1) Define and discuss comprehensively the following literary terms:

A. Under Prose - mood, tone, theme, imagery, symbol, subtext, inference, speculative fiction,
Utopia vs Dystopia, and direct characterization vs indirect characterization.
MOOD
In literature, mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers
through words and descriptions.
Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional
situation that surrounds the readers. Mood is developed in a literary piece through various methods.
It can be developed through setting, theme, tone and diction.
Setting is the physical location in a piece of literature that provides background in which
the events of the narrative take place. A particular setting not only provides support to the contents
of the story but also sets the mood of the readers. Let us analyze a few examples of mood developed
using a setting:
Example #1
Charles Dickens creates a calm and peaceful mood in his novel Pickwick Papers:
The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed
noiselessly on.
The depiction of idyllic scenery imparts a serene and non-violent mood to the readers.
Example #2
Emily Bronte in Wuthering Heights creates two contrasting moods through two
contrasting settings. The events of the narrative takes place in two neighboring houses: Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange. A depressing mood is created whenever Wuthering Heights is
described. For example, in chapter 12 the narrator says:
There was no moon, and everything beneath lay in misty darkness: not a light gleamed
from any house, far or near all had been extinguished long ago: and those at Wuthering Heights
were never visible
On the contrary, the description of Thrushcross Grange creates a calm and peaceful mood:
Gimmerton chapel bells were still ringing; and the full, mellow flow of the beck in the
valley came soothingly on the ear. It was a sweet substitute for the yet absent murmur of the
summer foliage, which drowned that music about the Grange when the trees were in leaf.

The contrast presented in the settings also helps in the development of the different
characters i.e. the people from Wuthering Heights are unsophisticated while those from Thrush
cross Grange are refined.
The manner in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is called the tone. The
readers always rely on the writers point of view of the events taking place in a story. They observe
the story through his eyes. They feel the way the writer feels about the events taking place and the
description provided. Therefore, the attitude of the writer evokes feelings and emotions in the
readers.
Diction is the choice of words a writer uses. Diction or choice of words conveys deep
feelings as well as depicts the events, places and characters in a literary work in specific colors,
having an effect on the way the readers feel about them.
Example #4
The following lines from Jonathon Swifts Gullivers Travel is one of the great mood
examples created using diction:
And being no stranger to the art of war, I have him a description of cannons, culverins,
muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks,
undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea-fights
In order to create feelings of disgust in readers for the destructive consequences of war, the
writer chooses words that are unmelodious, harsh and jarring. The diction in the above passage
corresponds with the subject matter.
Mood helps in creating an atmosphere in a literary work by means of setting, theme, diction
and tone. It evokes various emotional responses in readers and thus ensures their emotional
attachment to the literary piece they read. Once the readers are emotionally stirred, they fully
comprehend the message that the writer tries to convey to the

TONE
Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.
Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular
subject.
Every written piece comprises a central theme or subject matter. The manner in which a
writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious,

comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes. Here are some
examples of tone:

I want to ask the authorities what is the big deal? Why do not they control the epidemic?
It is eating up lives like a monster.

I want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities toward damage caused by an
epidemic. If steps were not taken to curb it, it will further injure our community
The theme of both tone examples is the same. The only way we can differentiate between

them is their separate tone. The tone in the first example is casual or informal while, it is more
formal in the second.
Tone Examples in Common Speech
We adopt variety of tones in our day-to-day speech. This intonation of our speech
determines what message we desire to convey.
Example #1
Father: We are going on a vacation.
Son: Thats great!!!
The tone of sons response is very cheerful.
Example #2
Father: We cant go on vacation this summer.
Son: Ok. Great! Thats what I expected.
The sons tone is sarcastic in the given response.
Example #3
You will get good grades like in the previous exams
The tone is pessimistic in this example.
Example #4
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?
This has an aggressive tone.
Examples of Tone in Literature
Tone has a significant place in literature as it manifests writers attitude toward different
subjects.
Example #1

Holden Caulfield in J.D Salingers Catcher in the Rye unfolds his personality through
the tone he adopts throughout the novel. Let us have a look at some of his remarks:

All morons hate it when you call them a moron.

If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if shes late? Nobody.

Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.

Catholics are always trying to find out if youre Catholic.

