Literary Terms w/ Examples from Short Stories (2021)

foreshadowing
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Terms in this set (25)
foreshadowing
"I'll get the meat from the freezer (for supper)" - Mary Maloney - Lamb to the Slaughter
mood
"The Tell-Tale Heart" has a creepy, ominous atmosphere.
symbolism
The dead butterfly in "A Sound of Thunder" represents how small actions can have large consequences.
personification
"The time machine howled." A Sound of Thunder
theme
One cannot escape one's own conscience. "The Tell-Tale Heart"
hyperbole
"It (T-Rex) could reach up and grab the moon." A Sound of Thunder
metaphor
"A river of nervous sweat ran down his palms." (Seventh Grade)
simile
"she...split like a perpendicular bisector
through an acute triangle" ($76.49)
exposition
We meet Victor getting his schedule, nervous on his first day of seventh grade in Fresno, CA. "Seventh Grade" (Soto)
central conflict
Victor wants Teresa to be his girl but lacks confidence and is nervous around her - person vs. self - "Seventh Grade"
rising actionVictor looks for Teresa all day at school - "Seventh Grade"climaxAs Victor tenses up, expecting the worst, Teresa says, "That was good. I didn't know you knew French." (After his miserable attempts at speaking French - Seventh Grade)falling actionMr. Bueller thinks about his own history of trying to impress a girl and doesn't embarrass Victor for not knowing French. (Seventh Grade)resolutionVictor heads to the library to check out French textbooks and thinks that seventh grade is going to be good year. (Seventh Grade)imagery"They sat in the ancient wilderness. Far birds' cries blew on a wind, and the smell of tar and an old salt sea, moist grasses, and flowers the color of blood." (A Sound of Thunder)direct characterization"I was uncool. Useless...You get the point....I was nothing. A nobody." (Seventy-Six Dollars & Forty-Nine Cents)indirect characterizationEckels brags that his adventures would be envied by "every hunter that ever lived." This shows he's arrogant and insecure (A Sound of Thunder).third person limited/personal point of viewThe narrator tells us "For Mary Maloney this was always a blissful time of day. She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man." - Lamb to the Slaughterverbal ironyMary Maloney pleads with the detectives, "It'd be a favor to me if you'd eat [the lamb] up." (Lamb to the Slaughter)situational ironyTeresa says "That was good" after Victor makes a fool of himself in French class. (Seventh Grade)dramatic ironyWe know that the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" plans to kill the old man.third-person (omniscient - all knowing)The narrator tells the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all the characters - "Eckels swayed on the padded seat, his face pale, his jaw stiff... There were four other men in the Machine... They sat looking at each other, and the years blazed around them." (A Sound of Thunder)first person point of viewThe narrator says, "I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him." The Tell-Tale Heartsecond person point of viewThe narrator says, "You spend too much time on back-alley ball-handling drills to compete. Nah, the game of basketball is your best chance." (How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court...)allusion"I WAS THE KID who spent his weekends reading Star Wars books and magazines and reciting lines from each movie with my best friend and fellow Star Wars junkie, Hervé." ($76.49)