ipl-logo

Girl On The Train Analysis

782 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolism in literature essay

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkin is a novel known for its suspense, detail, and strong grip on the reader. With the use of imagery, the book comes to life, making the reader have both a clear picture of what the characters are thinking and also experience what they experience. For example, Rachel, the main character, suffers from severe depression and alcoholism. Throughout the book she describes summer days with “beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies, no one to play with, nothing to do. Living like this is harder in the summer when there is so much daylight, so little cover of darkness, when everyone is out and about, being flagrantly, aggressively happy. It’s exhausting, and it makes you feel bad if you’re not joining in” (Hawkin 3). Because …show more content…

Rachel’s ex-husband, Tom, compares Rachel to a dog. Instead of just stating his issues with her, he described issues a dog would go through to really drive his point home. He states: “you’re like one of those dogs, the unwanted ones that have been mistreated all their lives. You can kick them and kick them, but they’ll still come back to you, cringing and wagging their tails. Begging. Hoping that this time it’ll be different, that this time they’ll do something right and you’ll love them. You’re just like that, aren’t you, Rach? You’re a dog” (Hawkin 316). By representing Rachel as dog in his head, he was able to greatly insult her with little difficulty as well as make it easier for readers to understand how he feels about her without blatantly stating it. Additionally, Hawkin uses symbolism when it comes to the weapon that Rachel uses for self-defense which eventually kills Tom: a screwdriver. Things were starting to get physical between Tom and Rachel at the very end of the book and Rachel waited for him around a corner and then “jamed the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck” (317). The corkscrew represents the divide created in their marriage by alcohol. Hawkin made sure that Rachel wasn’t going to use any random defense mechanism, and by implementing the corkscrew into the scene, the reader may be able to find the connection,

Show More
Related
1074 Words | 5 Pages

She is starting to appear more content with herself even though she still hasn’t been able to tell anyone happened yet. “I’m on a roll, I’m rocking… The time time has come to arm-wrestle some demons. Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren’t (Anderson 180).” She is able to talk to Rachel during their study hall, they pass notes so they won’t get in trouble with the librarian. Rachel tells Melinda she isn’t mad at her about calling the cops to the party anymore, since it was such a long time ago.

Read More
341 Words | 2 Pages

In the news article, Girl Moved To Tears by Mice of Men Cliff Notes, written by the onion uses multiple forms of satire to produce its tone towards the topic. The tone in this article is sarcastic, judgmental, and a little bit humorous towards the idea of Cliff Notes. The author believes Cliff Notes are pointless and people who read them instead of the actual book are lazy. In this article the author uses parody and sarcasm in order to convey the point of view and tone of the news article. The main satire used in the new article written by the Onion is parody.

Read More
132 Words | 1 Pages

In the book Webster: Tale of an Outlaw, written by Ellen Emerson White is about a dog who has had a rough time with finding the right home he went from being on a chain in ALL weather to another home where he was abused. Webster was taken to a shelter out on a farm with friendly people and animals they provided warm baked goods and soft cozy beds. When Webster introduced himself to the animals he says that he is a “bad hat” and tells them his plan to escape and be this amazing role model for other dogs. Webster meets a dog named Jack who is now his “acquaintance” instead of his “friend” because that would make him look like a nice guy when really he’s this tough big dog.

Read More
329 Words | 2 Pages

Sharon olds in the passage “on the subway” is trying to write the similarities and differences between the way people are with a Caucasian and an African American. Sharon attempts this by using literary techniques like imagery, simile, and tone. Imagery is used to see the differences between a white women and a black boy, the the first part of the passage. The narrator is the white woman and the black boy is the observer; the the shoes that he is wearing are black with “white laces on them”.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

The theme of the story is to be careful at all time ,many thing bad things can happen if not careful . Summer was walking alone at night when she should have been with someone she know or trust to walk with her. Summer was stubborn to be walking alone to find her friend at night. By doing that Summer has ended up in a very bad situation. She got kidnapped by a man named Clover has a mental issue.

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

In fact, Clair spends a great deal of the book uncertain about whether she even likes Danny, more often than not pointing out his flaws and personality quirks that make her cringe rather than spending time on what she finds to be redeemable qualities. It isn’t until the end of the novel, when things take a turn for the worse, that she begins to truly feel sympathy for Danny and his situation. "To them, a dog was just another thing, like a barbecue grill or a fancy porch rocker, and it didn 't mean that they didn 't love the dog, it just meant they didn 't recognize a dog for what it was and what it needed." Anyone who loves stories with animals, or loves stories that touch your heart, or basically just loves stories in general, needs to pick up a copy of Monninger’s Whippoorwill. You’ll be a more compassionate person for reading it, not just to animals, but to the human condition.