Holdens tone is bitterly sarcastic as he criticizes the nature of things in real life. His

character may reveal the attitude of the writer towards life as it is common for writers to use their
characters as their mouthpieces.
Example #2
Observe the tone of a short story The School by Donald Barthelme:
And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I dont know why they died, they just died.
Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasnt the best.
We complained about it. So weve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to
plant and weve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it
was depressing.
The use of adjectives dead and depressing sets a gloomy tone in the passage. As trees
signify life here, their unexpected death from an unknown cause gives the above passage an
unhappy and pessimistic tone.
Tone, in a piece of literature, decides how they readers read a literary piece and how they
should feel while they are reading it. It stimulates the readers to read a piece of literature as a
serious, comical, spectacular or distressing. In addition, tone lends shape and life to a piece of
literature because it creates a mood.
Moreover, tone bestows voice to characters and it throws light on the personalities and
dispositions of characters that readers understand better.

THEME
Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be
stated directly or indirectly.
Major and minor themes are two types of themes that appear in literary works. A major
theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his work, making it the most significant idea in a literary

work. A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly and gives
way to another minor theme. Examples of theme in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice are
matrimony, love, friendship, and affection. The whole narrative revolves around the major theme
of matrimony. Its minor themes are love, friendship, affectation etc.
It is important not to confuse a theme of a literary work with its subject. Subject is a topic
which acts as a foundation for a literary work while a theme is an opinion expressed on the subject.
For example, a writer may choose a subject of war for his story and the theme of a story may be
writers personal opinion that war is a curse for humanity. Usually, it is up to the readers to explore
a theme of a literary work by analyzing characters, plot and other literary devices.
A writer presents themes in a literary work through several ways. A writer may express a
theme through the feelings of his main character about the subject he has chosen to write about.
Similarly, themes are presented through thoughts and conversations of different characters.
Moreover, the experiences of the main character in the course of a literary work give us an idea
about its theme. Finally, the actions and events taking place in a narrative are consequential in
determining its theme.
Example #1
Love and friendship are frequently occurring themes in literature. They generate emotional
twists and turns in a narrative and can lead to a variety of endings: happy, sad or bittersweet. The
following are famous literary works with love and friendship themes:

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Example #2
The theme of war has been explored in literature since ancient times. The literary woks

utilizing this theme may either glorify or criticize the idea of war. Most recent literary works
portray war as a curse for humanity due to the suffering it inflicts. Some famous examples are:

Iliad and Odyssey by Homer

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Arms and the Man by Bernard Shaw

A Band of Brothers: Stories from Vietnam by Walter McDonald

Example #3
Crime and mystery are utilized in detective novels. Such narratives also include sub-themes

such as crimes cannot be hidden, evil is always punished etc. Some well-known crime and
mystery theme examples are:

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Example #4
Revenge is another recurrent theme found in many popular literary works. A character

comes across certain circumstances that make him aware of his need for revenge. The outcome of
his action is often bitter but sometimes they may end up being satisfied. Examples are:

Hamlet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

A Time to Kill by John Grisham

Theme is an element of a story that binds together various other essential elements of a

narrative. It is a truth that exhibits universality and stands true for people of all cultures. Theme
gives readers better understanding of the main characters conflicts, experiences, discoveries and
emotions as they are derived from them. Through themes, a writer tries to give his readers an
insight into how the world works or how he or she views human life.

IMAGERY
Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a
way that it appeals to our physical senses.
Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual
representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures.

However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex
than just a picture. Consider the following examples:

It was dark and dim in the forest. The words dark and dim are visual images.

The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. Screaming and shouting
appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.

He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. whiff and aroma evoke our sense of smell
or olfactory sense.

The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. The idea of soft in this example appeals
to our sense of touch or tactile sense.

The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. juicy and sweet when associated
with oranges have an effect on our sense of taste or gustatory sense.
Imagery

needs

the

aid

of

figures

of

speech

like simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia etc. in order to appeal to the bodily senses.
Let us analyze how famous poets and writers use imagery in literature.
Example #1
In prose, imagery aids writers to accomplish a vivid description of events. Below is an
example of an effective use of imagery from E.B. Whites Once More to the Lake:
When the others went swimming my son said he was going in, too. He pulled his dripping
trunks from the line where they had hung all through the shower and wrung them out. Languidly,
and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him
wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the
swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.
The images depicting the dampness of clothes, in the above lines, convey a sense of chilly
sensation that we get from wet clothes.
Example #2
In The Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens, Pip (the hero of the novel) uses
many images to describe a damp morning in a marsh:
It was a rimy morning, and very damp. I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my
little window Now, I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass,. On every rail
and gate, wet lay clammy; and the marsh-mist was so thick, that the wooden finger on the post

