Vocabulary Instructions                                                       Name:___________________________________

Mural example

Consider each of the following literary terms.  Create a 5 column chart to allow the following information for each word as it is used in the book The Outsiders.  For each vocabulary word, explain how the image in the mural portrays that literary term.  For a grade of "B" or "A" see instructions at the bottom of this web page.

Word        
Definition         
In one sentence, relate one
event from The Outsiders
that displays the term
In two sentences, explain why
the event from The Outsiders
portrays the term.
 In one sentence, explain
what image in the mural
symbolizes this term.
 

allegory
 piece of literature that has a hidden meaning beneath the real or literal meaning. i.e. the character's name is Patience or Kindness      
alliteration
 repetition of initial consonant sounds      
analogy
 comparison of two things; alike in certain aspects      

antagonist
 character or force against which the protagonist is pitted; the bad guy      
 
character
 people and sometimes animals who participate in a story      
 
characterization
  methods used by an author to make characters come alive      
 
climax
 
 turning point in the action and interest and intensity are peaked.  When the reader knows how the story will end      
conflict
 struggle between opposing forces; i.e. man vs. man      
cliche   worn out expression      
comedy
  story that ends happily or with humor    
 
dialogue
 written conversation between two or more characters      
fiction
 stories created by the author; fantasy; not true      
 
flashback
 interruption from a point in a story to an episode that happened at an earlier time      
 
foreshadowing
 writer's use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur later in the story      
 
genre
 kind, category, type of literature; i.e. fantasy, science fiction, sports, adventure, biography, etc.      
hyperbole
 great exaggeration      
imagery
 words creating vivid sensory experiences      
idiom
 phrase that does not match the ordinary definition       
 
inference
 drawing a conclusion from a limited amount of information      
irony
 saying one thing but meaning another      
mood
   feeling the writer creates for the reader      
motivation why characters do what they do      
narrator
  one telling the story      
nonfiction
 factual stories      
plot
 what happens in a story    
 
protagonist main character      
structure the way the story is arranged      
suspense
 
 story element that keeps the reader wanting to know what happens next      
theme
 
 idea about life expressed in literary work; moral of the story      
tone author's attitude about his subject      

For a grade of "B" create your own mural of one of the themes in The Outsiders and complete the vocabulary words in relation to your original mural. 

For a grade of "A" select a song from your experience and explain in 50 - 100 words how it relates to one theme of The Outsiders.  E-mail the lyrics, explanation, and a link to a performance of the song to my school address. 

Examples of Beetles songs that could fit a theme:
"We Can Work It Out" - conflict between family members (Ponyboy and Darry?)
"Eleanor Rigby" (All the Lonely People) - a life not lived (Johnny, Dally, Bob)
"Hey, Jude" - "Stay Gold"
"The Two of Us" - the comfort and security of friendship
"Yesterday" - loss of friendship
"Long and Winding Road" - strength of friendship
"Imagine" - the brotherhood of all people; how people are alike as opposed to how people allow differences to drive them      
                  apart.

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.