Mid-Term Exam
English I
ECHS
C. Edge
2007-2008
Plot Developmental Stages
 STAGE ONE
 The Exposition
 introduces the story’s characters, setting, and major
problems that will eventually be solved.
 STAGE TWO
 The Rising Action
 occurs as complications or twists arise, or when the
conflict intensifies.
 STAGE THREE
 The Climax
 the emotional high point of the story.
Plot Developmental Stages
 STAGE FOUR
 The Falling Action
 the logical result of the climax.
 STAGE FIVE
 The Resolution
 the final outcome of the story.
 STAGE SIX (not present in every story)
 The Denouement
 the final unraveling of the plot; the solution of a
mystery; an explanation or outcome.
Plot Diagram
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution
6. Denouement
3.
2.
1.
4.
5.
6.
Setting
 The time and place of a story’s action.
 The setting includes ideas, customs,
values, and beliefs that may be associated
with the time and place of the action.
 Just as real people are often shaped by
their environment, characters are often
shaped by the setting.
idiom
 Expression peculiar to a particular language that means
something different from the literal meaning of each
word.
 “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
 Example
 “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
 “We heard it through the grapevine.”
 Now, if you were a non-native English speaker, how odd would
these phrases seem?
Characters
 The actors in a story’s plot.
 They can be animals, people, or whatever
the writer chooses.
 Protagonist
 The main character.
 Antagonist
 Character in conflict with the main character
 There may be more than one or there may not be
one at all.
Characters
 Round Character
 Shows a variety of traits that may be
contradictory.
OR
Flat Character
 Reveals only one character trait.
 Stereotype
 A flat character of a familiar and often-repeated type.
Characters
 Dynamic Character
 Develops and changes in the course of a
literary work.
OR
Static Character
 Remains the same from the beginning to the
end.
Theme

The central idea or message of a story.


It is often a comment or perception about life or
human nature.
Two types of theme:
1. Stated
 Is directly presented or discussed in the story.
2. Implied
 Must be inferred by considering all the elements of a story
and asking what message about life is conveyed.
Point of View
 The relationship of the narrator, or
storyteller, to the story.
 Three points of view:
1. First Person Point of View
2. Third Person Limited Point of View
3. Third Person Omniscient Point of View
First Person Point of View
 The narrator of the story is a character in
the story.
 The narrator uses the pronoun “I” when
referring to the main character.
Third Person Limited Point of View
 The narrator is an observer only.
 The narrator reveals the thoughts of only
one character.
 The narrator uses the pronoun “he” or
“she” when referring to the main character.
Third Person Omniscient Point of
View
 The narrator is an observer only.
 God-like narrator—the narrator knows all
and sees all and is able to reveal the
thoughts of all the characters.
13. sensory detail
 Images that appeal to our senses of sight, taste,
smell, hearing, and touch.
 “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
 Example:
 The crackle of the fire.
 The smell of burning cedar.
 The sight of the trees swaying in the breeze.
14. symbolism
 the use of symbols
 Symbols can be a person, place, thing, or event that stands for
itself and for something beyond itself as well.
 “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
 Example
 Crown = king
 Pocket protector = nerd
 Rolls Royce = wealth and sophistication
Characterization
 The process of revealing the
personality of a character in a story.
16. Methods of characterization
 Three methods of characterization:
1.What the writer says about the character.
2.What the character says, does, or feels.
3.What other characters say or think about the
character.
17. “The Sniper” by Liam
O’Connell
 Setting
 Dublin, Ireland during the Irish Civil War, around 1920. The
sniper is on a rooftop at midnight in June.
 point of view
 Third person limited—an observer only, but only knows the
thoughts of one character, the sniper.
 plot summary
 Republican sniper is on his very first mission. He is nervous and
inexperienced. He is under fire from across the street from
another sniper. He shoots a woman and a man in an armored
car, then gets shot in his arm. He lures the other sniper out of
his hiding place by playing dead and shoots him. He goes down
to see who the other man was and finds out that he has killed his
own brother.
 Theme
 War is full of terrible consequences.
18. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James
Hurst
 Setting
 The setting is the American South during the time of World War I.
 point of view
 The narrator is a first person narrator.
 plot summary
 The narrator wanted someone who he could box with, climb trees
with, and run around with, but Doodle was physically handicapped.
He tries to teach Doodle to walk and run, but the strain is too much
for Doodle’s weak heart. Doodle dies trying to keep up with his
older brother.
 Theme
 Life is fragile and should be appreciated for the short time it is lived.
 symbolism of the bird’s early death?
 The bird symbolizes Doodle and his early death.
 symbolism of the storm?
 The storm symbolizes the storm of emotions inside the narrator as he
pushes Doodle to be “normal” and the inevitable doom of Doodle.
Imagery
 Imagery contributes to a poem’s
forcefulness.
 Imagery helps readers see things freshly
like the poet sees them.
 Imagery is part of poet’s individual
personal style.
 Imagery that is fresh and powerful helps to
create a strong emotional reaction.
20. Exaggeration
 stretching the truth, usually for comedic
effect.
 “The Talk” by Gary Soto
21. biography
 Biography—the story of someone’s life
written by someone else
22. autobiography
 Autobiography—the written story the
writer’s own life
 “The Struggle to Be an All-American
Girl” by Elizabeth Wong
 “When I Lay My Burden Down” by Maya
Angelou
23. Subjectivity
 objectivity – judgment based on observable phenomena and
uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices
 we want a biography to be objective
 this requires research
 we do not want the author’s prejudices to distort the selection
 subjectivity – judgment based on individual personal impressions
and feelings and opinions rather than external facts
 we want the writer to get personal and emotional
 the writer’s prejudice will be evident
 Is this selection more objective or subjective? Why?
 Obviously, this selection is more subjective since she is
telling about her feelings about the events in her life.
24. “The Struggle To Be An AllAmerican Girl” by Elizabeth Wong