directing people to our villagea direction which they never accepted, for they never came there
was invisible to me until I was quite close under it.
The repeated use of the words damp and wet makes us feel how rough it was for him
in that damp and cold morning. The thick marsh-mist aids our imagination to visualize the scene
of mourning in a marshland.
The function of imagery in literature is to generate a vibrant and graphic presentation of a
scene that appeals to as many of the readers senses as possible. It aids the readers imagination to
envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly. Apart from the above mentioned
function,

images

which

are

drawn

by

using

figures

of

speech

like metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia etc. serve the function of beautifying a piece
of literature.

SYMBOL
Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic
meanings that are different from their literal sense.
Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give
it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an
action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, smile
is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol
of the feeling of affection which that person has for you.
Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. A chain, for
example, may stand for union as well as imprisonment. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object
or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. It also depends on who reads them.
In our daily life, we can easily identify objects, which can be taken as examples of symbol
such as the following:

The dove is a symbol of peace.

A red rose or red color stands for love or romance.

Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.

A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection between the heaven and the earth.

A broken mirror may symbolize separation

To develop symbolism in his work, a writer utilizes other figures of speech, like metaphors,
similes, allegory, as tools. Some symbolism examples in literature are listed below with brief
analysis:
Example #1
Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights presents almost every character, house, surroundings
and events in a symbolic perspective. The word Wuthering, which means stormy, represents the
wild nature of its inhabitants. The following lines allow us to look into the symbolic nature of two
characters:
My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it; Im well aware,
as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath a source
of little visible delight, but necessary.
The phrase foliage of leaves for Linton is a symbol for his fertile and civilized nature.
On the contrary, Heathcliff is likened to an eternal rock which symbolizes his crude and
unbendable nature.
Symbolism gives a writer freedom to add double levels of meanings to his work: a literal
one that is self-evident and the symbolic one whose meaning is far more profound than the literal
one. The symbolism, therefore, gives universality to the characters and the themes of a piece of
literature. Symbolism in literature evokes interest in readers as they find an opportunity to get an
insight of the writers mind on how he views the world and how he thinks of common objects and
actions, having broader implications.

SUBTEXT
Subtext is any content of a creative work which is not announced explicitly by the
characters or author, but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work
as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts and motives of the characters
which are only covered in an aside. Subtext can also be used to imply controversial subjects
without specifically alienating people from the fiction, often through use of metaphor. Especially
in light of their inherently ambiguous and self-referential character, many authors have explicitly
used subtexts (or subtexts about subtexts) in humor.

Subtext is content underneath the dialogue. Under dialogue, there can be conflict, anger,
competition, pride, showing off, or other implicit ideas and emotions. Subtext is the unspoken
thoughts and motives of characters what they really think and believe.
Subtext is also a frequently used method of subtly inserting social or political commentary
into fiction. Subtext is often also inserted in narratives where explicit themes are unable to be
shown or expressed due to censorship or simply interest in appealing to a general audience.
Frequently, these subtexts may include a sexual nature or possible references to sexual orientation.
Their inclusion is such so that they are easily overlooked by younger viewers but may be caught
by more mature viewers. Subtext also serves to add complexity to a premise that may superficially
appeal to younger viewers but may also attract older fans, as is often the case with cartoons, science
fiction and fantasy. It also may serve to aid in suspension of disbelief.
Subtext includes information about the period and culture in which the author of a book is
writing that may not be deliberately articulated but is conveyed through the text in speech, social
customs or historical details.
Examples:
In the play Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, subtext is important in gaining a greater understanding
of the characters, as they cannot always speak freely due to the constrictions of social conventions
at the time.
A scene in Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall, in which subtitles explain the characters
inner thoughts during an apparently innocent conversation, is an example of the subtext of a scene
being made explicit.
Victorian novels may feature confining social norms such as strict marriage conventions,
taboos against births out of wedlock, inheritance to first born sons, etc., that form the subtext of
plot and character. These issues can be deployed unconsciously, as in Wilkie Collins' The Woman
in White or as part of a concealed critique of gender politics, as in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre.
In the episode My Best Friends Bottom of the British comedy TV series Coupling,
Captain Subtext is a tool used in the narrative to explicitly make the viewers aware
of the subtextual message in the dialogue. In it, the dialogue and the subtext have been deliberately
made humorous.

