“Three Skeleton Key”
Literary Devices/
Academic Vocabulary
JE: #12 “Lighthouse”
• Create a list of items you would need to take
with you to an isolated lighthouse where you
would be spending a year; the lighthouse is
located on an island 2 miles long and ½ mile
wide and is all rock. There is no wifi, no
internet connection, no phone, no cable, and
no electronics.
Characterization
• The process of revealing
the personality of a
character in a story to the
reader.
A writer can reveal a character in the
following ways:
(1) Letting the reader hear the character speak
(2) Describing the physical characteristics (how they
dress and appear)
(3) Letting the reader listen to the character’s inner
thoughts and feelings
(4) Revealing what other people in the story feel,
think, or say about the character
(5) Showing the reader how the character acts
(6) Telling the reader directly what the character’s
personality is like (cruel, kind, sneaky, brave, etc.)
Revealing character, cont.
• When a writer uses (1) through
(5) to reveal the personality of a
character, the reader must make
an INFERENCE based on what
evidence the author has provided
to decide what a character is like.
INFERENCE is
• a conclusion reached on the
basis of evidence and
reasoning.
Revealing character cont.
• When a writer uses the (6)th way to
reveal a character’s personality, the
reader does not have to infer. The
writer EXPLICITLY tells the reader
what kind of person the character is.
“Flat” character
• are relatively uncomplicated and
do not change throughout the
course of a work
“Round” characters
• are complex and undergo
development, sometimes
sufficiently to surprise the
reader.
“Static” characters
• A character who remains the
same throughout a narrative.
Static characters do not develop
or change beyond the way in
which they are first presented.
“Dynamic” characters
• a character who changes, especially one
who comes to a major realization. The
realization may or may not change the
character’s actions, but the character
must never be able to see the world in
quite the same way. Not all protagonists
are dynamic. (Rarely does a short story have more
than one or two dynamic characters.)
Foreshadowing is
• Is the use of clues to suggest events that will
happen later in the story. Foreshadowing
often heightens suspense.
“Suspense” is
• Is the uncertainty or anxiety that we feel
about what will happen next in a story.
“Allusion” is
• A reference to a statement, a person, a
place, or an event from literature, history,
religion, mythology, politics, sports, or
science.
• Allusions enrich the reading experience.
• Writers expect the reader to connect the
reference, or allusion, to the original work,
and to think about why the allusion was
made; what does the allusion have to do
with the new work?
“Personification”
• The giving of human characteristics to
nonliving or nonhuman things