selection summary
 The speaker tells about being made by her mother to
attend Chinese school while growing up in America. She
and her brother would rather absorb American culture and
leave behind their native culture. In the end, the speaker
reveals her regret at losing her native culture.


main idea
 Culture is lost if it is not embraced.
supporting details
 She hates going to Chinese school, dislikes the way her
mother and grandmother speak their native language, but
in the end she expresses regret at not knowing about her
own native culture.


Conflict
 Native cultures vs. novel cultures
Audience
 Americans
25. “When I Lay My Burden Down” by
Maya Angelou

selection summary
 Maya’s grandmother raises her in the segregated South where
blacks are not treated equal to whites. She faces the
mistreatment of dirty white girls who insult her. Grandmother
refuses to respond to their taunts.


main idea
 Maintain your dignity even in the sight of adversity.
supporting details
 Grandmother teaches her grandchildren to respect themselves



and others by keeping themselves clean and calling people by
their respectful names.
Grandmother doesn’t stoop down to the level of the
‘powhitetrash’ girls.
Conflict
 Black vs. white
 Dignity vs. indecency
Imagery
 Sounds of their voices compared to “cigar-box guitars”
26. “The Talk” by Gary Soto

selection summary
 Two best friends look longingly at a pretty girl and ridicule
themselves because they are not attractive.


main idea
 We are our own worst critic.
 There is someone for everyone.
supporting details
 Even though they think they are doomed to not find someone
because they are not attractive, they still dream of what their
lives will be like when they are married to someone.


