9th Grade Vocab

Chapter 1
Plot
Plot- is a series of related events, like links in a chain. Each event hooks our curiosity and pulls us forward to the next event.
Basic Situation- First part of a plot also known as Exposition, This is the opening of the story, when the characters and their conflict are introduced. Exposition- also known as the Basic Situation
External Conflict- the struggle takes place between two characters, between a character and a group, or between a character and something nonhuman—a typhoon or a computer virus, for example.
Internal Conflict- takes place within a character’s mind or heart: A desire to win someone’s friendship might conflict with a fear or rejection.
Complication- The second part of a plot, Main character takes some action to resolve the conflict but meets with more problems or complications: danger, hostility, fear, or even a new threatening situation.
Climax- The third part of a story, the key scene in the story — that tense or exciting or terrifying moment when our emotional involvement is greatest.
Resolution- The final part of a story, sometimes called the Denouement. The resolution occurs at the end of the story.
Denouement- also known as the Resolution
Chronological Order -The order which events unfold in real time. The writer starts at the beginning and tells about each event in the order in which it happens.
Flashback- Writers interrupt the flow of events to present an episode from the past.
Flash-forward -To jump ahead days or years into the future by using literary device.
Foreshadowing- Hints or clues that suggest what is to come in the story.

Setting
Mood- or Atmosphere – it can affect the way we feel. Some settings make us fearful or uneasy (midnight, a lonely house, the scraping of a branch against a window.)
Atmosphere- also known as Mood
Tone -attitude toward a subject or character.
Images - words or phrases that call forth a response from our senses—sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste.

Chapter 2
Character
Direct Characterization- tells us about the people who inhabit their fictional worlds. The writer tells us directly what a character is like or what a person’s motives are.
Indirect Characterization- The writer shows us a character but allows us to interprets for ourselves the kind of person we are meeting.
Dialogue- How a character not only by what they see about themselves, but by how they respond to each other
Dramatic Monologue- a type of poem, a speaker addresses one or more silent listeners, often discussing a specific problem or situation.
Soliloquy- One character onstage, talking to himself or herself.

Character Interactions
Protagonist- main character
Antagonist- The character or force the protagonist struggles against and must overcome
Subordinate Characters- add depth and complication to the plot
Dynamic Character -Characters that grows or changes.
Static Character - Characters that do not progress or change.
Motivation- what drives a character’s actions, explains behavior and reveals personality.
Flat Character- has only one or two character traits.
Round Character - a figure who has several sides to his personality.
Stock Character-is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype.

Chapter 3
Narrator and Voice (p.148-149)
Omniscient Narrator - omniscient meaning “all knowing” tells us everything about every character including how they think and feel.
First Person Narrator- is a character in the story who talks using I
Persona- literary critics sometimes use this term to refer to a first-person narrator
Third Person Limited Narrator- storyteller zooms in on just one character but talks about the character in the third person, using he or she.
Tone- is the attitude a speaker or writer takes toward a subject, character, or audience.
Voice- the writers language and overall style
Diction- also known as the voice

Chapter 4
Theme
Theme- the central idea or insight, about life that it reveals
Genres- stories, novels, plays, poems
Generalization- about life or human nature
Universal Themes- basic human concerns as good and evil, life and death, love and loss.

Chapter 5
Irony and Ambiguity
Verbal Irony - the simplest kind – is used when someone says one thing but means the opposite (sarcasm)
Situational Irony- describes an event that is not just surprising but actually contrary to what we expected
Dramatic Irony- occurs in plays, a fact that explains how it gets its name when we know something before the character does
Ambiguity- offers several conflicting consequences or meaning and leaves us to sort them out.