T.C Boyle’s character Kyra was at rough spot in her life in The Tortilla Curtain, the author uses a simile to better interpret the situation she is in and by doing so he creates a picture rather than just having black and white text. To further understand this idea the figurative language has to be understood as to what and how it relates to the text. For this specific example he uses a simile, which is comparing two unlike things using like or as. “It was a shock, she looked awful, haggard, Frowsy, desperate, like some stressed-out Tupperware hostess or something” (74). Boyle is making it clear that Kyra is under a lot of stress up to the point that it is affecting her personal appearance. He describes her nose as being bright red which seems to “ Pull her whole face in on itself like some freaky vortex, The Amazing Lady with the Shrinking Face”(74). …show more content…
“Whatever the doctor had done to it-remove a sliver of bone, snip a bit here and there-it was always a shade paler than her cheeks, chin and brow, and it took on color more quickly”(74). Now with what started as a small simile has brought a sliver of information that changes how the reader might view Kyra. Having any sort of cosmetic work done at such an early age the reader can infer that she was pretty well off as a child and had little to no worries growing up. People like Kyra who come from money and are sheltered often become prejudice to those that are not as fortunate and sometimes can often become xenophobic. Knowing this explains why throughout the book Kyra wants to get rid of the Mexicans because “There’s just too many of them, they’ve overwhelmed us, the schools, welfare, the prisons and now the streets” (190). Kyra swears up and down that she is not prejudice towards Mexicans but yet she does everything in her power to rid them of her
John McPhee used similes throughout his essay “Under the Snow”. One of his similes was him describing how a researcher put the bear in a doughnut shape. It was to explain to the audience that the bear was wrapped around with room between her legs for the bear cubs to lay when they are in hibernation. He describes the movement of the bears and the bear cubs like clowns coming out of a compact car. The similes help the audience see how the moved and how they were placed after the researcher moved them.
The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. It is set in a poor, Latino neighborhood around 1960. The main character, Esperanza, is expected to get married in order to support herself. However, Esperanza strives for independence, and seeks to end the cycle of abusive patriarchy that holds Mango Street in thrall. Through the use of syntax and figurative language, Cisneros establishes that a sense of not belonging can fuel an individual’s desire for a better future.
The political climate in the United States has recently been very intense, all beginning with Trump and his negative remarks against the immigrant community. His most famous and derogatory words calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers (Reilly), sparked a huge uproar in the defense of the Mexican people who have chosen to immigrate to the United States. Along his path to the presidency he has time after time belittled Mexicans and their culture. That, however, has not stopped the Mexican band, Calibre 50 from shedding light on an all too real journey and attempting to fortify their fans for a common cause. Almost a year into Trump’s presidency Calibre 50 released the music video for their song, “El Corrido de Juanito.” The music video follows the journey of a man crossing the border to which it then shows him trying to make a life for himself in the United States as a gardener and a chef. The video attempts to show what it is like to illegally
Then she also used simile of figures of speech to describe the dead snake. For instance, “He is as cool and gleaming as a braided whip”, the speaker compared the black snake with a braided whip, and “he is as beautiful and quiet as a dead brother”, she regarded the black brother. Let’s start with the first one of two sentences, the speaker chose the braided whip as vehicle because its shape also was as same as the black snake’s, but different from an old bicycle whip, the speaker chose some positive words that were “cool” and “gleaming” to describe the black snake, I thought the conver of diction presented changes in her delicate feelings. Subsequently, the second sentence made me understood what changes were. I thought that was she no longer think the black snake was a snake but her compatriot, because she said that he was her dead brother. These similes also expressed the speaker’s affection in
Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like
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
Poetry conveys emotions and ideas through words and lines. Long Way Down gives the story about a boy named Will, who wants to avenge his brother. He believes that a guy named Riggs killed his brother. He takes his brother’s gun and leaves his family’s apartment on the eighth floor. On the way down the elevator, he is stopped at each floor and a ghost from his past gets on.
The speaker uses figurative language to compare a girl that he loves to the happiness of nature, and to state that he will make a special relationship end happily. Simile is a type of figurative language that compares two things using the words “like” or “as.” A simile in line five has a very powerful meaning: “Like everything that’s green, girl, I ne...
Have you ever struggle to get out of a bad situation? In Buried Onions by Gary Soto, the main character is being pressured into avenging his cousin's death but the main character is just trying to let it go and move on with his life. Throughout the book, figurative language has become vital since it is constantly used in every chapter. Figurative language helps the book because it makes the book come alive, gives the reader a point of view of Eddie, the main character, and gives the reader a visual.
In “Queens, 1963”, the speaker narrates to her audience her observations that she has collected from living in her neighborhood located in Queens, New York in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrator is a thirteen-year-old female immigrant who moved from the Dominican Republic to America with her family. As she reflects on her past year of living in America, she reveals a superb understanding of the reasons why the people in her neighborhood act the way they do towards other neighbors. In “Queens, 1963” by Julia Alvarez, the poet utilizes diction, figurative language, and irony to effectively display to the readers that segregation is a strong part of the American melting pot.
In the novel, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he describes parts of his war experiences through the stories told throughout the book. O’Brien discusses the gory detailed chaos of the Vietnam war and his fellow “soldiers.” As O’Brien gives detail of the his “fictional” experiences, he explains why he joined the war. He also describes a time where his “character” wanted to escape a draft to Canada.
Figurative Language in a Work of Artifice by Marge Piercy. "A clever trick, crafty device, or stratagem" is how Webster's Encyclopedia of Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language defines Artifice. Marge Piercy definitely used "crafty" techniques in writing "A Work of Artifice. "
“Notice, again, metaphors are still comparing two things, but without the words like or as. Go ahead and pick up your markers and write ‘M’ for metaphor and write ‘like’ and ‘as’ but let’s put a slash through the words so we know not to use those words.”
Have you ever wondered how authors show the complexities of humans? Figurative language is a very important mechanism for the structure of writing. Figurative language is when authors use figures of speech in order to achieve a more complicated understanding of their work, and to add color to the text.There are many different forms of figurative language including similes, metaphors, hyperboles, and many more. It also helps describe the complexities of humans. Complexities of humans are what make us different than other organisms. Figurative language is used to make unfamiliar objects and statements more relatable for readers.