Conflict
 Superficial vs. genuine
exaggerations


Arms that reach past his knees.
Eyes that are the size of pencil dots.
Rhyme Scheme
 DEFINITION—the pattern of the end
rhymes
 May be designated by assigning a different
letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.
 EXAMPLE:
Ro-ses are red.
A
Vio-lets are blue.
B
You look like a mon-key
C
and you smell like one, too. B
38. slant rhymes
 Rhymes that do not rhyme exactly.
 “good” and “food”
39. Onomatopoeia
 Words that the definition mimics the actual
sound the word makes when spoken.
Imagery
 DEFINITION—descriptive language that
appeals to the senses—sight, sound,
touch, taste, or smell.
 Some images appeal to more than one
sense.
 EXAMPLE:
The whistle of a boat
Calls and cries unendingly
(this image appeals to what sense?)
41.simile
 Simile—a figure of speech using a word
such as like or as to directly compare
seemingly unlike things
 Example: He ran as fast as a cat.
43. metaphor
 Metaphor—a figure of speech that
compares or equates seemingly unlike
things, but does so indirectly
 Example: His speed was almost feline.
44. direct metaphor
 A metaphor that compares two dissimilar
things directly by saying that one thing is
another.
 “He is a lion on the battlefield.”
Personification
 DEFINITION—attributing human
characteristics to an animal, object, or
idea
 EXAMPLE:
The trees danced in the moonlight…
Rhythm
 DEFINITION—the pattern of sound created by
the arrangement of stressed and unstressed
syllables in a line.
 Can be regular or irregular
 EXAMPLE:
Ro-ses are red.
(4 beats)
Vio-lets are blue.
(4 beats)
You look like a mon-key
(6 beats)
and you smell like one, too. (6 beats)
Meter
 DEFINITION—a regular pattern of stressed
and unstressed syllables, which sets the
overall rhythm of certain poems
 Stressed syllables are marked ( ’ ) and
unstressed syllables are marked (~)
 EXAMPLE:
‘ ~ ~ ‘
Ro-ses are red.
‘
~ ~ ‘
Vio-lets are blue.
~
‘
~ ~ ‘
~
You look like a mon-key
~
‘ ~
~ ‘
~
and you smell like one, too.
Alliteration
 DEFINITION—the repetition of
consonant sounds at the beginnings of
words
 EXAMPLE:
Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.
How many pecks of pickled peppers
did Peter Piper pick?
Cliché
 DEFINITION—an expression so often
used that its freshness and clarity have
worn off
 A cliché is a word that has been “played
out.”
Scene
 DEFINITION—The location of the
events of the poem.
 Poets use images to establish scene.
 A scene can be an external physical setting
 A hillside, a city, a pond, a room, etc.
 A scene can be internalized
 Inside the speaker’s mind
Allusion
 DEFINITION—a figure of speech that
makes brief reference to a historical or
literary figure, event, or object
 Example from music:
 Led Zeppelin’s “Battle of Evermore” has
references to Lord of the Rings.
“A Narrow Fellow in the Grass,” by
Emily Dickinson
 This poem presents a speaker who fears
snakes even though he loves nature and
its creatures.
 The speaker doesn’t have to be the poet!!!
“When I Heard the Learn’d
Astronomer,” by Walt Whitman
 The speaker is in a lecture hall listening to
an astronomer describe how to plot and
measure the distances of the stars in the
night sky. Bored, the speaker (both in his
mind and physically) rises up and wanders
off into the mystical night sky to enjoy the
visual beauty of the stars rather than the
mathematical beauty.
Sandburg “Fog”
 Speaker compares a gray cat to morning
fog in the way that it moves and sneaks up
on the city. The speaker uses an
extended image to display this metaphor.
“in Just-“ E. E. Cummings
 The seemingly innocent balloonman
ushers in Springtime by warming the air
and leading the children out to play with
his whimsical whistling. The poet uses
fresh words and images to usher in the
freshness of Spring.
THE NOVEL To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 52. ________________________ is the
narrator of this story.
 Scout
 53. Scout’s real name is
________________________.
 Jean Louise Finch
 54. The story is set in
________________________.
 Maycomb, Alabama during the years of
1933-1935.
 55. ________________________ is
Atticus Finch’s cook.
 Calpurnia
 56. Scout thinks that the world is ending
because it ________________________.
 snows
 57. Mayella is beaten severely by
someone who leads with their ______
 Left hand
 58. ________________________ heartily
disapproves of the way Atticus is raising
his children.
 Aunt Alexandra
 59. Atticus doesn’t think
________________________ will carry
out this threats.
 Bob Ewell
 60. To protect
________________________ from
scandal, heck Tate claims Bob Ewell fell
on
 his own knife.
 61. All through the trial, Jem knows that
Tom Robinson will be found
________________________.
 innocent
 62. The story takes place during
 The Great Depression
 63. Atticus accepts Tom Robinson’s case
because
 The judge appoints him, but also
because Atticus feels a moral
obligation to defend an innocent man.
 64. The people of Maycomb County know
the Ewells are
 Dishonest, disreputable, and lazy.
 65. Scout learns to understand people by
following Atticus’s advice to
 “walk around in their skin”
 66. Tom Robinson is a fine example of a
man except for a
 Crippled left hand
 67. Tom Robinson runs when Bob Ewell
sees him and Mayella because
 He is afraid because he is a black man
in a situation that will only end up badly
for him.
 68. Atticus says the bravest person he
ever knew was
 Mrs. Dubose
 69. Scout learns new respect for her
father when she discovers he can
 Shoot a rifle
 70. The lynch mob leaves Atticus and Tom
Robinson alone because
 Scout speaks directly to Walter
Cunningham, Sr. about being in trouble
with the law. Her innocence causes him
to rethink what they are doing.
 71. Scout teaches Uncle Jack to
 Listen to both sides of a story when
she gets in a fight with her cousin,
Francis for calling Atticus terrible
names because of his decision to
defend Tom Robinson.
 72. In defending Tom Robinson, Atticus
had to face
 The disappointment of his sister, the
town, and his own friends.
 73. From where did the children watch
Tom’s trial?
 From the balcony of the courthouse
reserved for blacks.
 74. Tom could not have been Mayella’s
attacker because he
 He cannot use his left hand and Mayella
was beaten by someone who leads
almost exclusively with his left hand.
 75. Tom was found guilty because he
 Was black
 76. Atticus won a small victory in the case
of Tom Robinson because
 The jury of 12 white men deliberated for
over 2 hours before deciding on the
guilty verdict. This shows that they
genuinely considered the possibility
that a black man could be telling the
truth and a white man could be lying.
 77. After the trial, the black community
show respect and gratitude to Atticus by
 Standing up as he walked under the
balcony
 They also brought food to Atticus’s
back steps as a sign of gratitude
 78. The injustice of the Robinson case
was presented to the community by
 Mr. Underwood’s editorial in the
newspaper
 79. On Halloween night, Scout’s life was
saved by
 Boo Radley
 80. Bob Ewell died when
 Boo Radley stabbed him with a kitchen
knife to save Scout and Jem
Nouns
Pronouns
Adjectives
Verbs