Figurative Language In The Storyteller

In “The Storyteller” Saki uses figurative language and the tone of one of the characters to create a powerful voice. In “The Storyteller,” an Aunt is telling a story, to the children she is watching, about being good, but a bachelor on the train disagrees with how her story ends and he is challenged to tell his own story. When the bachelor is telling his story about being good he states, “She kept her clothes clean, learned her lessons perfectly, and had beautiful manners. In fact, she was horribly good”(100). The two words “horribly good” create a contrast against one another and the phrase is an example of an oxymoron. The phrase leaves a negative connotation with the word “good” and it’s unusual because when thinking of the word, “good”

Strangeworth, who sends anonymous letters to the people in the town that causes suspicion. At the end of the story, someone finds out that the letters being sent are from Miss. Strangeworth and they get back at her. When Miss. Strangeworth is at the store and is talking to one of her neighbors, and is silently judging them, the author states “Don and Helen Crane were really the two most infatuated young parents she had ever known, she thought indulgently” (2). The word “Indulgently” infers that Miss. Strangeworth is not being completely honest and genuine with the Crane family, and while she is acting friendly in person, she feels that they aren’t good parents, and this foreshadows the judgmental letter she later sends to them. When Miss. Strangeworth is admiring her precious roses the author states “ Miss. Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses, although the tourist often asked her. The roses belonged on Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss Strangeworth to think of people wanting to carry them away, to take them into strange towns and down strange streets….” (2). This quote is another example of foreshadowing and the lines suggest that something bad will happen to her roses. Later on, at the end of the story, Miss. Strangeworth’s beloved roses get destroyed.

In “The Possibility of Evil” Jackson uses foreshadowing to show Miss. Strangeworth’s next intended victim. Jackson’s use of foreshadowing leaves a suspenseful tone to the story and it keeps the reader on