Short Story Elements Vocabulary Review

Short Story Elements Terms & Skills Review

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Multiple Choice

Which of the following show the elements of plot in order?

• climax, rising action, exposition, falling action, resolution
• exposition, climax, rising action, falling action, resolution
• exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
• resolution, rising action, climax, falling action, exposition

Multiple Choice

What 2 components are included in the exposition?

• characters, dialogue
•  narrator, conflict
• characters, resolution
• characters, setting

Multiple Choice

Where does the drama and suspense begin to build in a linear plot story?

• The resolution
• The climax
• The rising action
• The falling action 

Multiple Choice

What is the function of the setting?

• To set the mood and provides the reader with context on the time, place, and environment that the story takes place

• To provide the highest point of tension
• To explain the importance of where the story takes place
• To develop the imagination

Multiple Choice

Which part of the story is represented by this blue blob?

• exposition
• rising action
• falling action
• resolution

Multiple Choice

Which part of the story is represented by this blue blob?

• climax
• rising action
• falling action
• resolution

Multiple Choice

The events that follow the climax, which lessen the conflict.

• Exposition

• Rising Action

• Falling Action

• Resolution

Multiple Choice

The story's conclusion. The outcome of the conflict. 

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Resolution

Multiple Choice

What type of literary conflict is present in the last slide?

• Character vs. Character

• Character vs. Society

• Character vs. Supernatural

• Character vs. Nature

• Character vs. Self

Multiple Choice

What type of literary conflict is present in the last slide?

• Character vs. Character

• Character vs. Society

• Character vs. Supernatural

• Character vs. Nature

• Character vs. Self

​Setting

​Remember that setting is the time and place in which a story happens

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Setting is important to theme -- setting is a piece of what events happen in the story, and it impacts how the character reacts to what happens around them

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​Setting also impacts how a character behaves. The character is influenced by their surroundings

​Just like real people, characters have culture

​Characters have values and beliefs.

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​Sometimes, those values and beliefs are because of where they live.

Setting influences what characters want

All characters have motivations; this is something they want and strive for throughout the story.

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​Motivations can also be impacted by the setting.

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​A character that grew up as an only child may be motivated to make lots of friends.

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Multiple Choice

Excerpt from The Necklace Guy de Maupassant

1 When she sat down to dinner at her round table with its three-day-old cloth, and watched her husband opposite her lift the lid of the soup tureen and exclaim, delighted: "Ah, a good homemade beef stew! There's nothing better..." she would visualize elegant dinners with gleaming silver amid tapestried walls peopled by knights and ladies and exotic birds in a fairy forest; she would think of exquisite dishes served on gorgeous china worth thousands of francs, and of gallantries whispered and received with sphinx-like smiles while eating the pink flesh of trout or wings of grouse. She had no proper wardrobe, no jewels, nothing. And those were the only things that she loved--she felt she was made for them. She would have so loved to charm, to be envied, to be admired and sought after.She had a rich friend, an old school friend whom she refused to visit, because she suffered so keenly when she returned home. She would weep whole days, with grief, regret, despair, and misery.

Which BEST analyzes the influence of the setting in this excerpt? 

• The setting highlights differences between the two characters and foreshadows a conflict that will arise between them

• The author provides a detailed setting to help readers understand how completely the husband has failed his kind and loving wife 

• The setting highlights similarities between the two characters and explains the strengthening bond that will grow between them 

• the author creates a fanciful setting filled with knights, ladies, and exotic birds to show readers the life the characters enjoy 

​The answer is . . .

​The setting highlights differences between the two characters and foreshadows a conflict that will arise between them

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• ​The setting shows that the characters are poor.

• ​Evidence: "She had no proper wardrobe, no jewels, nothing. And those were the only things that she loved."

• ​The woman is vain and materialistic, however her husband is content with what they have.

• ​Evidence: "Ah, good old homemade beef stew! There's nothing better."

​"The Necklace" cont.

​Growing up poor has made the woman resentful. She is jealous of her rich friend. This is how the setting has impacted this character.

Multiple Choice

Setting is important because it can

• contribute to the theme of the story

• drive a character to act or think a certain way

• create mood and atmosphere

• all of the above

Multiple Choice

"Mrs. Gwizdala forcefully pushed the laptop out of the way to snag the popcorn bag."

• Direct Characterization
• Indirect Characterization

Multiple Choice

Read the following and determine if the author used direct or indirect characterization.

"The girl skipped all the way home while humming her favorite song."

• Direct Characterization

• Indirect Characterization

Multiple Choice

What acronym did we learn to remember the indirect ways an author can tell us about a character?