Television sci-fi such as the original Star Trek and Doctor Who (both of which implicitly
avoided onscreen sexual situations) have often been discussed with respect to certain scenes or
lines of dialogue.
Cues for the subtext are sometimes given in the main text in the form of intertexts, which
are allusions to the themes of other texts. An example is Blade Runner, which can be interpreted
as containing numerous biblical (intertextual) allusions, framing the subtext as a religiously
inspired theme the search for the Creator and the meaning of life beyond physical existence.

INFERENCE
Inference is a literary device used commonly in literature and in daily life where logical
deductions are made based on premises assumed to be true. Another definition of inference
suggests that it is rational but non-logical, which means that through the observation of facts
presented in a particular pattern, one ultimately sees different or new interpretations and
perspectives.
Symbols and anomalies are very important during its use. In this case inferences are not so
much used for coming to conclusions but to open up new ways of inquiry. When inference is
studied from this aspect, it is further divided into two types: inductive and deductive inference.
Example #1
It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilsons body
a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.
The above extract is one of the examples of inference from literature. After reading this
line from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a reader who is smart enough to make a quick
inference will simultaneously understand that Gatsbys life has ended. The most significant part
of this sentence is that the protagonist in the novel Mr. Gatsby has been murdered. Nevertheless,
the circumstances surrounding his demise can be all the more interesting if looked at closely.
Among the factors that contributed to his death, the most dominant one is his rebuttal to let go of
the past. Earlier the day Gatsby was killed, there was a part where he stopped his servant from
emptying the pool even though the air was cold because he felt that summer was not over yet.
Looking at this particular part more profoundly incites us to make an association between Gatsbys
denial of the end of summer and his denial of dissolution of his relation with Daisy. So, we could

say that if Gatsby had made peace with the current circumstances and had moved on, he might not
have gotten himself killed.
Example #2
Sheldon Cooper: I took another look at the board, and I realized you were right.
Raj Koothrappali: So you were wrong.
Sheldon Cooper: Im not saying that.
Raj Koothrappali: Thats the only logical inference.
Sheldon Cooper: Im still not saying it.
(Jim Parsons and Kunal Nayyar, The Pirate Solution. The Big Bang Theory, 2009)
Inference examples are also found in TV series. The above dialogue from a TV series The
Pirate Solution is the best example that could be presented here. You can easily understand
inference.
The function of inference is important not only in literature but in daily life to make sense
of things people say and do. The skills inference teaches us are not only required to make out the
underlying meanings of phrases and arguments but also to perceive the implicit concealed
meanings that enhance the overall quality of a text.
It is also used to draw your own conclusions from a script. Inference plays a central role in
understanding texts by translating in your mind the effects of the usage of particular words. It also
makes us see the literary value of a text by highlighting its strengths. Moreover, inference has a
great deal of significance in enhancing the learning abilities of students academically and
otherwise. The ability to make inferences helps students develop an understanding of the
authors perspective by grasping the subtle underlying meanings in a text. Without inference
people usually end up translating a text word by word, missing out on the associations a writer is
trying to make. Such a lacking approach keeps us from comprehending the whole picture of a
piece of writing.
The delight a reader feels while going through a text is because of the inferences he makes
along the way. People who are better at inferring generally have much more fun while reading than
those who do not. The reason is that they understand the script better because they are able to see
things that are not too obvious, which is why they follow a story or text better and enjoy it all the
more. Besides, understanding the text better helps them draw information from their existing
knowledge and thus relate to the characters more deeply.

In learning the processes of inference, people generally come to find that in places reading
a text independently makes it incomplete. There are certain concepts and feelings that we
understand better when we associate them with our own experiences. It also aids in learning
concepts like themes, characters and figurative language. When this process is repeated
consciously and systematically, it becomes a skill that helps us fill the gaps in understanding a
script.

