This document defines 25 key terms related to social justice concepts and literary analysis. Some of the terms defined include bias, which refers to a preference or inclination that inhibits impartial judgment; culture, which encompasses behavioral patterns, beliefs, and other human works; and difference, which refers to distinguishing characteristics that are often the basis for oppression by dominant groups. Other defined terms include discrimination, diversity, equality, ethnicity, fluid identity, oppression, and white privilege. Literary analysis terms defined include character, characterization, dialogue, irony, and paraphrase.

1. Terms and Definitions: List One
1. Bias: A preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment;
an unfair act or policy stemming from prejudice.
2. Culture: Behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, language, institutions, and all other products
of human work and thought.
3. Difference: A characteristic that distinguishes one person from another or from an
assumed norm, or the state of being distinguished by such characteristics. Social
justice issues such as racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism usually center on
the negative perception of difference by the dominant group. Viewed positively,
difference can be a catalyst for equity, recognition of interdependence, and a source
of personal power.
4. Discrimination: Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than
individual merit; partiality or prejudice.
5. Diversity: The quality of being diverse; a respect in which things differ; variety.
6. Equality: The state or quality of treating everyone in an equal manner.
7. Ethnicity: A perception of being alike, a sense of peoplehood by virtue of sharing a
common ancestry (real or fictitious), values, and behavior.
8. Fluid Identity: The concept that identity is not rigid but can and does change. This
idea is often used in terms of gender, sexuality, and race, as well as other factors of
identity. This concept is fundamentally contrary to binary systems. A person who
feels their identity is fluid often believes that rigid categories are oppressive and
incapable of accurately describing their experience and identities.
9. Oppression: Arbitrary and cruel use of power; using severe or unjust force or
authority. An unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time,
one group denies another group access to the resources of society. Race, gender,
class, sexuality, nation, age, and ethnicity constitute major forms of oppression. [Also
disability status, religion]
10. Passing: Historically, passing has been defined in terms of racial passing. It refers to
a deception that allows a person to take advantage of certain roles or opportunities
from which he or she might be barred in the absence of this posed identity. The most
common racial passer, of course, was the African American who lacked those
characteristics typical of his race. These mixed race people had physical appearances
that allowed them to be perceived and treated as if they where white. But passing is
not limited to African Americans assuming white roles in society; it is not even
limited to a racial basis. People pass in a variety of ways and for a variety of
reasons—from Blacks who pass for white, to Jews who pass as Gentiles, to gays who
pass for straight, for women who pass for men—and the opposite of all of these.
Reverse passing, though less prevalent, also exists in multiple forms.
11. Power: The ability or official capacity to exercise control, authority, and to define
key values and concepts that define the “center”—what is accepted and considered
“normal.”
12. Prejudice: An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without
knowledge or examination of the facts.
13. Privilege: An unearned advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to
or enjoyed by an individual because they are members of a category of people that is
accorded higher societal status.

2. 14. Racism: Discrimination or prejudice based on race; the belief that race accounts for
differences on human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to
others.
15. White Privilege: Benefiting from being a member of the dominant culture, from lack
of continuous surveillance, from the status accorded “whiteness” in the larger society.
16. Ambiguity: a doubtfulness or uncertainty about the intention or meaning of
something. It usually refers to a statement that is subject to more than one
interpretation. The term is used for words that suggest two or more appropriate
meanings or that convey both a basic meaning and complex overtones of that
meaning. Sometimes, authors make deliberate choices of words that simultaneously
cause several different streams of thought in the reader’s mind. Ambiguity is also
used to mean confusion between the denotation and connotation of a literary work. A
simple kind of ambiguity is the use of homophones to promote a multiplicity of
possible meanings. In Sonnet 135, Shakespeare puns on the word “Will,” invoking its
sense as one’s wish, as well as its sense as a nickname for “William”: “whoever hath
her wish, thou hast thy Will” (line 1).
17. Antagonist: the character that strives against another main character. This character
opposes the hero or protagonist in drama. The term is also used to describe one who
contends with or opposes another in a fight, conflict, or battle of wills. In literature,
this is the principal opponent or foil of the main character and is considered the
villain unless the protagonist is a villain; in that case, the antagonist is the hero.
18. Character: a combination of traits and features that form the nature of some person
or animal. It also refers to moral qualities and ethical standards and principles. In
literature, character refers to a person represented in a story, novel, or play.
19. Characterization: the creation of the image of imaginary persons in drama, narrative
poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot and is revealed
by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters’ thoughts
or words about him.
20. Dialogue: is a conversation, or a literary work in the form of a conversation, that is
often used to reveal characters and to advance the plot. Also, it is the lines spoken by
a character in a play, essay, story, or novel.
21. Epistle: a letter, especially a formal or didactic one; written communication. Also
(usually initial capital letter ) one of the apostolic letters in the new testament or
(often initial capital letter ) an extract, usually from one of the Epistles of the New
Testament, forming part of the Eucharistic service in certain churches.
22. Irony: a dryly humorous or lightly sarcastic figure of speech in which the literal
meaning of a word or statement is the opposite of that intended. In literature, it is the
technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposed to what is actually stated.
Often, only the context of the statement leads the reader to understand it is ironic.
Irony makes use of hyperbole, sarcasm, satire, and understatement. There are four
types of irony:
1. verbal irony as defined by Cicero (see below)
2. situational irony, such as when a pickpocket gets his own pockets picked
3. dramatic irony, such as when Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father

3. 4. rhetorical irony, such as that of the innocent narrator in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
The term is taken directly from the Greek eironeia, meaning “simulated ignorance.”
The term was first recorded in Plato’s Republic in the Fourth Century B.C. Aristotle
described it as “a dissembling toward the inner core of truth” while Cicero defined it
by saying, “Irony is the saying of one thing and meaning another.” Socratic irony is
when one adopts another’s point of view in order to reveal that person’s weaknesses
and eventually to ridicule him.
23. Literal: pertaining to a letter of the alphabet. More typically, it means, “based on
what is actually written or expressed.” A literal interpretation gives an exact
rendering—word for word— taking words in their usual or primary sense. It is also
used to describe thinking which is unimaginative or matter of fact.
24. Literature: writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas and
concerns of universal and apparently permanent interest, are essential features. While
applied to any kind of printed material, such as circulars, leaflets, and handbills, there
are some who feel it is more correctly reserved for prose and verse of acknowledged
excellence, such as George Eliot’s works. The term connotes superior qualities.
25. Paraphrase: (also called rewording) - the restatement of a passage giving the
meaning in another form. This usually involves expanding the original text so as to
make it clear.