Unraveling Literary Elements: A Comprehensive Guide

1. ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

2. Setting - the time and place of action • Plot – a sequence of events in a literary work • Exposition- the part of the work that introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation. • Inciting Incident- an event or decision that begins a story’s conflict • Rising Action – all the events leading up to the climax of the story • Climax – the highest point of interest or suspense of a story • Falling action- leads to the resolution • Resolution– the final outcome of the story

3. Denouement- ties up all loose ends and tells what happened after the resolution • Character - a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work • Characterization – the act of creating or developing a character • Direct characterization - the author directly states a character’s traits • Indirect characterization – the author provides clues about a character by describing what a character looks like, does, and says, as well as how other characters react to him or her: usually through others ‘ actions, speech, or thoughts

4. Round character – shows many different traits • Flat character – shows only one trait • Dynamic character – develops and grows during the course of the story; changes • Static character – stays the same • Foil – a character who provides a contrast to another character. • Protagonist- Character who faces a conflict, has a problem to resolve or a goal to achieve

5. Antagonist- Character or thing that causes problems for the protagonist or stands in the way of them achieving their goals. • Conflict - is a struggle between opposing forces • External conflict – the main character struggles against an outside force • Internal conflict – involves a character involved in conflict with himself or herself • Genre – a category or type of literature • Drama – a story written to be performed by actors • Autobiography – is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells his or her own life story

6. Allegory – a story with two or more levels of meaning: a literal level and one or more symbolic levels. The events, setting, and characters in an allegory are symbols for ideas and qualities. • Biography – is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person • Flashback – a means by which authors present material that occurred earlier than the present tense of the narrative. • Foreshadowing – the use in a literary work of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur.

7. Mood – the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage • Tone – the writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject • Theme – the central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work • Atmosphere- the feeling created by the mood, tone and setting • Point of view – the perspective from which the story is told • Narrator- the person or character who gives account of events or tells a story • Author- Person who writes the story