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An essay about figurative language
An essay about figurative language
Figurative language in story
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The style of the excerpt from Between the World and Me is particularly powerful because it explains that there are cultural, social and economic barriers existing in America making it a separated and yet not unified country. The presence of imagery, figurative language and strong diction are characteristics of powerful language, but as well they support the meaning of the passage. Imagery is present in the passage to show how the language is powerful and to think more deeply about the meaning of Between the World and Me. It is used to help the people visualize what is happening throughout the passage, words such as “blueberry pies, fireworks, ice cream sundaes, immaculate bathrooms” are used in the text to make the readers be able to feel, …show more content…
“Death could so easily rise up” and “boyish afternoon, billow up like fog” describe how powerful the language is because figurative language is used to produce an effect on the excerpt making the language be powerful. Figurative language is used to reveal the hidden meaning. The writer compared violence to rain and fog., and this comparison makes the language powerful. Violence might be compared to those because rain and fog come unexpectedly, and when they come they will not leave right away, instead it will take some time to let fog and rain vanish. Rain is compared to violence because sometimes rain is thick and powerful just like violence. Fog instead avoid people from seeing far away. Rain and fog combined are compared to violence because violence is unexpected just like fog making people not able to see what is yet to come, and as well it is powerful just like thick rain. At the same time “bodies were enslaved by a tenacious gravity” meaning that some people were enslaved, separated from the rest of the World. The passage also shows that there are “two planets” and they orbit in their spheres, so that they will never collide and
There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel
“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to
In this passage from the novel Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes meaningful, vivid imagery to not only stress the chasm between two dissonant American realities, but to also bolster his clarion for the American people to abolish the slavery of institutional or personal bias against any background. For example, Coates introduces his audience to the idea that the United States is a galaxy, and that the extremes of the "black" and "white" lifestyles in this galaxy are so severe that they can only know of each other through dispatch (Coates 20-21). Although Coates's language is straightforward, it nevertheless challenges his audience to reconsider a status quo that has maintained social division in an unwitting yet ignorant fashion.
The title of the short story, “Four Directions” is symbolic for Waverly’s inner misconceptions. As she goes about her life, she is pulled in different ways by her past and her present. She is torn between her Chinese heritage and her American life. She never thought that instead of being pulled in four directions, she could take all of her differences and combine them. In the end she realizes this with the help of her mother. “The three of us, leaving our differences behind...moving West to reach East” (184), thought Waverly. Her whole life she misconceived her mother’s intentions. Lindo never wanted Waverly to solely focus on her Chinese heritage, but rather combine it with her new American ways. The idea of being pulled in four
Tatiana de Rosnay used different literary tools to assist her writing in order to deepen the story, including figurative language, dramatic irony, and foreshadowing. The use of figurative language helps to clarify a description in order to place an image in the mind of the reader. Similes are the main type of figurative language used throughout Sarah’s Key, allowing the reader to see what is happening. Many images conjured up make comparisons as a child would make them, as much of the story concerns the innocence of a child, such as “[t]he oversized radiators were black with dirt, as scaly as a reptile” (Rosnay 10) and “[t]he bathtub has claws” (Rosnay 11). Other descriptions compare Sarah, and Zoe, to a puppy, a symbol of innocence, as children are known to be
Rudolfo Anaya’s novel bless me, Ultima ignites theory to a community, comprised of goodness and necessary evil. These contrasting existences are described through ghosts of alienation and ostracization from immediate society, evident according to the solitary and lonesome physical appearance of Rosie's house.
In the story, "Cherry Bomb" by Maxine Clair the author uses many literary devices to characterize the adult narrator’s memories of her fifth-grade summer world. One of the literary devices used constantly in the passage was imagery. Imagery is used to give readers insight of how summer felt to the fifth-grader of the story and helps understand the tone of the adult. “Life was measured in summers then, and the expression “I am in this world, but not of it” appealed to me. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it had just the right ring for a lofty statement I should adopt” (Line 4-7). This quote from the passage best represents how the adult memories are reflected to the summer of her fifth-grade self. This passage gives imagery to the readers of a naïve character who believes everything that is said to her. The quote also let us know that
Imagery is when the author presents a mental image through descriptive words. One prime example of imagery that the author uses is in paragraph 3; where she tells of a moment between a man and a woman. In this narration she states the time, year, outfit of each character described, and what the female character was doing. These details might come across as irrelevant, or unnecessary, but this is Didions way of showing what the blueprint of notebook it. Using imagery reinforces the foundation of the essay, and what the essay’s mission was.
There is truly a fine line between physical discipline and abuse, and many times in the black community, that line is crossed. This topic is centered on discussions found in both Brittney Cooper’s article published on The Salan entitled “The Racial Parenting Divide” and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ novel “Between The World and Me” . Both parallel one another in the ideas exhibited in their pieces. The article written by Cooper confesses the often times TOO authoritative parenting style that black parents use to discipline their children while Between the World and Me gives a first hand acknowledgement of that. Coates’ life testimonials throughout Between the World and the examples given by Cooper in her article both serve as a prime example to the fine
Imagery, when a writer describes something in such great detail, the reader can imagine the writer's meaning. Ruta Sepetys writes great samples of imagery in her writing. One of the many things that make up imagery is diction, extended metaphors, and rhetorical devices. A good example of the following parts in "Between Shades of Gray" is in two paragraphs in Chapter eight. Which is when Lina is describing what she sees at the train station
Consider the first few lines, “I have nothing else to give you, so it is a pot full of yellow corn, to warm your belly in the winter” (Baca 8-10). The imagery here is clear. The author invokes the images of yellow delicious corn while stressing the importance of his poem in relation to food. The speaker cannot give the recipient food, so he gives the only thing he can, poetry. This imagery is strong in demonstrating the importance of the poem in comparison to food. Not only was imagery strong in this line it, it is also a metaphor: Thing A = Thing B. The author appears skilled in using both imagery and metaphors in this poem. Consider these lines, “It is a scarf for your head, to wear over your hair, to tie up around your face” (Baca 11-12). The author uses again both imagery and metaphors in this line. He is stating that his poem is as important to his love interest as a “Scarf for your head”, and that it should be valued. The imagery used within this stanza appears to be coordinating with Santiago’s message quite well. The second stanza invokes warm images of kindness, while the third stanza is more mysterious and
Piper’s use of imagery in this way gives the opportunity for the reader to experience “first hand” the power of words, and inspires the reader to be free from the fear of writing.
Imagery is used by many authors as a crucial element of character development. These authors draw parallels between the imagery in their stories and the main characters' thoughts and feelings. Through intense imagery, non-human elements such as the natural environment, animals, and inanimate objects are brought to life with characteristics that match those of the characters involved.
Another rhetorical strategy incorporated in the poem is imagery. There are many types of images that are in this poem. For example, the story that the young girl shares with the boy about drowning the cat is full of images for the reader to see:
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.