SPECULATIVE FICTION
Speculative fiction is a broad umbrella category of narrative fiction referring to any fiction
story that includes elements, settings and characters whose features are created out of imagination
and speculation rather than based on attested reality and everyday life. That encompasses
the genres of science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, horror, alternative history, and magic
realism. It typically strays strongly from reality and so may feature fictional types of beings like
mythical creatures and supernatural entities, technologies that do not exist in real life like time
machines and interstellar spaceships, or magical or otherwise scientifically inexplicable elements.
The terms popularity is sometimes attributed to Robert Heinlein, who referenced it in 1947 in an
editorial essay, although there are prior mentions of speculative fiction, or its variant speculative
literature

UTOPIA vs DYSTOPIA
The literary term utopia denotes an illusionary place that projects the notion of a perfect
society to the reader. Here, the perfect society refers to ideal conditions achieved within the
material world as opposed to the expected idealism of afterlife in Christianity or other religions.
Further, the citizens presiding in such utopias are bearers of a perfect moral code, or at the least,
every violator of the moral code is harshly punished. A utopian society is one where all social evils
have been cured.
An important distinction to be appreciated is that between imaginary utopias and live
heterotopias. However, the terms should not be treated as opposites of each other. They denote a
midway experience referring to instances that are real as well as unreal. Most of the examples that
Foucault provides of heterotopias include several utopian aspects. However, the relationship
between these two notions has tended to be ignored in the interpretation of heterotopia.

A piece of writing that concerns itself with the description of a perfect society in the
physical world as opposed to the perfection of afterlife is termed as Utopian literature. However,
the original motives behind utopian novel were political, social and philosophical. Platos
Republic, is usually considered the first in history among the examples of utopia.
Some traces of utopian elements can be found in Arthurian literature in the idealization of
King Arthurs court at Camelot, but the trend followed by medieval poets involved romanticizing
an imaginary past rather than using hypothetical utopias for the purposes of criticizing political
institutions and suggesting alternatives. It was by the time of Sir Thomas More (in his book Utopia
in 1516) that the notion of utopia was practically manifested, and his name for the imaginary
kingdom then became the new name for referring to the genre.
Utopia examples show common characteristics. These include an elaborate description of
the geographic structures of the imaginary landscape by the native guides that familiarize the
narrator to the ways through the region. He is an outsider to the utopian society, and harbors
extensive skepticism regarding modern political, social, economic, or ethical problems. One of the
common misunderstandings is that utopian models serve to project a better way of life. To the
contrary, the reason behind such literature is to help the reader envision the problems, paradoxes,
or faults entrenched within the existing political framework.
The examples quoted below portray various scenarios of utopia.

Andreaes Christianopolis

Campanellas City of the Sun

Bacons New Atlantis

Samuel Gotts New Jerusalem

Winstanleys The Law of Freedom in a Platform

Edward Bellamys Looking Backward

William Morriss News from Nowhere

Theodor Hertzkas Freeland

H. G. Wellss A Modern Utopia

Over the time, the vision encapsulating the notion of utopia has suffered radical
transformations. Events as war, church reform, revolution and economic changes have contributed
towards the construction of a new type of utopia.

The term utopia formulated new shapes and new prefixes, each type having its own
function and its own use. They are generally employed as a means of constructing an organized
society in the readers mind. The writer makes use of the tool to highlight the discrepancies
prevalent within an existing political and legal framework.
A utopian society is framed in a manner, which presents to the reader an ideal sociopolitical
culture. The writer is presenting his audience with a standard example of a socially and morally fit
society with the use of utopia to make them realize the various deficiencies of their existing societal
framework. It is a tool for exposing the flaws prevalent within an existing political structure.
Further, the tool has been widely employed in writings where the writers have intended to make
an impact on the conscience of the reader. The writer uses utopia in order to portray a scenic picture
in the eyes of the reader, in an attempt to make him fully appreciate the various diverging factors
contributing towards the failings of the existing society. It deals with constructing a standard
sociopolitical society in the readers mind in order to criticize the prevalent legal norms.

A dystopia is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is translated as

not-good place, an antonym of utopia, a term that was coined by Sir Thomas More and figures
as the title of his most well-known work, Utopia. Dystopian societies appear in many artistic
works, particularly in stories set in the future. Some of the most famous examples are
1984 and Brave New World. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian
governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline
in society. Dystopian societies appear in many subgenres of fiction and are often used to draw
attention to real-world issues regarding society, environment, politics, economics, religion,
psychology, ethics, science, and/or technology, which if unaddressed could potentially lead to such
a dystopia-like condition.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION vs INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

