ZIMSEC O Level · Literature in English · Form 1, Form 2
Literature is imaginative writing – prose (novels and short stories), poetry and drama – that explores human experience.
Key elements of a story
- Plot: the sequence of events (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution).
- Setting: time and place, including social and historical background.
- Characters: protagonist (main character), antagonist (opponent), flat and round characters.
- Theme: the central idea or message, such as greed, love, injustice, identity or the clash of tradition and change.
- Point of view: first person (“I”) or third person (“he/she”), omniscient or limited.
Figures of speech
- Simile: a comparison using “like” or “as”.
- Metaphor: a direct comparison saying one thing is another.
- Personification: giving human qualities to non-human things.
- Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration. Irony: a contrast between what is expected and what happens.
- Symbolism: an object stands for a bigger idea (a broken pot for a broken family).
- Foreshadowing: hints of later events.
Exam tip: Never just name a device – explain its effect on the reader or what it reveals.
Check yourself
- Distinguish between a simile and a metaphor.
- What is a protagonist?
- Give two examples of themes common in African literature.
Show answers
- A simile compares using “like” or “as”; a metaphor says one thing IS another.
- The main character of a story.
- Any two: colonialism, tradition versus modernity, identity, poverty, family, corruption, the land.
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