Key Terms

You need to learn the distinction between the three key terms defined below and always use them accurately when writing about your set texts:

Story: all the various events that are going to be shown;

Plot: the chain of causes and circumstances that connect the various events and place them into some sort of relationship with each other;

Narrative: involves how the events and causes are shown, and the various methods used to do this showing. Exploring aspects of narrative involves looking at what the writer has chosen to include or not include, and how this choice leads the reader to certain conclusions.

Representation: characters and events in stories are representations of reality, not real themselves, and are completely controlled by the author. Always bear in mind the author's role when you write about narrative in your exam.

Speaker: the person whose voice is heard in a poem, as opposed to the author.

Ideology: the attitudes, values and assumptions that a text contains.

Prose: 'normal' speech is paragraphs and not poetry.

Narrative Voice:
Third-person narrative: a story told through the voice of a narrator who is not one of the characters in the story.

First-person narrative: a story told through the voice of one of the characters, using 'I'.

Narrative persona: the unnamed 'I' who sometimes narrates a story. The 'I' is rarely the author, so the term persona is a useful point of reference.

Point of View: the idea that a story is told from a certain standpoint or perspective.

Destination: with reading as a journey, this is the point we get to at the end of the narrative - what have we found out? interpreted?

Significance: the way meanings are made in a text.

Metaphor: the transfer of meaning, with one thing described as another.

Assessment Objectives:
AO1: Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression

AO2: Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts

AO3: Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers

AO4: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received

For more explanation of these AOs, see pages vi and vii of your textbook.