Characterization is a literary device that is used step by step in literature to highlight and
explain the details about a character in a story.
It is in the initial stage where the writer introduces the character with noticeable emergence
and then following the introduction of the character, the writer often talks about his behavior; then
as the story progresses, the thought-process of the character. The next stage involves the character

expressing his opinions and ideas and getting into conversations with the rest of the characters.
The final part shows how others in the story respond to the characters personality.
Characterization as a literary tool was coined in the mid-15th century. Aristotle in
his Poetics argued that tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life. Thus
the assertion of the dominance of plot over characters, termed as plot-driven narrative, is
unmistakable. This point of view was later on abandoned by many because, in the 19th century, the
dominance of character over plot became clear through petty bourgeois novels.
Types of Characterization
1. Direct or explicit characterization
This kind of characterization takes a direct approach towards building the character. It uses
another character, narrator or the protagonist himself to tell the readers or audience about the
subject.
2. Indirect or implicit characterization
This is a more subtle way of introducing the character to the audience. The audience has to
deduce for themselves the characteristics of the character by observing his/her thought process,
behavior, speech, way of talking, appearance, and way of communication with other characters
and also by discerning the response of other characters.
Characterization in Drama
On stage or in front of the camera, the actors usually do not have much time to characterize.
This is why the character faces the risk of coming across as underdeveloped. In dramaturgy, the
realists take a different approach by relying on implied characterization. This is pivotal to
the theme of their character-driven narrative. Examples of these playwrights are Anton Chekhov,
Henrik Ibsen, and August Strindberg.
Classic psychological characterization examples such as The Seagull usually build the
main character in a more indirect manner. This approach is considered more effective because it
slowly discloses the inner turmoil of the character during the three hours of the show and lets the
audience connect better.
The actors who act in such roles usually work on them profoundly to get an in-depth idea
of the personality of their respective character. Often, during such shows, plays or dramas, no
direct statements about the characters nature are found. This kind of realism needs the actors to

build the character from their own perspective initially. This is why realistic characterization is
more of a subtle nature, which cannot directly be recognized.
Characterization Examples
There are many examples of characterization in literature. The Great Gatsby is probably
the best. In this particular book, the main idea revolves around the social status of the characters.
The major character of the book, Mr. Gatsby, is perceptibly rich but he does not belong to the
upper stratum of society. This means that he cannot have Daisy. Tom is essentially defined by his
wealth and the abusive nature that he portrays every now and then, while Daisy is explained by
Gatsby as having a voice full of money.
Another technique to highlight the qualities of a character is to put them in certain areas
that are symbolic of a social status. In the novel, Gatsby resides in the West Egg, which is
considered less trendy than East Egg, where Daisy lives. This difference points out the gap between
Jays and Daisys social statuses. Moreover, you might also notice that Tom, Jordan and Daisy
live in East Egg while Gatsby and Nick reside in West Egg, which again highlights the difference
in their financial background. This division is reinforced at the end of the novel when Nick
supports Gatsby against the rest of the folks.
Occupations have also been used very tactfully in the novel to highlight characteristics of
certain protagonists. The prime example is Gatsby who, despite being so rich, is known by his
profession: bootlegging. He had an illegal job that earned him a fortune but failed to get him into
the upper class of New York. In contrast, Nick has a clean and fair job of a bond man that defines
his character. The poor guy Wilson who fixes the rich peoples cars befriends his wife; and then
there is Jordon, who is presented as a dishonest golf pro.
Characterization is an essential component in writing good literature. Modern fiction, in
particular, has taken great advantage of this literary device. Understanding the role of
characterization in storytelling is very important for any writer. To put it briefly, it helps us make
sense of the behavior of any character in a story by helping us understand their thought processes.
A good use of characterization always leads the readers or audience to relate better to the events
taking place in the story. Dialogues play a very important role in developing a character because
they give us an opportunity to examine the motivations and actions of the characters more deeply.

B. Under Poetry- rhyme scheme, scansion, connotation vs denotation, and verbal irony vs
situational irony vs dramatic irony.
RHYME SCHEME
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words occurring at the end of lines in poems
or songs.
A rhyme is a tool utilizing repeating patterns that brings rhythm or musicality in poems
which differentiate them from prose which is plain. A rhyme is employed for the specific purpose
of rendering a pleasing effect to a poem which makes its recital an enjoyable experience.
Moreover, it offers itself as a mnemonic device smoothing the progress of memorization. For
instance, all nursery rhymes contain rhyming words in order to facilitate learning for children as
they enjoy reading them and the presence of repetitive patterns enables them to memorize that
particular poem effortlessly. We do not seem to forget the nursery rhymes we learnt as a kid. Below
are a few nursery rhyme examples with rhyming words in bold:
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for the master, one for the dame,
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses, And all the Kings men
Couldnt put Humpty together again!
Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day, which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out, but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about till Mary did appear.
Poems written in English employ the following kinds of rhyme:
Perfect Rhyme
A perfect rhyme is a case in which two words rhyme in such a way that their final stressed
vowel and all following sounds are identical e.g. sight and light, right and might, rose and dose
etc.

