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Eight Basic Literary Devices
Literary devices, in general: As I said already in the link on Theme, literary devices
are the tools a writer uses to build a drama, story, or perhaps even
some poems. Here are the eight major literary devices:
The First Device:
Conflict
The device of conflict is always
present in any work that tells a story; without conflict, in fact,
there would be no story. Every single conflict in any story, novel,
TV show, movie, or stage drama will be one of four types.
Note that the last two are the really important ones:
- person
versus nature: Also
called natural conflict. In this conflict, the
characters are pitted against the forces of nature—usually in
the form of natural disasters such as hurricanes etc., but
sometimes in the form of other species (bears, lions, even
insects, bacteria, etc.) or even in the form of a character’s
failing health (due to disease, old age, etc.). Hint:
This type of conflict is seldom the main kind of conflict in
modern works, because humankind has so subdued our environment.
Usually, natural conflict becomes a sort of “container” for some
other types of conflicts. Example: The movie Titanic
used the ship’s collision with an iceberg as a device by which
to show us other things: romance, rich versus poor, and so
forth. In movies, this is actually a lucrative formula, and
such movies are commonly called “disaster flicks.” The natural
disaster is just a vehicle with which to do other things with
the characters.
- person
vs. person: Also
called interpersonal conflict. This type of conflict is
about one character being at odds with some other character. It
is present in virtually every story ever written. It is all but
universal. But beware! It is so common, that it is not
too helpful to us. So note that interpersonal conflict exists,
then realize this: if you will look beneath the surface of
any conflict between two people, you will find that they are in
conflict because they are representing two different social
groups. What I am saying is that when you look
beneath the surface of interpersonal conflict, what you will
find is one form or another of the third type: social
conflict. So please read about that one next.
- person
vs. society: Also
called social conflict. As I just said, if you show me
any two people squabbling, I will show you two people acting as
members of warring social groups. Two hints:
First, this is a crucial device, a key step towards
interpreting the theme of any story. Second, it is not
enough to refer vaguely to “social conflict.” The question
becomes this: What is the main kind of social
conflict in the story? You see, there are many, many
subtypes commonly found. Here are just a few:
- Gender
conflict (women vs. men)
-
Racial/ethnic conflict (blacks vs. whites, Anglos vs.
Latinos, etc.)
-
Generational conflict (young vs. old, often parents vs. sons
or daughters)
-
Socio-economic conflict (people of different social and/or
economic classes)
- person
vs. self: Also called inner conflict. This one is unique, because
it happens within a person. Anytime you are upset, confused,
indecisive, angry, embarrassed, sad, agitated, or anything else
besides perfectly calm—that is, most of the time—you are
experiencing inner conflict. Usually, it passes. Sometimes,
though, it escalates into real trouble. Often, stories choose
to tell about a time when inner conflict escalates. Hint:
There is a crucial cause/effect connection between social
conflict and inner conflict, which I will explain later. So pay
special attention to these two types: Social conflict and inner
conflict.
An
important tip about these four main kinds of conflict:
A common question I will be asking you regarding a given story
is "What is the main type of social conflict in this story?"
You cannot correctly answer this question by naming any of the other
three main kinds (natural, interpersonal, or inner conflict).
Instead, your answer (depending on the story) will be something like
"Gender conflict" or "Socio-economic conflict." Also,
sometimes you may encounter a type of social conflict which has no
readymade label. In such a case, label it this way:
"those who are _____________ versus those who are ___________."
In other words, describe the groups which the people in the story
represent. However, if I have given you a label for a type of
social conflict, please use it.
A Second Device:
Character
The literary
device of character spans seven terms, several of which come in
pairs. Here they are:
-
protagonist (the main character): the character the story focuses on the
most. How do you tell who is the protagonist, especially since
some works may feature a “dual protagonist” (two main
characters), or even an “ensemble cast” (a number of characters,
with focus split pretty evenly among them). Here are ways to
tell who the protagonist is:
- Who is
present in most scenes?
- Who is
probably there in the first scene, and almost certainly
still around in the last scene?
- Who
speaks the most lines?
- Who has
the most trouble?
- Who has
the fullest range of human personality traits? (See round
vs. flat characters, below)
-
antagonist (the “bad
guy”): This character is usually pretty easy to spot. But here
are two things to take note of: In some stories, the “bad guy”
is not all bad, but may have good qualities, or may struggle
between good and evil, just as the protagonist does. Also, in
some stories which really emphasize inner conflict, there may
not even be an antagonist; in such stories, the main character
is “his own worst enemy,” as the saying goes.
