English 9A Literary Terms Notes

“The Scarlet Ibis”

Point of View (narrative)

Narrator=teller of the story (To narrate=to tell a story)

Through whose eyes does the reader view the story? 1st person (insider) 3rd person (outsider)

1st person point of view(an insider)

A character in the story who can tell the story from the “I ” vantage point; cannot tell you thoughts of others (only his own thinking)

Examples:

TKAM (Scout Finch)

The narrator of “The Scarlet Ibis”

3rd Person point of view(an outsider)

3rd Person OMNISCIENT

(all-knowing narrator)

Outsider tells the story

and can enter the minds

of all the characters

3rd Person LIMITED Outsider tells the story focusing on only

one character’s perspective

Example: “The Most Dangerous Game”

Whose perspective is focused on in this story?

3rd Person OBJECTIVE (dramatic)

Outsider tells the story like a newspaper reporter who merely relates the facts without presenting the thoughts or feelings of the character

Example: “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner.

Here is a passage: “They rose when she entered—a small, fat woman in black...She did not ask them to sit. She just stood there in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain. Her voice was dry and cold, ‘I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselvs.’”

Emily Grierson?

Foreshadowing

An author’s use of hints or clues about events which will occur later.

Example: Shooting of rabid dog, Tim Johnson foreshadows the shooting/death of

Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Flashback

An interruption in the action of the story to show an episode that happened at an earlier time. It is a useful literary device because it can provide background information necessary to understand characters or plot.

Example

The story of “The Scarlet Ibis” is told from the perspective of an adult having a series of flashbacks about his childhood involving brother, Doodle.

Video example

In the movie, The Sandlot, Michael (“Squints”) is trying to explain to Scotty Smalls why the dog next to their baseball field (“The Beast”) is so dangerous. This flashback provides the story of The Beast’s violent nature…

(video on next slide)

Symbols

Anything that suggests a meaning beyond it’s obvious one

Examples: The mockingbird= innocent beings The ibis=Doodle =happy = love

Imagery

Concrete details (word choice/phrases) which appeal to the 5 senses. Authors use imagery for 2 purposes:

To help the reader draw a mental picture Arouse emotions/establish mood so the

reader feels what the characters feel

Imagery Example:

The music coursed through us, shaking our bodies as if it came from within us. (Physical appeal/sense of touch)

Simile

Comparison between UNLIKE things using words “like” or “as”

Example: “John runs like the wind and is as strong as an ox.”

Metaphor

Comparison between two essentially UNLIKE things-without using words “like” or “as”

Examples: The tumbleweeds are the lost

children of the desert. Wolfing your lunch

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statement used deliberately to heighten effect on listener

Examples: The coffee was so strong you could stand a

spoon on it I am so hungry I could eat a horse! The music was deafening. I am starving!

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Example: “It tastes better baked in butter.”

Onomatopoeia

A word’s sound that imitates its meaning

The embers in the fire crackled and snapped late into the night.

She was sloshing through the melted snow.