• STEAL
• FACE
• LONG
• READ

Multiple Choice

What does the "T" in STEAL stand for? 

• Talk
• Timing
• Thoughts

Multiple Choice

What does the "E" in STEAL stand for? 

• Everything
• Explain in detail
• Effect on others

Multiple Choice

Lennie from Of Mice and Men

Lennie is big and dumb. His childlike innocence allows him to take an active role in George's dream of owning farm. Lennie loves soft things and animals, which he accidentally kills because of his strength. His size combined with his mental handicap frequently put him and George in difficult situations.

• Direct

• Indirect

Multiple Choice

Static Characters...

• do not change during the story
• have little or no detail
• have lots of detail
• change during the story

Multiple Choice

Round characters can:

• Act like real people

• Have Depth

• Surprise the Reader

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

a character who does change / does develop

• protagonist

• antagonist

• static

• dynamic

Multiple Choice

a character who stays the same over time

• protagonist

• antagonist

• static

• dynamic

As you watch the short film Hair Love,

• pay attention to the characters' behaviors and reactions to others

• determine if the characters are static, dynamic, flat, or round

• think about a possible theme for the story

Describe Zuri.

Is she a static or dynamic character? Why do you think this?

Is she a flat or round character? Why do you think this?

Describe Zuri's father.

Is he a static or dynamic character? Why do you think this?

Is he a flat or round character? Why do you think this?

Theme Lesson

How does theme affect a story?

Multiple Choice

Should a theme be written as a single word?

• YES

• NO

Multiple Select

Which of the following are themes?

• People risk their own identity to find love.

• Without empathy, there can be no justice.

• Family

• Wealth

• Power corrupts humanity.

Theme Statements

• Since themes shouldn't be a single word, we need to create a theme statement.

• Topic IS NOT a theme statement.

• So, how do we write one?

How to write a theme statement:

• Create a list of theme topics that can be supported with evidence from the text and choose ONE topic that is best demonstrated by the text.

• Next, write a sentence about the author's message. (The author's message is that...)

• Finally, cross out "The author's message is that," and you should be left with a theme statement!

• Let's try it out together.

Multiple Choice

What is the main difference between THEME and MAIN IDEA. 

• Theme is a universal lesson, and main idea is what a story is about.
• Theme is what a story is about, and main idea is the universal lesson it teaches.
  

Multiple Choice

One way you could figure out the theme is to...

• Skim through the story
• Just read the beginning of the story
• Think about what the character has learned
• Read the ending of the story

Multiple Choice

Which of these things is not related to the "theme" in a story?

• how a character is feeling
• a "life lesson" the main character learns
• a big idea that people from any culture or any place can understand
• the moral of the story

Multiple Choice

The best definition of theme is...

• The lesson the author is teaching. 
• The message the author is sending.
• A word that summarizes the story.
• The character's main problem.

Diction

Influences on Tone & Mood

Multiple Choice

A Dream Within a Dream

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

The author’s attitude towards life can best be described as

• a. Hopeless

• b. Scared

• c. Loving

• d. Unbelieving

Multiple Choice

A Dream Within a Dream

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

What tone is the author most likely trying to convey with the description of the “surf-tormented shore”?

• a. Terrified

• b. Lost

• c. Negative

• d. Optimistic

Multiple Choice

I stand amid the beauty

Of waves brushing the shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of golden sand--

How many! How they flow

Through my fingers to their home below…

This re-written stanza conveys what kind of tone?

• a. uncertain

• b. realistic

• c. happy

• d. nostalgic

Tone

• Tone is the AUTHOR’S or NARRATOR’S attitude

  towards the audience, the subject, or characters.

  
  

• The tone influences the story’s mood /atmosphere.

• Tone = author's attitude

MOOD

• Mood is the emotion that the READERS feel while reading about the subject.

Multiple Choice

True or false? Diction can refer to a person's accent.

• True

• False

Diction Meaning "Choice of Words"

To get it sorted (to friends)

To solve the problem (to colleagues)

To overcome the challenge (to bosses)

It was a mistake (to a close friend)

It was an accident (to a work colleague)

It was an oversight (to a senior at work)

Poll

What skill did we review in class that was most helpful?

• Plot

• Importance of setting

• Characters & Characterization

• Theme

• Diction, Tone, & Mood

Multiple Choice

Rank your understanding of our terms and reading literature standards on a scale of 1-5:

• 1: Still developing most of the skills

• 2: Still developing some of the skills.

• 3: Basic understanding of all the skills.

• 4. Accelerated understanding of all the skills.

• 5. Advanced understanding of all the skills.