- catalyst
(a minor character who strongly influences the protagonist):
Such characters are used in one main way. Sometimes, a minor
character, who is never the antagonist, will say or do
something, perhaps even unconsciously, which has a profound
effect on the main character, perhaps even causing that
character’s personality to change, for better or worse.
- Two
related terms regarding character: Characters can be
round (realistic, with many traits), flat
(one-dimensional, showing only one character trait), or
somewhere in between in terms of how fully developed the author
makes them. Usually, the most well-rounded character will be
the protagonist. You can actually make a list, if you
wanted to, of the various character traits shown by a particular
character. The longest list will be that of the most
well-rounded character. Note, however, that roundness or
flatness of a character does not determine whether that
character is a good or bad person.
- Lastly,
the two most important terms about character:
Most importantly, characters—especially the protagonist—will be
either static (his or her personality does not change)
or dynamic (his or her personality changes permanently
in some major way). A “character change,” as it is called,
is not like a mood swing, which can be up and down and back up.
Instead, a character who becomes dynamic will change
drastically, almost certainly only once, and usually
towards the end of the story. Either outcome—either static
or dynamic—can be good or bad, depending entirely on the
circumstances of the story; in other words, a static, unchanging
character can be good in one story, bad in another, and a
dynamic, changing character can likewise change for the bad in
one story, and for the good in another. Tip: Be careful not to
get round and flat mixed up with static and
dynamic. Also, note that determining whether the
main character changes personality or not, if so in what way,
and whether his/her outcome is a positive one or not, puts you
on the very doorstep of seeing the theme of the story!!
A Third Device: Climax
No sub-terms.
This is the last major turning point, after which the fates
of the characters are set. It occurs in some single particular
scene, all at once. In the climactic scene of a story, the
protagonist will, as a result of intensifying inner conflict, reach
a point of high stress where there is a window of opportunity for
character change, for good or for bad. Note:
Even if the character remains static, there is still a climactic
scene where his/her personality might have changed, but did
not. The climax is harder to spot with a static character, it’s
true, but it is still there. Every story has a climax. Many
times, especially with dynamic characters, the climax is very
obvious.
A Fourth Device: Tone
Also called
mood. No sub-terms. This is the emotional “feel” of a scene,
judged by what the characters say and do, and also by the features
of the physical setting (gloomy, messy, sunny, neat, etc.). Tone is
especially useful in helping us judge whether an author means for us
to see the protagonist’s outcome as being a good one or a bad one,
because usually, an up-beat tone at the end of a story implies a
good outcome, and vice-versa. (However, it is also possible
that a mood can be used ironically--see that device below. In
such a case, a character's mood might be cheerful, while there is
all sorts of evidence that the circumstances and even the moral
state of the character are worse. Such a character might be in
denial, and the ironic use of mood (tone) can be used to imply
this.)
A Fifth Device: Setting
There are
three kinds:
-
historical (the time
setting. Often the setting is a contemporary one, meaning
present day.)
-
geographic (the place
of the story, but in a large sense: what part of the country,
what part of the world). These first two types may predict
certain types of social conflicts.
- physical
(place also, but in a more immediate sense: indoors,
outdoors?) What are the features of the physical setting? This
often helps establish tone (mood). Also, sometimes the
physical setting is used symbolically.
A Sixth Device:
Symbolism
Symbolism occurs
when a thing takes on a
meaning deeper or broader than itself. Symbols are used by writers
when they want to show you something, but don’t want to be so
obvious as to come right out and say it. Two types:
-
universal symbols,
which mean much the same in any culture. Example: Red =
danger.
-
contextual symbols,
which are symbolic only within a certain work, as used by that
author. Example: In a story called “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the
title is a combination of both types. The word yellow
symbolizes caution, just like the Yield signs at intersections.
That is a universal symbol. But normally, wallpaper is not
symbolic. In this story, however, it symbolizes the distracted
and finally insane state of the main character’s mind. So it is
used as a contextual symbol. Important symbols will always be
stressed and usually repeated; this is especially true of
contextual symbols, because the writer knows the reader will
miss it unless it is made to stand out.