General Rhyme
The term general rhyme refers to a variety of phonetic likeness between words.

Bottle and fiddle, cleaver and silver, patter and pitter etc. are examples of syllabic
rhyme i.e. words having a similar sounding last syllable but without a stressed
vowel

Wing and caring, sit and perfect, reflect and subject etc, are examples
of imperfect rhyme i.e. a rhyme between a stressed and an unstressed syllable.

Assonance or Slant Rhyme exists in words having the same vowel sound e.g.
kill and bill, wall and hall, shake and hate etc.

Consonance exist in words having the same consonant sound e.g. rabbit
and robber, ship and sheep

Alliteration or Head Rhyme refers to matching initial consonant sounds e.g. sea
and seal, ship and short etc.

Eye Rhymes
Eye Rhymes, also called sight or spelling rhymes, refer to words having the same spelling
but different sounds. In such case, the final syllables have the same spellings but are pronounce
differently e.g. cough and bough, love and move etc.
As discussed above, a rhyme serves two distinct functions in the art of writing poetry:
1. It gives poetry a typical symmetry that differentiates poetry from prose.
2. It makes recital of poetry a pleasurable experience for the readers as the repetitive patterns
renders musicality and rhythm to it.

SCANSION
Scansion is the dividing of verse (lines of poetry) into feet by indicating accents and
counting syllables to determine the meter of a poem. It is a means of studying the mechanical
elements by which the poet has established his rhythmical effects. The meter, once the scanning
has been performed, is named according to the type and number of feet employed in a verse.
Following are the major types of meter (the adjective form is in parenthesis).
Iambus (iambic)
Trochee (trochaic)
Anapest (anapestic)

Dactyl (dactylic)
Spondee (spondaic)
A verse of one foot (of any type) is called monometer; of two feet, dimeter; of three
feet, trimeter; of four feet, tetrameter; of five feet, pentameter; of six feet, hexameter; of seven
feet, heptameter; of eight feet, octameter. Thus a verse consisting of two trochaic feet is called
trochaic dimeter; of five iambic feet, iambic pentameter, and so on.
Let's take a look at the opening line of Shakespeare's sonnet 147 to see how scansion works:
The line follows a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed. That makes it
iambic. If we break the line into iambic feet (the number of iambs), we see that there are five.
Thus, following the naming convention mentioned above, it is iambic pentameter.
Scanning a line in this way helps to understand its structure; however, even the best of
verse sometimes only approximates the pattern.
Scansion is often considered to include rhyme scheme as well as verse analysis. To
determine the rhyme scheme, assign a letter to the last word of each line. For example, consider
the first quatrain of Shakespeare's sonnet 147:
My love is as a fever, longing still a
For that which longer nurseth the disease, b
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, a
Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please. b
The first line ends with "still," so we assign the value a to it. Because the second line does
not rhyme with the first one, we assign it a value of b. Line three rhymes with line one, so it has
the same value of a. The fourth line rhymes with the second, so it gets a b.

CONNOTATION VS DENOTATION
Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it
describes explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings in addition to
their literal meanings or denotations.
For instance, Wall Street literally means a street situated in Lower Manhattan but
connotatively it refers to wealth and power.

Words may have positive or negative connotations that depend upon the social, cultural
and personal experiences of individuals. For example, the words childish, childlike and youthful
have the same denotative but different connotative meanings. Childish and childlike have a
negative connotation as they refer to immature behavior of a person. Whereas, youthful implies
that a person is lively and energetic.
Below are a few connotation examples. Their suggested meanings are shaped by cultural
and emotional associations:

A dog connotes shamelessness or an ugly face.

A dove implies peace or gentility.

Home suggests family, comfort and security.

Politician has a negative connotation of wickedness and insincerity while statesperson

connotes sincerity.

Pushy refers to someone loud-mouthed and irritating.

