Rich, vivid, and lively detail;

Word choices;

3. flowery adjectives and adverbsto describe what is going on or how something appears;

4. figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification;

· Similes use “like” or “as” to compare two things.

· Metaphors imply the comparison of two things.

· Personification gives human characteristics to nonhuman things, both inanimate and animal forms.

5. showing, rather than telling through the use of active verbs and precise modifiers;

6. using the five senses: smell, sight, sound, taste, and touch.

Tips

In the stories and poem you’re about to read,

• find examples of descriptions;
• explain the elements that make them effective.

Unit 5 Point of view

A story’s point of view is the angle or position from which a narrative is told.

The person whose point of view is used to relate the story is regarded as the narrator.

Narration usually occurs from the first-personor third-person point of view.

· First-person point of view: the narrator is one of the characters and tells the story in his or her own words; uses the words I, me, we, and us; the reader only knows what the narrator knows and observes.

· Third-person point of view: the narrator is not one of the characters (an outside observer) and uses the words he, she, it, they, and them; the three types of third-person point of view are limited, omniscient and objective/dramatic.

Third-person limited point of view focuses on the feelings and thoughts of one character;

Third-person omniscient point of view has an “all-knowing” narrator who can describe the thoughts and feelings of all characters (omni- means “all”);

Objective/dramatic point of view is when the narrator does not reveal the feelings and thoughts of any character; the narrator only records what is seen and heard; the reader can only infer what characters feel.

Some authors use multiple narrators. It is usually done in stories where it is important to get different characters’ views on a single matter.

An unreliable narrator is psychologically unstable; has an enormous bias; is unknowledgeable, ignorant, or childish; or, is purposefully trying to deceive the reader.

A naive narrator, being ignorant and inexperienced, is used in situations where the reader can draw more inferences about the narrator’s environment than the narrator.

Stream of consciousness gives the narrator’s perspective by attempting to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. Often, interior monologues and inner desires or motivations, as well as pieces of incomplete thoughts, are expressed.

Tips

In the stories included in this unit, notice:

1. who is telling the story (the narrator) and the point of view (the perspective from which the story is told);
2. howthe point of view affects our response to the story and its characters.

Unit 6 Characters

A character is a person (or animal or natural force presented as a person) in a work of literature. Characterization is the way an author presents a character.

An author using direct characterization makes statements about the characters and tells us what characters are like.

In indirect characterization, the author lets us draw our own conclusions about a character based on what the character says or does, how he or she is dressed, or what other characters think about him or her.

A writer indicates character to the reader in the following ways:

· through the character’s statements and thoughts;

· by showing the character’s actions;

· by giving the opinion of other characters;

· through the character’s name, clothes, physical traits, the descriptions of his/her environment.

Character types include:

Major character: a character who dominates the story.

Minor character: a less important character in a story.

Protagonist: the main character in a work of literature.

Antagonist: a character or force opposing the protagonist.

Foil: a character who provides a contrast to the protagonist.

Static character: a character who does not change.

Dynamic character: a character who changes in an important way.

Flat character: a one-dimensional character; displays only one or two distinguishing traits; usually can be summed up in one sentence.

Round character: a character presented in-depth from many angles; may be complex and many-sided or three-dimensional.

Tips

While reading the stories included in this unit,

• be attentive to the methods of characterization: by noticing what we are told, listening to what a character says and what other characters say about her or him, entering a character’s mind, observing the character’s behaviour.
• Consider how fully the characters are developed: whether they are round or flat, whether they change or stay the same.

Unit 7 Tone

Tone: is the general attitude authors take toward their subject and/or audience. It may be formal, informal, pessimistic, optimistic, intimate, humorous, serious, ironic, sarcastic, sympathetic or many other possible attitudes.

The tone of a work is produced mainly by the writer’s diction or choice of words, but syntax and sound may also contribute.

Key steps to identifying the tone in a literary work :

Step1

Look at the word choice. Words have positive, negative and neutral associations. Pay attention to the connotations of words. Are there any vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell)? Do authors use any metaphors, similes, puns, hyperboles? Are there any instances of irony?

· Metaphoris a figure of speech comparing things that are basically unalike to make the reader see them as similar in some way. An example is: The boy remained a rock for his family during the tragedy.

· Simileis a comparison of things using the words like, as, as if, than, such as, or resembles. For example: The unkind words struck like a knife in the girl’s heart.

· Punis a humorous use of a word that has two meanings or of different words that sound the same. For example: She told the child to try not to be so trying.

· Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration used for an ironic or humorous effect to emphasize a point, as in I’ll die if I don’t pass English.

· Ironyis the expression of one’s meaning by saying the direct opposite of one’s thoughts in order to be emphatic, amusing, sarcastic. An example is “That’s really lovely!” said when it’s raining heavily and you have no umbrella with you.

Step2

Analyze the syntax used to describe events. Notice line or sentence length. Are the sentences compound or short and unexpanded? Are there any exclamatory sentences? Are there any parallel constructions? What effect do they have?

Step3

Pay attention to the use of sound devices. Sound devices may draw attention to words a writer wants to emphasize, connect words, or create special moods. Despite the difference between poetry and prose, the various poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia may also be at work in prose.

· Alliteration: the repetition of initial (first) consonant letters or sounds in word groups; examples include: wild and wooly, sweet sixteen, through thick and thin, and big blue balloon.

· Assonance: similarity between the vowel sounds only or the consonant sounds only of two words or syllables, as in sharper and garter or killed and cold.

· Onomatopoeia: the use of a word that suggests the sound it makes; examples include: buzz, pop, hiss, moo, hum, crackle, crunch, gurgle.

Step4

Ask yourself how the information is presented. Look at the amount of action versus the amount of description. Notice the amount of dialogue. What order do you receive the information in? How is the author trying to persuade you, if they are?

Step 5

Consider how you feel when reading. What emotions come naturally to you? Do you get angry, sad or joyous? Do you feel that the author’s trying to persuade you?

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 850