral.
  
  
• Antagonist: "A character or force against which another character struggles" (DiYanni G-1). The character that opposes the protagonist.
  
  
• Narrator: The speaker who tells the story. The narrator is not the author, but a voice that the author uses to relay the story.
  
  
• Reliability: The trustworthiness of the voice telling the story. Are there ulterior motives that impact on the voice's perspective? Does the voice telling the story particularly like or dislike certain characters? How much can the reader depend upon the voice to be factual?
  
• Omniscient Narrator: A narrator who claims to have full knowledge and understanding of all characters in the story. Attempting to appear god-like, the omniscient narrator unrealistically assumes full insight into the actions and motives of all characters.
  
  
• Limited Omniscient Narrator: A narrator who has intimate knowledge about what the characters are thinking and feeling. The limited omniscient narrator does not claim full knowledge, but the narrator does have more knowledge about the characters than anyone else can claim.
  
  
• Verisimilitude: "Likeness to the truth, and therefore the appearance of being true or real even when fantastic" (Cuddon 963).