NC Final ExamStudy Guide

Conflict

External Conflict• Person vs person• Person vs nature• Person vs society

Internal Conflict• Person vs self

PLOT

Plot continued

Flash forward Flashback

In media res

SETTING

Time

Place

Environment

CHARACTERIZATION

STATIC vs DYNAMIC CHARACTERS

THEME

DRAMA (COMEDY & TRAGEDY), POETRY, NOVELS, SHORT STORIES

Mood & Tone

Author’s PurposePersuade, Inform, Entertain

Point of View

Unreliable Narrator“In the case of an unreliable narrator (sometimes called a fallible

narrator), the reader has reason not to trust what the narrator is saying. The narrator may be unreliable for many reasons. Some of the typical scenarios are:

• The narrator may be of a dramatically different age than the people in the story, such as a child attempting to explain adult actions

• The narrator may have prejudices about race, class or gender• The narrator may have low intelligence• The narrator may suffer from hallucinations or dementia (as with

the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart”• The narrator may have a personality flaw such as pathological

lying or narcissism• The narrator may be trying to make a point that is contrary to the

actions of the story or be attempting to libel one of the characters due to a grudge

Tone

TONE describes the author’s attitude toward his/her subject.The attitude may be stated in so many words or implied.  Diction is a key to

tone.  Tones can be formal or informal (among other things): 

Mood

MOOD is the situation's atmosphere or characters' feelings:Calm Cheerful Chilling Comical Dark

Depressing Dismal Eerie Fanciful Foreboding

Gloomy Grim Grotesque Heart-breaking

Heartrending

Holy Hopeful Horrific Intense Joyful

Light Lighthearted Melancholic Morbid Mournful

Mysterious Ominous Optimistic Pessimistic Powerful

Romantic Sad Sinister Soothing Sorrowful

Spiritual Spooky Terrifying Threatening Tranquil

Whimsical        

Verbal IronySarcasm, Satire, Understatement

SATIREThe use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

The use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny

The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Figurative Language

HyperboleMetaphorSimileIdiom

Imagery Personification

Connotation

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

• "the word “discipline” has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression“