Short Story Terms (continued)

protagonist - the person who the story is mostly about

dynamic characters - they change

static - they do not change

antagonist - the character who opposes or impedes the protagonist

sympathetic characters - those who appeal to the reader, evoke emotion

plot - linked chain of events

in media res - when the story starts in the middle of the plot, earlier events divulged usually through flashback

flashback - part of the story that shows something that happened in the past

foreshadowing - hints in the text that

conflict - complication - struggle between the protagonist and some one or some force

rising action - incidents in the plot that lead up to the climax

climax - the point at which the action reaches its highest tension

resolution - part of the story after the climax has ended the conflic

epiphany - sudden understanding or realization either by the character or the reader

setting - the location and time in which the story takes place

projection - a technique of narration by which the emotional state of the character colors the description of the setting

Symbol - object that represents something other than itself

Motif - any word, phrase, object, idea or situation that recurs throughout a work

Theme - what the story is about on an abstract level Examples:  love, revenge, friendship, mortality

Short Story Terms - Point of View

POINT OF VIEW

point of view - the perspective from which a story is told.  Each narrator has his or her particular perspective.  By defining the narrator as thoroughly as possible, you will define the story's point of view

narrator - the person telling the story

first-person narrator - a narrator who appears in the story, either as a participant or merely as an observer.  A first person narrator is a character in the story. As observer - witnesses the action from its fringes, usually a minor character.  As participant - involved in the events he or she relays, often the protagonist of the story

unreliable narrator - a narrator whose point of view clearly distorts the story he or she is telling

third-person narration - a narrator who does not appear as a character in the story, has no persona often and the author expects readers to accept his or her narration as objective fact undistorted by personal perspective

omniscient narrator - a third-person narrator from whom no information is hidden, knows the thoughts of all characters

limited omniscience - a third-person narrator who knows more than a first-person narrator could know, but whose knowledge is still limited, usually to the thoughts of one or two characters

stream of consciousness - a technique of narration that attempts to reproduce the succession of thoughts, sensory impressions, memories and so on that pass through a character's mind