Short Story Elements — Flashcards

Grade 10 · English · Flashcards

Master plot structure, conflict types, and narrative technique terms for Grade 10 English.

Flashcards

Freytag's Pyramid: 5-stage plot structure: exposition → rising action → climax → falling action → resolution (denouement).
Exposition: Opening stage: introduces characters, setting, and initial situation before complications begin.
Rising action: Series of complications and obstacles that build tension toward the climax.
Climax: The peak of tension — the story's turning point where the central conflict begins to resolve.
Falling action: Events that follow the climax, showing consequences unfolding as tension decreases.
Denouement: Final resolution — the 'unknotting' where remaining tensions discharge and a new equilibrium is reached.
Internal conflict: Character vs. self — struggles with fear, guilt, desire, moral choice, or identity.
External conflict: Character vs. an outside force: another character, nature, society, or technology.
Foreshadowing: Details planted early that hint at later events — creates suspense and a sense of inevitability.
In medias res: Beginning a narrative mid-action (Latin: 'in the middle of things') to immediately engage the reader.
Poe's unity of effect: Every element of a short story should contribute to one unified emotional impression.
Flashback: A scene that interrupts the chronological narrative to show earlier events — provides backstory or context.