Literary ElementsThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Ms. BrooksAcademic English 9

Protagonist

The main character of a literary work

Antagonist

A character or force against which another character struggles.

Sympathetic Character

fictional character in a story with whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, if not necessarily admire.

Unsympathetic Character

Fictional character in a story who is unpleasant and difficult to like

Irony

A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature.

Dramatic Irony

a character is ignorant of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters

Situational Irony

the opposite of what is expected occurs.

Verbal Irony

characters say the opposite of what they mean.

Symbolism

An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself.

Rising Action

A set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part of a play's or story's plot leading up to the climax.

Round Character

A character with many personality traits (many details given)

Flat Character

A character with few personality traits (few details given)

Static Character

A character that does not change personality, beliefs, ideas, etc. throughout the work

Dynamic Character

a character that experiences some type of change during the course of the story due to events

Foreshadowing

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play, usually resolved by the end of the work. The conflict may occur within a character as well as between characters.

Internal Conflict

Conflict that occurs within a character

External Conflict

Conflict against forces outside of a character

Person v Self Conflict

A character has trouble deciding what action to take.

This type of conflict deals with right and wrong.

Person v Society Conflict

A character has a problem with the law, school, accepted behavior, etc

Person v Nature Conflict

A character struggles with the elements of nature.

Climax/Turning Point

The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work

Falling Action

In the plot of a story or play, the action following the climax of the work that moves it towards its denouement or resolution.

Theme

The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization.

Resolution

The sorting out or unraveling of a plot at the end of a play, novel, or story

Denouement

The resolution of the plot of a literary work.