THEME

SETTING

• the central idea of a literary work

  • frequently offering insight into the human condition

  • BUT not directions on how to live

• the underlying issue of the piece, subject matter

  • “the basic area of permanent human experience treated by the author” (Skwire 437)

• indirectly expressed

• a work can have more than one

• a universality to the message

• not the same as “moral”

  • has an ethical quality

  • questions of value

  • a lesson, statement, message, piece of advice

  • aphorisms, clichés —

    • childish, preachy, didactic, condescending

  • directly stated

• *more than mere locale

  • not merely the location

• geographic location ("locale")

• historical era/period

• cultural milieu

• religious or social or economic features

• climate, weather

• season of the year

• time of day

• area, region of the country or world

• type of building or room

• deliberately repeated images (a pattern)
  • that contribute to overall meaning or emphasize some important element of the work
• patterns of images, highlight some part of the story, assist towards meaning
• clothing = maturity, growing up
  • repeated references to a character's changing clothes
  • more feminine clothes over tom-boy clothes

• hint at what’s to come
• hints or indications of what is to come
• early clues (often found when re-reading) to what eventually happens in a story or play

• a pleasurable anxiety

• an author creates (in the complication, climax)

• to make us wonder what will happen next

• or how a character will resolve a crisis or conflict

• breaking the linear progression of a narrative
• to tell of some prior occurrence

• sense details

• so vivid or evocative

• that readers can see, hear,…

• words or passages that stir feelings or memories through an appeal to the senses;

• words, phrases, sentences that create mental "image"

• CATEGORIES OF IMAGES:

  • 5 senses: sight (visual), sound (auditory), smell (olfactory), taste (gustatory), touch (tactile)

  • motion (kinetic), temperature (thermal)

• surprise to our expectations
• verbal
  • say one thing, mean another
  • a discrepancy between spoken/written words & their intended meaning
• situational
  • expect one thing to happen, another does
  • a contrast between hopes, aspirations, fears & the eventuality (character's fate)
  • surprise endings
• dramatic
  • we know what characters do not
  • readers/audience know something that a character does not

• the individuality of expression conveyed through diction (word choice), syntax (sentence structure, and/or punctuation
• a writer's distinctive manner of writing
  • idiosyncratic traits of a writer
  • how a person writes
• ex: journalistic; highly subjective/stream-of-consciousness; sardonic

• “a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack”
• “a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule”
• parody: “a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing”

• the writer’s tone/attitude towards the subject
• EX: sad, mock-serious, caring, sarcastic, awed

• atmosphere

• the emotional content of a scene or setting

• feeling:  somber, gloomy, joyful

• tension, stress, pressure
• struggle between opposing forces
  • problems, antagonisms, arguments, resistance
  • effort, clashes, impediments
  • obstacles to goals/desires
• creates tension, crisis, suspense
• PERSON vs.
  • (internal)
    • Self
  • (external)
    • Person, Society, Nature/Environment
    • Deity, Supernatural Entity, Technology

• the freakish, unnatural, disgusting
• ridiculous, bizarre, extravagant, freakish, the unnatural
  • aberrations from desired norms of harmony, balance, proportion
• used for comic or satiric effect
  • satire, parody, caricature, invective
  • burlesque, black comedy, macabre
  • comic relief, sick joke
  • Theatre of the Absurd, Gothic novels
• used for characterization
  • physical disfigurement = spiritual or emotional disfigurement
  • ex:  Dr. House
  • hole in leg = hole in soul
  • warped leg = warped spirit

• contrast (like the rhetorical strategy)
• 2 disparate things set in contrast to each other

• biography, autobiography
• history, news reports

• link unrelated things to spark imagination
• to allow us to consider new thoughts
• simile uses "as" or "like"
• metaphor implies "is"

• word choice
• links to meaning
• appeals to emotion, reason, & character
• connotation
  • implied meaning & attitude
  • suggestions & associations
• denotation
  • dictionary definition
• look up words you do not know

DEFINITION:

• a series of causally related events within a story or play
• the artistic arrangement of the elements within a story
• the events in their totality

• arranged chronologically:
  • linear progression
  • beginning, middle, end
• arranged out of sequence:
  • the ending first, and then what led up to it
• arranged "in medias res":
  • in the middle
  • ("in the midst of things")
• told in flashback:
  • retrospectively presenting the events
• other Plot techniques:
  • flash forwards
  • stream-of-consciousness

• singular or multiple
• functions:
  • often its function is to mirror or accentuate the main story line and reinforce the theme
  • sometimes its function is to offer comic relief, intrigue, or excitement
  • minor complications

NARRATOR:

• The person who tells the story
• see Point-of-View

• UNRELIABLE NARRATOR:
  • one who readers believe is
    • deceptive, self-deceptive, deluded, or deranged
    • ("Tell-Tale Heart")
  • one who presents
    • biased, misleading, or erroneous reports
    • that may (intentionally or unintentionally)
    • deceive the reader's judgments
    • concerning other characters or actions
• NAIVE or INNOCENT NARRATOR:
  • one who fails to grasp or understand
  • all the implications of the story
• PERSONA:
  • the person the author creates to be the speaker of the poem or story
  • a person not to be confused with the author
  • (not autobiographical)

POINT-of-VIEW:

• who’s telling the story
• how much do they know
  • total omniscience
  • limited omniscience
• the perspective from which a story is presented or interpreted
  • the vantage point, viewpoint
• marked by levels of
  • knowledge, insight, involvement

