FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (TROPES): Language that is not literal. Metaphorical devices link meaning; most common are METAPHOR, SIMILE, PERSONIFICATION, AND ALLUSION. Point out examples (direct quotes) and discuss how used and how often used.
IRONIC DEVICES: Irony adds extra dimensions to meaning, stets up special understanding between writer and reader. Most common include VERBAL, SITUATIONAL, or DRAMATIC IRONY, PARADOX, OXYMORON, EUPHEMISM, HYPERBOLE, and UNDERSTATEMENT. Point out examples; how used, how often?
TONE: Author’s attitude toward subject, characters, and reader. Could be playful, serious, angry, ironic, formal, somber, satiric, and combinations of many more. Discuss the author’s tone and observe how the author creates it through plot, diction, syntax, imagery, figurative devices. Use direct quotations from text to support observations.
THEME: The theme refers to the book’s controlling idea or central insight. Identify the book’s central theme. Express as a statement with subject and predicate, not as a word or phrase (i.e. Wrong: “loyalty”, or “loyalty to country”; Right: “Envy is futile.”) Discuss author’s intention.
