Glossary

[Literature Terms] [Style Terms] [Social Criticism Terms]

Literature Terms:

Caricature: a grotesque usually comic representation of a person by exaggeration of characteristic traits

Discourse: ideas and beliefs relating to a specific concept

Intertextuality: the whole network of relations, conventions, and expectations by which the text is defined; the relationship between texts

Juxtaposition: To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

Metaphor: the application of a name or descriptive term or phrase to an object or action to which it is imaginatively but not literally applicable

Motif: a recurring salient thematic element in a text

Positioning: where the reader is made to feel a certain way about events or ideas in the text because of the techniques of the author

Satire: the use of ridicule, irony, sarcasm, etc., to expose folly or vice or to lampoon an individual

Social ideology: A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of  accepted ideals within a society.

Theme: a prominent or frequently recurring idea which underlies the text

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Style Terms:

Black humour: a style of humour which involves positioning the reader to adopt a comical approach to disturbing and macabre events, so that afterwards people realise the serious side of the humour

Jester: A fool or buffoon at medieval courts, but also prevalent in modern texts to add humour

Slapstick Humour: a style of humour involving extravagant actions that are ridiculous in their nature

Surrealism: A 20th-century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter

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Social Criticism Terms:

Bureaucracy: Management or administration marked by hierarchical authority among numerous offices and by fixed procedures

Capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market

Criticism: find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws

Dehumanise: To deprive of human qualities such as individuality, compassion, or civility

Futile: a circumstance that cannot be altered, no matter what action is taken, as it is useless, ineffectual and vain

Hypocrisy: the assumption or postulation of moral standards to which one's own behaviour does not conform; dissimulation, pretence

Idiosyncrasy: A structural or behavioural characteristic peculiar to an individual or group

Public scrutiny: a critical investigation or examination of details by members of society at the actions of social institutions

Social institution: An established organization or foundation of society such as governments and bureaucracy

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