I am writing a composition for my English class and I don't understand what it means when it says to have a reference to literary elements.

If you had no idea what the literary elements
are - you are probably wondering which ones would be the easiest to
write about.  I would suggest, like Missy, you identify three.  In fact, her prompt is
perfect and will get you started on the right track immediately.  If you are only going
to go for three, they need to be three biggies.

1. 
CONFLICT: no such thing as a story without a conflict. 
Write about the main conflict that the story centers around, internal or
external.

2.  SYMBOLISM: is
there any person or object in the story that obviously is meant to be symbolic of a
deeper meaning?  (My guess is probably.)  Go with it.

3. 
THEME: every major work of literature has more than one. 
This should be easy.  (Read the thread posted below.)  This makes a great ending too
because essentially it allows you to wrap up with the meaning of the
story.

Then you can spice up the rest of the paper by
referring to the main character as the protagonist and his
enemy as the antagonist.  Some others found in every great
book include the climax and
resolution (plot elements).  If you want to talk about a
major character and any great changes he/she goes through, this is the element of
characterization.