Literary+Devices

= Literary Devices = = = juxtaposition: When two opposing things are placed side by side for comparision = = example: The rosebush to the prison door and the Scarlet letter to the sad colored garments in The Scarlet Letter = =

= = allusion: reference in a work to another piece of literature = = example: Slaughterhouse Five’s constant allusions to the Bible/Christianity = =

= = ambiguity: meaning of something is unknown = = example: = =

= = doppelgänger: a “twin” of another character. Can be seen as ghostly. = = example: Hester is compared to the ghost in The Scarlet Letter. Billy Pilgrim compared to Cinderella in Slaughterhouse Five = =

= = repetition: When the author repeats a word or phrase, usually to deliver an effect or emphasis = = Example: The repetition of the word “creep” in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” = =

= = Dramatic Irony: When the reader knows something that the character doesn’t. = = Example: The knowledge that roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband in The Scarlet Letter. = =

= = Motif: A repeated idea or image in a piece of art. = = Example: Hands and windows in Winesburg, Ohio = =

= = Double Entendre: A word that has two or more meanings at once. = = Example: Chillingworth is called a leech in The Scarlet Letter, denoting him as a doctor and comparing him to a leech. = =

= = = = Diction: Word choice that the author uses = = Example: = =

= = Syntax: The way words and punctuation are arranged on the page. = = Example: = =

= = Intertextuality: When two pieces of literature have great similarities, unintentionally = = Example: Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter and the Black Man in “Young Goodman Brown” = =

= = hyperbolic imagery: using gross exaggeration for effect. = = Example: = =

= = Symbol: An object that represents an idea bigger than itself. = = Example: The Scarlet Letter in The Scarlet Letter. Billy’s impresario’s coat in Slaughterhouse-Five. = =

= = Mood/Tone: The way the author conveys the feeling of a scene. = = Example: Arthur Miller’s use of rain at the climax of The Crucible. = =

= = Satire: When an author uses humor or hyperbole to comment on something in society. = = Example: The Witch hunt scene by Monty Python = =

= = Irony: When the opposite of what you expect to happen happens. = = Example: Hester Prynne being the most Christlike character in a Puritan Society. (The Scarlet Letter) The title of The Great Gatsby. = =

= = American Canon: Collection of American works that are considered our country’s greatest pieces of literature. = = Example: Moby Dick, By Ernest Hemingway; The Great Gatsby, By F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne = =

= = Bildungsroman: A coming of age story, the passage of a character from childhood to adulthood. = = Example: “The White Heron” is a coming of age story for Sylvia = =

= = Androcentric: Man-Centered = = Example: Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck = =

= = Gynocentric:Woman-Centered = = Example: = =

= = Patriarchal Society: society dominated by men = = Example: The Cult of Domesticity = =

= = Epigraph: A short quotation at the beginning or a piece. = = Example: The quatrain at the beginning of Slaughterhouse Five = =

= = Minimalism: When an artist uses few props or tricks in his art. = = Example: Our Town = =

= = Theme: Main ideas that an author wants to convey in a piece of literature. = = Example: Scarlet Letter: Humans should be true. Show freely to the world, etc. = =

= = Grotesque: A very ugly or comically distorted figure, creature, or image = = Example: Characters in Winesburg, Ohio = =

= = unreliable narrator: A narrator of a story or novel who cannot be trusted = = Example: Nick Carroway in The Great Gatsby = =

= = Non-Linear Storytelling: When a narrator jumps around in telling of a story. = = Example: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut = =

= = Metafiction: The line between fiction and reality is blurred = = Example: Slaughterhouse-Five = =

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