English Literature: Characterization and Vocabulary

Characterization

• Characterization is used in writing to describe a character's looks or personality.
• There are two types of characterization: indirect and direct.
• Indirect characterization gives hints, allowing readers to make inferences and educated guesses.
• Direct characterization immediately tells the reader about a character.

Suffixes and Prefixes

• Prefixes are added to the beginning of words, altering their meanings (e.g., "un-" in "unhappy").
• Suffixes are added to the end of words, also altering their meanings (e.g., "-less" in "fearless").
• Common prefixes include "re-" and "pre-", while common suffixes include "-able", "-ful", and "-less".
• Understanding prefixes and suffixes enhances vocabulary and understanding.

Themes and Main Idea

• A theme is the moral or lesson learned from a text.
• The main idea is the overall topic or point of the text.
• Steps to identify a theme include:
  • Identifying the main problem in the text
  • Determining how the problem was solved
  • Analyzing how characters change throughout the story
  • Identifying what characters learn from the beginning to the end

Contextual Clues

• Contextual clues help readers interpret or learn about unfamiliar words or phrases in a text.
• These clues are usually found nearby the unfamiliar word, in the same sentence or paragraph.
• There are four types of contextual clues:
  • Definition/explanation
  • Restatement/synonym
  • Contrast/antonym
  • Inference/general clues

Figures of Speech

• Figures of speech, such as similes and metaphors, enhance language by drawing comparisons.
• Personification humanizes the inanimate, while hyperbole exaggerates for emphasis.
• Onomatopoeia imitates sounds, such as "buzz" or "crash".
• Alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds, and assonance repeats vowel sounds, adding musicality to language.

Poetry

• Poetry encompasses various elements, including:
  • Rhyme, where words share similar sounds at their endings
  • Meter, the rhythmic pattern determined by stressed and unstressed syllables
  • Imagery, which vividly paints pictures or sensory experiences for readers
  • Symbolism, which uses objects or ideas to convey deeper meanings
  • Personification, which lends human qualities to non-human entities
  • Similes and metaphors, which compare things using "like" or "as" or direct equate two things
• Mood sets the feeling of a story, while tone shows the author's attitude.