Mom and Dad when used in place of mother and father connote loving parents.
In literature, it is a common practice among writers to deviate from the literal meanings of

words in order to create novel ideas. Figures of speech frequently employed by writers are
examples of such deviations.
Example #1
Metaphors are words that connote meanings that

go beyond their literal

meanings. Shakespeare in his Sonnet 18 says:

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day
Here, the phrase a Summers Day implies the fairness of his beloved. Similarly, John
Donne says in his poem The Sun Rising:
She is all states, and all princes, I.
This line suggests the speakers belief that he and his beloved are wealthier than all the
states, kingdoms, and rulers in the whole world because of their love.
Example #2
Irony and satire exhibit connotative meanings, as the intended meanings of words are
opposite to their literal meanings. For example, we see a sarcastic remark passed by Antonio on
Shylock, the Jew, in William Shakespeares play The Merchant of Venice:

Hie thee, gentle Jew.

The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind.
The word Jew has a negative connotation of wickedness, while Christian demonstrates
positive connotations of kindness.
Example #3
George Orwells allegorical novel Animal Farm is packed with examples of connotation.
The actions of the animals on the farm illustrate the greed and corruption that arose after the
Communist Revolution of Russia. The pigs in the novel connote wicked and powerful people who
can change the ideology of a society. In addition, Mr. Jones (the owner of the farm), represents the
overthrown Tsar Nicholas II; and Boxer, the horse, represents the laborer class etc.
Example #4
Metonymy is another figure of speech that makes use of connotative or suggested
meanings, as it describes a thing by mentioning something else with which it is closely connected.
For example, Mark Anthony in Act III of Shakespeares Julies Caesar says, Friends, Romans,
countrymen, lend me your ears. Here the word ear connotes the idea of people listening to him
attentively.
Example #5
Connotation provides the basis for symbolic meanings of words because symbolic
meanings of objects are different from their literal sense. Look at the following lines from
Shakespeares play As you Like It:
All the worlds a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
A stage connotes the world; players suggests human beings; and parts implies
different stages of their lives.
In literature, connotation paves way for creativity by using figures of speech
like metaphor, simile, symbolism, personification etc. Had writers contented themselves with only
the literal meanings, there would have been no way to compare abstract ideas to concrete concepts
in order to give readers a better understanding .Therefore, connotative meanings of words allow
writers to add to their works, dimensions which are broader, more vivid and fresher.
Denotation is generally defined as literal or dictionary meanings of a word in contrast to
its connotative or associated meanings.

Let us try to understand this term with the help of an example. If you search for meaning
of the word dove in a dictionary, you will see that its meaning is a type of pigeon, a wild and
domesticated bird having a heavy body and short legs. In literature, however, you frequently see
dove referred to as a symbol of peace.
Readers are familiar with denotations of words but denotations are generally restricted
meanings. Writers, therefore, deviate from the denotative meanings of words to create fresh ideas
and images that add deeper levels of meanings to common and ordinary words. Readers find it
convenient to grasp the connotative meanings of words because of the fact that they are familiar
to their literal meanings.

VERBAL IRONY vs SITUATIONAL IRONY vs DRAMATIC IRONY

Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended
meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that may end
up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference
between the appearance and the reality.
On the grounds of the above definition, we distinguish two basic kinds of irony i.e. verbal
irony and situational irony. A verbal irony involves what one does not mean. When in response to
a foolish idea, we say, what a great idea! it is a verbal irony. A situational irony occurs when,
for instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of the other even when the same misfortune, in
complete unawareness, is befalling him.
Difference between Dramatic Irony and Situational Irony
Dramatic irony is a kind of irony in a situation, which the writers frequently employ in
their works. In situational irony, both the characters and the audience are fully unaware of the
implications of the real situation. In dramatic irony, the characters are oblivious of the situation
but the audience is not. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, we know much before the characters
that they are going to die. In real life circumstances, irony may be comical, bitter or sometimes
unbearably offensive.
Let us analyze some interesting examples of irony from our daily life:

The name of Britains biggest dog was Tiny.

You laugh at a person who slipped stepping on a banana peel and the next thing
you know, you slipped too.

The butter is as soft as a marble piece.

Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera.

Example #1
We come across the following lines in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V.
Go ask his name: if he be married.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was and says if he were married, then
her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony because the audience knows that she is
going to die on her wedding bed.
Example #2
Shakespeare employs this verbal irony in Julius Caesar Act I, Scene II,
CASSIUS: tis true this god did shake
Cassius, despite knowing the mortal flaws of Caesar, calls him this god.
Like all other figures of speech, Irony brings about some added meanings to a situation.
Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers interest. Irony makes a work of
literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the
underlying meanings of the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations.
Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature closer to the life.