Be familiar with common themes, thematic dichotomies, motifs, and symbols.
General Character Types
Round: a multi-faceted character not dominated by one trait Flat: a superficial character dominated by one trait
Dynamic: a character who makes a change by the end Static: a character who stays the same
Don’t forget these character types: Confidante, Foil
Authors use direct and indirect characterization to develop their characters. Know common methods of characterization.
The main character is the protagonist. The person or force working against the protagonist is the antagonist.
The protagonist and antagonist are in conflict. A conflict is a struggle between two opposing forces.
POINT OF VIEW is the perspective of the narrator. A narrator who is a character in the story has a first person POV.
If the narrator is not a character, his perspective is third person. If his knowledge is unlimited, he is omniscient (all knowing).
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID breaks the traditional plot into five parts:
The Exposition The Inciting Incident The Development The Climax The Resolution
Everything leading up to the climax is called rising action. Events after the climax are collectively called the falling action.
FRESHMAN HONORS LITERATURE: THE BASICS
Great Expectations The Odyssey
Author: Charles Dickens (1867) Homer (700 BC)
Genre: bildungsroman epic poem
Background: gloomy Victorian England Judgment of Paris/The Iliad
POV: first person third person omniscient
New Idea: serial publication Campbell’s hero archetype
Don’t forget: vicarious living epithet, xenia
You will write two essays. 4 – 6 paragraphs.
One essay asks you to read and reflect upon a Maya Angelou poem.
The other asks you to demonstrate your knowledge of several characters in at least two different works from the second semester.
JUNIOR AMERICAN LITERATURE: THE BASICS
The Catcher in the Rye A Streetcar Named Desire FENCES
Author: J.D. Salinger Tennessee Williams August Wilson
Genre: novel one act play two act play
Background: neurotic teenage angst decline of the antebellum South 1950’s America
POV: 1st person 3rd person dramatic 3rd person dramatic
Don’t forget: trusting your narrator? the role of setting/music decade plays
You will write two essays. 4 – 6 paragraphs.
One essay asks you to read and reflect upon a Robert Frost poem.
The other asks you to demonstrate your knowledge of several characters in at least two different works from the second semester.
click on POETRY REVIEW for poetic terms and devices you should know
