The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Literary Terms

Literary Term Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

protagonist

Noun - someone who is the main character of the story, often a hero

The protagonist in “Smoke Signals” is Victor because he is the main character. .

Literary Term Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

antagonist Noun - the character or force against the main character or hero in a story

The Joker is Batman’s main antagonist because he is against Batman.

Literary Term Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

Character motivation

Noun - the reason characters do what they do; it gives characters/story more depth

Victor’s dad’s motivation for leaving the reservation was to run away from his mistakes.

Literary Term Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

unreliable narrator

Noun - a first-person narrator that is not trustworthy Ways to spot an unreliable narrator: dramatically younger/older than other characters, prejudiced about race, class, or gender, low intellect, hallucinations, pathological liar

In Forrest Gump, Forrest is an unreliable narrator because he does not understand many events.

Literary Term Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

Sympathetic Unsympathetic

Adjective - describes someone who people can care for. Adjective - describes someone you can’t agree with or feel sorry for.

Junior is a sympathetic character because we feel sorry for him since he gets beat up everyday. Victor is at times an unsympathetic character because he is mean to Thomas.

Literary Terms Definition & Purpose Example (picture or words)

Round character_ Flat character

Noun - a character that is complex (we know a lot about them) AND changes throughout the course of the novel

Noun - a character that is two-dimensional, uncomplicated (we know little about them) AND does not change throughout the novel

A round character in Smoke Signals is Thomas because we know a lot about him. A flat character is Susie Song because we know very little about her.