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Fiction

Characters in Longer Works of Fiction

  • Characters are either dynamic or static
  • Character growth and character change does not equal the same thing
  • Character development is often enriched by a character's inconsistent behavior

Stock and Foils

Stock Characters

Move the plot forward or illuminate major character's motivations and development

Foil

Contrasting character who shines a spotlight onto the protagonist through contrasting traits

Example

Mercutio is the foil to Romeo regarding love.

Harry Potter is the foil to Draco Malfoy

Analyzing Dialogue

Conversation between two or more characters—an essential way to reveal character

Three elements to identify when reading dialogue: - The content of what is being said - They way it is being said, including the language and the state directions for delivering the line - The reaction and response from other characters

Soliloquy and Monologues

A character, alone on state, reveals their thoughts or emotions, as if the character is thinking out loud

Long Fiction and Drama

Setting

Physical Set and Props

Question

What set pieces reveal about character, plot, etc.? Can they foreshadow later events?

Historical Context

A time and place that has its own political, economic, or social norms and upheavals. Will go unmentioned most times because author assumes reader has general knowledge of event

Social and Cultural Contexts

Manners, mores, customs, rituals, and codes of conduct. Science Fiction often creates its own

Question

How do the social and cultural contexts of the text reveal important information about the setting of the work?

Plot and Structure

Longer works of fiction leave more room for more than one major conflict—many of them continue to develop and eventually intersect

Question

What conflicts do we have already through the two acts (of Pygmalion)? What other conflicts do we see on the peripheral?

Diction

Formal

Sophisticated, academic

Informal

Slang or colloquial language

What is the difference between fake and artificial?

Fake has the "not-real" connotations, while artificial is more neutral

Concrete

Words that are generally perceived through your senses because they are a part of the physical world

Abstract

Lass tangible and refer more to concepts or ideas