Opportunity Cost = the next best thing you gave up
Opportunity Cost
Every choice has a hidden cost — the next best alternative
If you spend $1000 on a vacation, the opportunity cost is whatever else you would have done with that $1000. Every decision, including going to college, has one.
📊 Key Terms
CA = lower opportunity cost, not lower absolute cost
Comparative Advantage
Comparative advantage — the most misunderstood econ concept
A country has comparative advantage in goods it can produce at the lowest opportunity cost, not necessarily the lowest dollar cost. This is why trade benefits both parties.
📊 Key Terms
Externality = cost or benefit to a third party
Externalities
Positive and negative externalities — who pays vs who benefits
Negative externality: pollution (factory produces, neighborhood suffers). Positive externality: education (student benefits, society also gains). Markets underprovide positive externalities.
📊 Key Terms
Ceteris paribus = "all else equal"
Ceteris Paribus
The assumption behind every economic model
Economists hold all other variables constant to isolate one relationship. "If income rises, demand rises — ceteris paribus." Without this assumption, models would be impossible.
📊 Key Terms
Sunk cost = already spent, ignore it
Sunk Cost
Sunk costs should never influence future decisions
A sunk cost is already paid and unrecoverable. Rational decision-making ignores sunk costs — only future costs and benefits matter. Continuing a bad movie because you paid for it is irrational.
Character Types
Protagonist = main character. Antagonist = their opponent. Anti-hero = morally complex protagonist.
Character Types
Three character roles — protagonist, antagonist, anti-hero
Protagonist: the central character the story follows. Antagonist: the force (person, society, nature, self) in opposition. Anti-hero: a protagonist lacking conventional heroic qualities (Walter White, Holden Caulfield). Dynamic character: changes significantly. Static: stays the same.
Theme vs Topic
Theme = central message or insight about human experience. NOT the topic (love) but the statement (love destroys as much as it creates).
Theme vs Topic
The difference between what a work is about and what it says
Topic is a noun: war, identity, justice. Theme is a statement: 'War reveals the worst in human nature.' or 'Identity is constructed, not inherent.' A work can have multiple themes. Theme is what the author wants you to understand about the human condition — not a moral lesson.
Motif vs Symbol
Motif = recurring element that supports a theme. Symbol = object representing something beyond itself.
Motif vs Symbol
Two literary devices that carry deeper meaning throughout a text
Symbol: the green light in Gatsby represents the American Dream and unattainable desire. Motif: repeated references to sight and blindness throughout Oedipus Rex reinforce the theme of truth vs. illusion. Motifs are patterns; symbols are individual objects with extended meaning.
Narrative Point of View
Point of view: 1st person (I), 2nd person (you), 3rd limited (he/she, one character's mind), 3rd omniscient (all characters' minds)
Narrative Point of View
Who tells the story — and what they can know
1st person: intimate, limited to narrator's knowledge, potentially unreliable. 2nd person: rare, draws reader in (choose-your-own-adventure). 3rd limited: follows one character's perspective — reader knows only what that character knows. 3rd omniscient: narrator knows all characters' thoughts.
Tone: how the author feels about what they're writing — sarcastic, reverent, melancholy, celebratory. Mood: the atmosphere the work creates for the reader — eerie, joyful, tense. Same events can create different tones/moods depending on word choice. Diction, imagery, and syntax all create both.
Three vocabulary analysis terms that always appear on literature exams
Denotation: 'cheap' = inexpensive. Connotation: 'cheap' implies low quality or stinginess. 'Affordable' has the same denotation but a neutral/positive connotation. Authors choose words for their connotations. On exams: 'analyze the author's diction' means look at specific word choices and their implied meanings.
Types of Conflict
Conflict types: Man vs Man, Man vs Nature, Man vs Society, Man vs Self — external vs internal
Types of Conflict
The four categories of literary conflict
Man vs Man: character against another character (Romeo and Juliet). Man vs Nature: character against natural forces (The Old Man and the Sea). Man vs Society: character against social norms/institutions (1984). Man vs Self: internal struggle (Hamlet's indecision). Most stories contain multiple types.