A Seventh Device: Irony
Irony, in
general, is defined as an
unexpected twist or outcome. Three types:
- verbal
irony, occurs on sentence level, like puns, double-meanings,
overstatement & understatement
-
situational irony, when a plot event has an unexpected outcome. This is, to
me, the most interesting type.
- dramatic
irony, like situational irony except the outcome is not a
surprise to the reader, who has been given knowledge by the
author which the character does not have. Be careful not to get
these last two reversed.
An Eighth Device: Point
of View
Point of View
does not refer to "opinion," as used here. It refers to who is
telling the story Overall, there are five types:
- First
person point of view:
The main character is also the narrator: “I thought
this, I did that.” First person point of view is extremely
common. Also, note that it helps you to figure out which
character is the protagonist.
- Second
person point of view:
The narrator speaks directly to someone, usually the reader, as
in a letter: “You should realize that…” This p.o.v.
tends to pull the reader more deeply into the story, until you
almost feel like one of the characters. This p.o.v. is pretty
rarely used.
- Third
person point of view:
The narrator is unidentified, and is not one of the characters.
The narrator speaks about the characters: “At that
point, he thought he should do something, so he
stood up and . . .” Three sub-types:
-
Third person omniscient point of view:
The narrator tells virtually all inner thoughts and
feelings of the characters, especially the protagonist.
This is old-fashioned, as in Dickens or Tolstoy. Modern
readers tend to become impatient with this type of
storytelling, because we know more about human nature than
readers did several centuries ago. We simply don’t need to
be told the motivation behind every action.
-
Third person limited omniscient point of view:
The narrator tells some but not all of inner thoughts
and feelings, usually during important scenes. This type,
along with first person p.o.v., is extremely common in
today’s literature.
-
Third person objective point of view:
The narrator tells none of the inner thoughts and
feelings. It is like watching a video or movie, in which we
see actions and hear dialogue, but must interpret thoughts,
feelings, and motives for ourselves. Such stories tend to
use symbolism quite a lot. Hemingway is an example of such
a writer.
These are the eight basic literary
devices. You will become more familiar with them as you
actually use them to interpret the assigned readings, which will
begin very soon. However, I strongly recommend that you
spend some time studying these devices. Commit them to memory;
it's not that many terms. That will help enormously
when it is time to begin using them for interpretation; rather than
having to refer back and forth to this link or even to a printout of
it, you will have the eight devices and their subterms in mind
already, and can much more easily begin to apply them.
And that application will become a
good deal easier when you study the next link,
An Interpretive Strategy for
Fiction and Drama. In that link, certain devices reveal a
cause-and-effect relationship, a pattern which, with awareness of it
and practice spotting it in a work, will lead you reliably to a
discovery of theme.
Quiz Questions on Literary Devices:
The following questions on the above eight
literary devices are to be answered in Blackboard for the Quiz Two
assignment. You will create a file, answer the 15 questions
below in complete sentences and numbered just as the questions are,
you will name the file Q2 plus your three initials, you will save
the file as Rich Text, and you will submit it within the Quiz
Two assignment under Daily Grades in Blackboard. For a more
detailed review of how to do the above steps of submitting the quiz,
see the assignment in Blackboard.
Here are the quiz questions. Each
answer counts five points with the exception of #1(4x5=20 pts) and
#11(3x5=15 pts). Do not just
copy and paste your answers! By actually typing them, you are
helping yourself remember them!
- What are the four basic types of
conflict?
- What is the main character of a work
called?
- What is the term for a minor character
who has some powerful and usually positive effect on the main
character?
- Characters who have life-like,
multiple-trait personalities are called what kind of character?
- Characters whose personalities are
one-dimensional, showing just one main trait, are called what
kind of character?
- A character (usually the main
character) whose personality undergoes a major change in the
story is called what?
- When the character's personality does
not change, the character is called what?
- A type of symbol whose meaning is
familiar to most readers is called what kind of symbol?
- A symbol which is only symbolic in the
story in which it occurs is called what kind of symbol?
- The main turning point of a story's
plot, past which point the characters are locked into their
various fates, is called what?
- What are the three different types of
setting?
- Irony is defined as an unexpected
outcome. What type of irony involves an unexpected turn of
events which surprises the characters and also the reader?
- What type of irony is like the previous
type except that the audience expects the turn of events while
the character does not?
- When the main character tells his or
her own story, the point of view is called what (two words)?
- When an unknown narrator tells the main
character's story, and exposes some but not all of that
character's thoughts and feelings, the point of view is called
what (four words)?
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