Literary Terms
1. Setting: time (when-past, present, future) and place (where) of a story
2. Theme: the central message of a story/moral/lesson learned
Example: Cinderella: Follow your dreams.
3. Protagonist: the central or main character who is trying to accomplish or
overcome.
Example: Batman from “Batman” series
4. Antagonist: the character opposing the main character (protagonist); can be
a person, idea, or force.
Example: Joker from “The Dark Knight”
5. Conflict: a struggle between two opposing forces/the problem
Man vs. Man (external conflict)
Example: Batman vs. Joker from “Batman” series
Man vs. Nature (external conflict)
Example: Dorothy vs. tornado:“Wizard of Oz”
Man vs. Society (external conflict)
Example: The Beast vs. the town: “Beauty and the Beast”
Man vs. Fate/Himself (internal conflict)
Example: Lilly vs. herself from Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
6. Foreshadowing: the use of clues in a story that suggest events that have not
yet occurred
Example: the game “Clue”
7. Point of View: the perspective from which a story is told/ who tells the story
-First Person POV: character tells the story.
EX: memoirs, autobiographies, Flipped
- Second Person POV: the author talks to the reader. Uses the words you.
EX: Cookbooks, how to books, directions.
-Third Person Limited POV: narrator tells the story and knows the
thoughts and feelings of only one character.
EX: Harry Potter
-Third Person Omniscient POV: narrator tells the story but knows
EVERYTHING about all of the characters.
EX: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
8. Dialect: the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of
people.
Example: Texans: “Y’all”; Michiganders: “Yous guys”
9. Tone/mood: the writer’s attitude toward his subject; the feeling the writer
wants the reader to assume
Example: Tone-mystery/Mood-scary
10. Characterization: the methods the author uses to create a character
-internal characterization: what the character thinks and feels.
Example: Flipped: “All I’ve ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave
me alone.” (pg. 1- Bryce’s thoughts)
-external characterization: how the character looks and what the character
says.
Example: Flipped: “They’re blue, and framed in the blackness of his
lashes, they’re dazzling.” (pg. 11)
11. Flashback: the writer shifts the setting to a previous event
Example: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
12. Denotation: a specific dictionary definition of a word
Example: age (noun): the time of life at which some particular qualification,
power, or capacity arises or rests
13. Connotation: the emotions or feeling associated with a word including
positive, negative, or neutral
Example: positive=mature; negative=old; neutral=50 years old
14. Rule of Three: things that come in threes are naturally funnier, more
satisfying, or more effective
EX: “Three Little Pigs,” “Three Musketeers,” “Goldilocks and the Three
Bears”
15. Magic Helper: character, supernatural, human, or animal, who possesses
an extraordinary kind of power that often assists the hero/heroine throughout
his/her journey
EX: Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella,” Genie in “Aladdin,” Blue Fairy in
“Pinocchio”