english 102 - vocabulary/terminology/concepts

This page provides explanations and links to supplemental readings regarding the vocabulary, terminology, and concepts we discuss in English 102. All of the concepts you are accountable for (on quizzes) will have an entry on this page.

2/13 Tuesday

Explication - a detailed analysis of a literary work in order to discern its deeper meanings and themes [dictionary.com / Wikipedia]

Unreliable Narrator - there is evidence in the text that the person telling the story (the narrator) can not be trusted. For example, in the first paragraph of "A&P," Sammy excoriates a customer for giving him a hard time, even though Sammy is the one who made the error by double-ringing her purchase. This incident provides concrete evidence that Sammy is an unreliable narrator, that the Reader should not take Sammy's version of events at face value.

What is an unreliable narrator? (good explanation at nownovel.com)

How to Recognize and Create an Unreliable Narrator by Ginny Wiehardt

Unity of Effect - From Edgar Allan Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), this is Poe's assertion that in good writing, everything -- every word, every detail, every image, every line of dialogue -- orchestrates to achieve a single effect upon the Reader. In practice, when analyzing/explicating serious Literature, we should generally assume the author intended a unity of effect; therefore, every little detail is essentially a piece of evidence, and any interpretation that ignores any piece of evidence is suspect.

The Philosophy of Composition by Edgar Allan Poe - read the original!

2/15 Thursday

Protagonist - the main character in a literary work. Typically, a story will be centered around one protagonist (Momma in "Everyday Use"), but some literary works may feature multiple protagonists: Who, for example, is the protagonist of Game of Thrones? Jon Snow? The Mother of Dragons? Arya Stark? Moreover, the protagonist is not always simply "the good guy;" many stories feature an anti-hero as the protagonist, such as Sammy in "A&P," young George Orwell in "Shooting an Elephant," Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, or Carrie Mathison in Homeland. In fact, as most humans are flawed in one way or another, protagonists in serious Literature are very rarely purely good.

What Is a Protagonist? by Shundalyn Allen - good overview of protagonists and antagonists, and some good advice on storytelling

Definition of a Protagonist in Literature, and Examples by Ginny Wiehardt

Antagonist - Typically thought of as "the bad guy" in a story, the antagonist can be anything -- a person, a group, a force -- that works against the peace and happiness of the protagonist, usually the primary source of conflict. The Wicked Witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a more traditional antagonist, whereas the unforgiving power of nature is the antagonist in the film The Perfect Storm. An antagonist can also be abstract, for example the antagonist in "A&P" is Sammy's ignorance.

Epiphany - a sudden moment of realization of a profound truth. In a specific moment, something happens that opens one's eyes and allows one to see a truth he or she was unable to see or understand previously. An epiphany has two components: 1) the physical moment (a specific place and time) that triggers the realization, and 2) the substance of the realization itself. For example, when young George Orwell is standing in front of the elephant, holding the gun, surrounded by the crowd (the moment), he finally understands the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor the substance).

Dictionary.com (the 3rd and 4th definitions here most relevant to class)

Wikipedia

2/22 Thursday

Conflict - Conflict is the engine of narrative. Without conflict, there is no story. Boiled down to their essence, all stories are about the same thing: the resolution of conflict. All stories begin with conflict and end with the resolution (sometimes partial) of that conflict. For examples, in crime serials on TV, like CSI or Law and Order, just about every episode begins with a crime (conflict) and ends with solving the case (resolution). The word conflict has a sort of negative connotation, but keep in mind that this is not necessarily the case in Literature. In Literature, conflict means the opposite of peace, and it can take positive forms. For example, love is often the source of conflict.

Types of Conflict in Literature by Katherine Docimo

MacGuffin - A Macguffin is a plot device that drives the action in a story, often a goal or a desired object that the protagonist pursues. In its strict definition, the MacGuffin is trivial, merely a tool the writer uses to motivate character action in a story, such as the briefcase everyone is chasing in Pulp Fiction. A more flexible use of this concept is to consider that many stories, especially in serious Literature, will weave multiple layers of conflict: a more superficial conflict that drives the action (the MacGuffin) and the real conflict that is the true heart of the story. For example, the zombies in The Walking Dead are more or less a MacGuffin, whereas the true source of conflict in that story is the dark sides of human nature.

Alfred Hitchcock Explains the Plot Device He Called the 'MacGuffin'

MacGuffin by tvtropes

Top 10 Movie MacGuffins by IGN Staff

2/27 Tuesday

Narrative Structure - The vast majority of narratives (in all genres) follow, more or less, a four phase structure:

1. Exposition

2. Rising Action

3. Climax

4. Resolution (Denouement)

3/1 Thursday

In Medias Res - latin for "in the middle of things" - this is generally good advice for effective storytelling: start with action. Try to have somebody doing something in the first sentence, in the opening scene of a movie or a video game. Background information and description are useful and necessary, especially in the exposition phase, but static and boring in and of itself. The Reader first needs a reason to care about the background and description, and conflict and action are what make the Reader care. So, get the action moving first, hook the Reader, and then fill in necessary background and detail as you go.

Wikipedia / TV Tropes

In medias res: 6 steps to start stories from the middle by NowNovel - thorough advice on how to use this concept to start your own story

Symbolism - Anything in a literary work that has an additional meaning beyond its literary meaning. For example, the elephant in "Shooting an Elephant" is literally an elephant, but it is also a symbol for the British Empire: a giant, powerful, majestic thing that is brought to its knees and ultimately destroyed. In "Hills Like White Elephants," the girl describes the hills as looking like white elephants, literally an attempt to engage the American in conversation, but a "white elephant" symbolizes a costly, life-changing burden: the baby the girl carries in her womb. In "Cathedral," the cathedral the husband and Robert draw is literally a cathedral, but it is also a symbol: the husband is isolated, withdrawn, apathetic, whereas a cathedral is a massive undertaking, people working together to create beauty, something larger than themselves.

Show, Don't Tell - don't tell the Reader what is happening, how people feel - SHOW the Reader through action, details, and dialogue. Don't tell the Reader the room is messy; SHOW the Reader the messy room. In this brief example, the first scene tells, whereas the second scene shows.

3/13 Tuesday

We have covered the essentials of storytelling, and how apply these concepts to your epiphany narrative; here are a couple links to good basic guides to writing short stories:

Learn How to Write a Great Short Story by Ginny Wiehardt

How to Write a Short Story That Captivates Your Reader by Jerry Jenkins

Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips on How to Write a Good Short Story by Open Culture -- Kurt Vonnegut is one of the great American writers of the 2nd half of the 20th century. All 8 of these are good advice, but I think 2 are especially good, practical:

4. Every sentence must do one of two things--reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

Tactile Imagery - details and descriptions in a story that attempt to engage the Reader's five sense.

Tactile Imagery That Stimulates the Reader's Imagination by Cate Leona

The Art of Literary Olfaction, or Do You Smell That? by Jill McCabe Johnson