• 1st person =
  • (I, we)
  • from a character's perspective
  • told from the perspective of one who experienced it
  • *narrator = participant in the story
  • often deemed the most intimate
    • builds lovable characters, reader identification
• 2nd person =
  • (you)
  • rare
  • from the reader's perspective
  • "you" move through the story
• 3rd person =
  • (he/she, they)
  • from the observer's perspective
    • limited or complete omniscience
    • objective or judgmental
  • *narrator = non-participant in the story

• 1. TOTAL OMNISCIENCE: 
  • one that has the knowledge of every character's mind, heart --
    • all-knowing
    • can move from one to the next as needed
  • EDITORIAL Omniscience: 
    • one that offers the occasional comment, opinion, or judgment on the action or characters
  • IMPARTIAL Omniscience:
    • one that remains non-judgmental -->
  • OBJECTIVE POV: 
    • the narrator does NOT enter the heart or mind of any character
    • instead, s/he tells the story objectively and
    • allows the reader to infer the feelings and thoughts
    • conversations and actions are presented without any comments or judgments by the narrator
• 2. LIMITED OMNISCIENCE: 
  • the thoughts, observations, feelings are limited to one character (not from the "I"; not necessarily involved in the story); a main or minor character.
  • STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: 
    • a type of Limited or Selective Omniscience
    • that presents thoughts, feelings, impressions as they pass through a character's mind;
    • disorganized and random
      • (unlike an Interior Monologue);
    • a procession of thoughts passing through the mind
    • (term coined by psychologist William James).
  • INTERIOR MONOLOGUE: 
    • like a SOLILOQUY in a play,
    • this method is an extended presentation of a character's thought or feelings;
    • presented orderly
      • (unlike Stream of Consciousness)

CHARACTER:

•  definition:
  • a person, entity, animal, OR object
  • that inhabits the story

• portrayal of a character's
  • personality
  • physical description
  • beliefs & attitudes
  • personal philosophy
• developed through
  • actions
  • behaviors
  • dialogue
  • thoughts
  • appearance, wardrobe
• conveyed by
  • the narrator
  • other characters
  • the character her/himself
• how characters are developed, described
  • how much or how little
• ethos:
  • morality of person
  • good/evil, does right/wrong

• I. PROTAGONIST:
  • the main or central character of the story
  • the "hero" or "heroine"
  • (though not necessarily brave or courageous)
• II. ANTAGONIST:
  • the character or force who actions
  • oppose those of the Protagonist
• III. FOIL:
  • a minor character
  • who emphasizes the qualities of another character
  • through implied contrast between them
  • (foil reflects)
• IV. ANTI-HERO:
  • a person (usually from the 20th-century)
  • who is ordinary, inglorious, not courageous, not brave, solitary (a loner), imperfect or flawed
    • with an inconsistency of character
    • and failed goals
  • these characters lack a consistent personality or character, self, or identity

CHARACTER

TYPES:

• ROUND:
  • realistic, complex, contradictory
  • true-to-life, believable
  • often such characters will have sufficient motivation for their actions, behaviors
  • they have more details, description, and are given thoughts, feelings, and perceptions to seem more 3-dimensional
  • they also CHANGE, grow, develop, fall, rise, develop, and have epiphanies
• FLAT: 
  • stereotypical, 1-dimensional
  • s/he usually has but one outstanding characteristic/trait/feature
  • flat characters are NOT necessarily Stock characters
  • unlike "dynamic" Round characters, Flat characters do NOT change;
    • they remain STATIC
  • *Flat characters do not necessarily demean a work; they serve their purposes,
    • such as background or foil.
  • Otherwise inflated or expanded,
    • they would distract and detract from the main characters and confuse the action/plot.
• STOCK:
  • an archetype or stereotype
  • a literary character who embodies a number of traits commonly applied to or found in a particular class or group of people
  • known typically by an outstanding quality or trait, often a dominant virtue or vice:
    • the loyal sidekick

SYMBOL:

• object, place, action, or person
• that represents itself AND something larger than itself
  • “A symbol is a person, place, or thing that stands for or strongly suggests something in addition to itself, generally an abstract idea more important than itself” (Skwire 437).
  • it is what it is AND more than what it is
  • takes on meaning greater than itself
  • an abstraction embodied in concrete form
  • "the Word made flesh"
• abstraction:  idea, quality, concept larger than itself

• water = purity, life, rebirth (baptism)
• white = purity, innocence
• black = death, evil
• dust =
  • death
    • (ashes to ashes, dust to dust)
  • stagnation
    • arrested development
    • idleness, pining, languishment
    • ("Eveline")
  • dryness, decay
    • moral decay
    • decay of the human spirit
      • --"Things Carried"
• circle = wholeness, perfection
• sea = voyage through life
  • change for the better
  • ("sea change" in Bible)

• PHALLIC SYMBOL:
  • an image shaped like the male sex organ
  • one that suggests
    • male potency, virility,
    • masculinity, or male dominance
  • e.g.:
    • towers, snakes, guns, spears
    • planes, sports cars
• YONIC SYMBOL:
  • an image shaped like the female breasts, uterus, or genitalia
  • one that suggests
    • fecundity or female sexuality
  • e.g.:
    • caves, pots, rooms,
    • apples, full-blown roses
    • valleys, hills, fertile fields
• *REMEMBER*:
  • sometimes a cigar is just a cigar