In Medias
Margie, Kala, Dwannisha, Missy, Christos
Terms of Focus
• Exposition
• Flashback
• Narrative Pace
• Parenthetical Observation
• Subplot
• Shift in Style
Exposition
•
Definition - the essential information to
provide background knowledge
• Ex: “She was a very pretty girl, and her beauty happened to be of a
sort of which Emma particularly admired. She was short, plump and
fair, with a fine bloom, blue eyes, light hair, regular features, and a
look of great sweetness; and before the end of the evening, Emma was
as much pleased with her manners as her person, and quite
determined to continue the acquaintance.” (Jane Austen’s Emma)
Flashback
A literary or cinematic device in which an
earlier event is inserted into the normal
chronological order of a narrative.
EX: Another example is the ballad of “The Cruel Mother.” A mother remembers her murdered child.
While going to a church, she remembers her child born, grown up and died. Later, she thinks back
further to a distant time in her past to remember how her own mother was ruthless to her.
EX:
Narrative Pace
•
•
Definition: The pace at which the authors tell a story,
speeding up or slowing down some parts, and omitting
others altogether.
Ex: “I am only bound to invoke memory where I know her
responses will possess some degree of interest; therefore
I now pass a space of eight years almost in silence: a few
lines only are necessary to keep up the links connection.”
Parenthetical Observation
Definition: a brief interruption during which the character or the
narrator reflects on a minor point that clarifies and/or seizes the
readers attention.
Example: “That he is mad, ‘tis true ‘tis pity,
And pity ‘tis ‘tis true-- a foolish figure,
But farewell it, for I will use no art.”
Subplot
Definition: Secondary story that parallel or
contrast with the main action. Subplot can
impact main story or just mirror it.
EX: A subplot in Romeo and Juliet is the rivalry
between the families, especially between
Benvolio and Mercutio. This serves as a contrast
between the love of Romeo and Juliet.
Shift in Style
•
•
•
Definition - a marked change in style, usually accompanied by a
corresponding change in tone
Ex:“Each event spoke with a cryptic tongue. And the moments of living slowly revealed their coded
meanings.
...There was the languor I felt when I heard leaves rustling with a rainlike sound.
...There was the experience of feeling death without dying that came from watching a chicken leap
about blinding after its neck had been snapped by a quick twist of my father’s wrist.
...There was the thirst I had when I watched clear, sweet juice trickle from sugar cane being crushed.
..And there was the quiet terror that suffused my senses when vast hazes of gold washed earthward
from star-heavy skies on silent nights…” (Richard Wright’s Black Boy)
The shift occurs in this list because it changes from the usual
structure (chronological account of his youth) to this list of sense
impressions