An Onomatopoeia In John Strasser's The Joy Luck Club

A simile is when two unlike things are compared using like or as. Strasser comments, “The heavy fog was like a trapdoor pressing down on her consciousness” (9). Strasser chose to use a simile to show how the fog was pressing down on her consciousness. The word like is the word that shows that a simile is being used in this quote. In this section of the story, Madison and Tyler have just dropped Lucy off at her house after a party. The three of them are involved in a program that is called, Safe Rides, to make sure that high school students get home safely after a night of parties and drinking. In addition to this, Lucy said that she just wanted to stand outside by herself, so then Madison and Tyler left. Also, not long after those two leave,

Strasser writes, “Zap” (225). The author chose to use an onomatopoeia to show what it sounded like when Ms. Skelling zapped Tyler with the dog collar remote. The word that shows an onomatopoeia in this quote, is zap. In this section of the story, Madison and Ethan went to the kennels that the person who had sent Madison a weird message had said. In addition, this is after the part in the novel, when Lucy, Adam, and Courtney have all gone missing, and Lucy’s dead body has been found. Next, Ms. Skelling has also captured Madison, Ethan, and Tyler. As a result, she put dog shock collars on them and throws them into old, dirty, smelly dog kennels. As this happens Madison and Tyler are the only ones that are still conscious. Consequently, this means that they have little to no help to try to escape. Finally, as Ms. Skelling walks away, Tyler messes with the kennel trying to unlock it, and by doing so it made a sound that she unfortunately heard. In addition, this is when she knew that Tyler was up to trouble, and decided she needed to shock him. Consequently, this is when the collar makes that sound. Therefore, Strasser uses the literary element of an onomatopoeia to show how the shock sounded. Furthermore, the quote, “Zap,” uses the literary element of an

Throughout the book, there was an anonymous blogger that constantly posted strange and threatening, but true messages. However, no one thought anything of these posts until Lucy disappeared. Although, some people agreed with these messages, and some didn’t no one ever thought that they might mean something. Sometimes these posts would wish that Lucy, and some of her other popular friends were dead. At the beginning of the story, this blogger had only wished that Lucy was dead because Lucy was so mean to her. Furthermore, Lucy and her friends did not see this coming, and it was a total surprise when Lucy did not return home one night, after a party. As a result, once Lucy was dead, he or she also wished that Adam and some other popular people would end up just like Lucy. Therefore, once the bloggers wishes had come true, everyone thought that he or she had in fact killed Lucy, Adam, and Courtney. As certain events happen, it just looks more and more like this anonymous blogger was looking very guilty for the crime that had been committed by someone, whos identity had not yet been revealed. Consequently, when the identity of the blogger was revealed by Madison, it was not the person that they were looking for. Henceforth, this person had definitely not kidnapped and killed Lucy, Adam, and Courtney. This is why the title of the book was called Wish You Were Dead because the blogger had wished that Soundview’s most popular