Name:_________________________________ Period:__________________ Date:______________
Title of Selection: ____________________________________________________
Dialectical Journal (note taking):
Instructions - Fundamentals of Writing II:
Read "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. A copy of the full story can be found on (full text PDF file):
www.qcc.mass.edu/booth/255/files/Glaspell-jurry.pdf . Then identify the following (using the attached “Dialectical
Journal”):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Elements of plot: Exposition, climax, resolution, and denouement.
Character development and identify if the character is static (does not change in the end) or
Themes
Foreshadow and flashback
Figurative language
Imagery
For definitions - see the attached notes.
Quotation
(e.g. “…quote from text here...”)
Line
or
Page
#
Why is this quote important? e.g. The quote
demonstrates/proves/shows/represents…
(conflict/theme/characterization/plot: setting, climax,
resolution, etc./other literary elements) by…
Plot (exposition):
Plot (climax):
Plot (resolution):
Plot (denouement if any):
Character development for:______________________


Is this character static or dynamic:__________________
Character development for:______________________


Is this character static or dynamic:__________________
Theme #1:
Theme #2:
Foreshadow (if any):
Flashback (if any):
Figurative language (simile – if any):
Figurative language (metaphor – if any):
Figurative language (personification – if any):
Figurative language (hyperbole – if any):
Imagery: _____________________
Imagery: _____________________
Imagery: _____________________
Imagery: _____________________
Imagery: _____________________
NOTES:
1. Elements of plot: Exposition, climax, resolution, and denouement.
a. Exposition: The part of the story, usually near the beginning, in which the characters are introduced, the background
is explained, and the setting is described.
b. Setting: The place and the time frame in which a story takes place.
c. Inciting Incident: Something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main
conflict. The inciting incident is sometimes called the conflict.
d. Rising Action: The central part of the story during which various problems arise after a conflict is introduced.
e. Climax: The high point in the action of a story.
f. Falling Action: The action and dialogue following the climax that lead the reader into the story’s end.
g. Resolution: The part of the story in which the problems are solved and the action comes to a satisfying end.
h. Dénouement: (a French term, pronounced: day-noo-moh) the ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions
or mysteries which remain after the resolution of a story are solved by the characters or explained by the author.
2. Character development and identify if the character is static (does not change in the end) or dynamic (does change
in the end).
Characterization: Techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character by what: He/she does or says, other characters
say about him/her, how other characters react to him/her, or how the author reveals details directly or through a narrator.
3. Themes:
Theme: The message about life or human nature that is “the focus” in the story that the writer tells. Examples: Good vs. Evil,
wrong vs. right, justice, trust, love, loss, friendship, coming of age (characters are transformed from careless and perhaps naive
to humbled yet jaded young man or woman).
4. Foreshadow and flashback:
o Foreshadowing: Important hints that an author drops to prepare the reader for what is to come, and help the reader
anticipate the outcome.
o Flashback: Interruption of the chronological (time) order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the
story.
5. Figurative language:
a. Simile: comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as,” e.g. “Her smile was as cold as ice.”
b. Metaphor comparison of two things essentially different but with some commonalities; does not use “like” or “as,”
e.g. “Her smile was ice.”
c. Hyperbole: a purposeful exaggeration for emphasis or humor.
d. Personification: human qualities attributed to an animal, object, or idea, e.g. “The wind exhaled.”
6. Imagery: Words or phrases that appeal to the reader’s senses.
a. Auditory (sound) Imagery: “...And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears, than the two hearts beating each to each.”
b. Tactile (touch) Imagery: “..the quick sharp scratch”
c. Olfactory (smell) Imagery: “Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach...”
d. Gustatory (taste) Imagery: “No food on earth, no wine, not even a woman's kiss is sweeter to me...”
e. Visual (sight) Imagery: “…and the yellow half-moon large and low”
f. Kinesthetic (movement) Imagery. The representation through language of an experience pertaining to the movement of
the body's muscles, tendons, and joints. "They are like great runners: they know they are alone with the road surface, the
cold, the wind, the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio-/vascular health."