Elements of Literature
Honors Study Guide
Setting:
the time and place a story takes place
The setting of “Thank You, M’am” is:________________________________________________
Clues that helped you figure it out: __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Character:
a person or animal appearing in a work in literature.
Protagonist: the main character in a piece of literature
Antagonist: a character with whom the protagonist has a conflict
Using the story “The Revolt of the Evil Fairies” tell me the. . .
Protagonist:__________________________________________________________________
Antagonist:__________________________________________________________________
Dynamic Character: a character who undergoes an important change
A dynamic character in the story “I Confess” is:
____________________________________________________________________________
Static Character:
a character who does not undergo an important change
A static character in “The No-Guitar Blues” is:______________________________________
Stock Character:
a character who follows a familiar and predictable formula, also known as a
stereotype
A stock character in “Rolls for the Czar” is:_________________________________________
Characterization:
1.
2.
3.
4.
the way an author presents a character to the reader.
describing the character’s physical appearance
showing the character’s actions and words
revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings
showing how the character is thought of and treated by others
Conflict:
a problem or struggle of some kind
External Conflicts: a character’s struggle with another person, with society as a whole, or with
an outside force (such as a force of nature or an animal)

Character vs. Character – One character has a conflict with another character.
“The Revolt of the Evil Fairies”: _________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Character vs. Society – One character has a conflict with society (a group of people).
“The Revolt of the Evil Fairies”: _________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Character vs. Nature – One character struggles with some element of nature (weather,
animals, etc.).
“The Panther”:
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Internal Conflict:

a character’s struggle to come to terms with his own inner feelings
Character vs. Self – One character struggles with an important decision.
“The Lady, or the Tiger?”:
_________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Theme:
the central idea or underlying meaning about human nature that is developed in a story
Explicit Theme:
a statement that directly expresses the central meaning of a story
“A Nincompoop”:__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Implicit Theme:
the central meaning that must be inferred from the events of the story
“Thank You, M’am”:_______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Point of View:


the angle from which a story is told
First-Person Point of View: The narrator is a character in the story and uses the pronouns
“I” and “me”.
Third-Person Point of View: The narrator is an all-knowing outside observer who knows
what all the characters can see, hear, think, and feel.
Give examples of stories told from the first-person point of view.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Give examples of stories told from the third-person point of view.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Plot:
the sequence of related events or actions in a story
Exposition:
the part of a story giving background information
Initiating Event:
the event that gets a story started
Climax:
the point of highest excitement or intensity in a story
Resolution:
the resolution or solving of the conflict(s)
Flashback: an interruption in a narrative to tell about something that has already happened
Give one example of a flashback from a short story we have read.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Foreshadowing:
building in clues or hints about what is to come in a story
Give one example of foreshadowing from a short story we have read.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Motivation:
the reason(s) a character does what he or she does
Pick one character from a story and tell one of his or her actions and the motivation behind it.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dialogue:
the conversations between characters
Pick one character from one of the short stories we’ve read and complete the following characterization
chart.
Physical description of character
What the character says/does
What the character thinks/feels
How other characters treat the
Character
Climax
Resolution
Exposition
Characters:
Initiating Event
Setting: