Contemp Lit - Academic Terms

Characterization

• A character or force in conflict with the main character

• the main character in a literary work

• the act of creating and developing a character

• the literal meaning of a word

Protagonist

• A character or force in conflict with the main character

• the main character in a literary work

• an imagined place in which everything is perfect

• The study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature

Antagonist

• A character or force in conflict with the main character

• the main character in a literary work

• A character who embodies a single quality and does not develop in the story

• A character who is complex and develops or changes in the story

Dynamic Character

• an idea or feeling that a word suggests

• the main character in a literary work

• the act of creating and developing a character

• A character who grows, learns, or changes as a result of the story's action

Static Character

• A character who does not change during the story

• the main character in a literary work

• A character who embodies a single quality and does not develop in the story

• an imaginary place where living conditions are at their very worst

Round Character

• A character or force in conflict with the main character

• A character who's personality is complex and develops or changes in the story

• A statement that can be proved

• A character who embodies a single quality and does not develop in the story

Flat Character

• A character who embodies a single quality and does not develop in the story

• a summary based on personal opinions

• the act of creating and developing a character

• Background information presented in a literary work.

Connotation

• an imaginary place where living conditions are at their very worst

• Most exciting moment of the story or turning point

• An idea or feeling that a word suggests

• the literal meaning of a word

Denotation

• The study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature

• A story based on the moral or psychological growth of the main character

• A statement that can be proved

• the literal meaning of a word

Dystopia

• an interpretive statement of the central meaning or message of a text

• an imagined place in which everything is perfect

• the end of the story where loose ends are tied up

• an imaginary place where living conditions are at their very worst