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

When Rachel is doing terrible things (like stealing money and buying a plane ticket) for a good reason, we can truly see how hope can change our minds to do even the worst things. And by ignoring what her mom says and forgiving her immature father, Rachel shows us all how everybody deserves a second chance. So next time you have a decision to make, think about this; don’t do something just because you hope something good will come out of it and remember that forgiving is sometimes the only way to move

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Love tends to effect each character’s action differently. For example, love is what motivated the plot of the story “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link. For instance, the Olds observed society and performed actions to make sure their children are aligned with success. Love and social status is what makes these people relate, or correlate with each other; it reminds me of a government politically develop by love and society. In “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link, from Teenagers and Old are motivated by two specific motives, which are love and social status.

Read More
1045 Words | 5 Pages

Zadie Smith’s “The Girl with The Bangs” is a vivid account of a romantic relationship between two incompatible characters with vastly different personalities. Told from a first person perspective, it traces the narrator’s journey through an unusual relationship with the girl Charlotte, exploring what it is like “being a boy” – enthralled by a girl’s physical features and thus willing to tolerate any faults of any magnitude (188). His optimism and attraction to Charlotte eventually leads him to grief, where, blinded by their relationship, he is caught unawares and replaced by another boy. Yet, he also achieves an epiphany: that the relationship is built on irrational obsessions and motives and is thus ultimately unsustainable. Told in introspection,

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

Picture book review: Stolen girl August 2015 ‘Stolen girl’ written by Trina Saffioti and illustrated by Norma MacDonald, is a touching, emotionally stirring picture book about the tourment a young aboriginal girl experiences when she was taken away from her mother, by the Australian government. The story takes place in a children’s home and is told with the use of small bursts of detailed paragraphs and intense, colourful and melancholy illustrations. Written for 8-10 year olds, the purpose of the book represents the experiences of children who were a part of the stolen generation in the 1900s-1970s. In this time period it was government policy in Australia that each indigenous Australian child was to be removed from their families as the

Read More
1218 Words | 5 Pages

Another element in this novel is Melinda’s inner conflict, man vs. self. What Melinda has been through greatly affected her everyday life. She struggles with depression, dislikes her appearance, and feels ashamed of herself for something that isn 't her fault: “I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else...even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me” (Anderson 51). Andy Evans, the senior who raped her, made her feel worthless. This situation is much like the one in the novel The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

Hidden Girl by Shyima Hall (with Lisa Wysocky) tells the story of Shyima El-Sayed Hassan, who was sold into slavery when she was eight years old; however, she learns how to use her experience for good, and spreads the awareness of how slavery is still a huge problem today. Shyima was born on September 29,1989 in a small town near Alexandria, Egypt. She was the seventh of eleven children, causing her family to live in poverty. In Egypt, not going to school, being poor, cheating on your wife, and selling your children were seen as normal, as okay. After her sister Zahra was accused of stealing money from the family she worked for, Shyima was sent in her place.

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

“The Girl with Bangs” “The Girl with Bangs” was written in 2001 by Zadie Smith. Smith was born in 1975 in London, England. At twenty-one, she wrote her first book called White Teeth. Soon, her work took off and won many awards such as the Whitebread First Novel Award. She continued to write more novels and short stories and they were soon a sensation.

Read More
1033 Words | 5 Pages

Persepolis: The coming of age Persepolis was created by Marjane Satrapi to explain the details of her life. She had many events that occurred over time throughout the younger years of her life which she wrote in the form of a graphic novel. One of the most important things that took place in her life was her experience and how it helped her to grow faster mentally. Many events contributed to her mental growth as most of them she describes come from the war. Out of the many contributions one has a larger explanation.

Read More
1312 Words | 6 Pages

The theme of the story "Girls in the rear view mirror" is revolving through many lives of the truck drivers, similar to the conditions they face and like what number of them turn into an objective of the weakness of their mental states. This story depends on Luis who is the truck driver and stays months from the family and how he fell for a whore named Jotinha. In light of her calling it is said how she got tainted by HIV/AIDS. Jotinha died as a result of this ailment as well as she gave birth to a child who was additionally adulterated by the same. In spite of the fact that she became hopelessly charmed with Luis and her devotion was demonstrated by her when she left for a year abandoning her work to consider an offspring the kid, still she and her tyke did not get the appreciation they defended.

Read More

More about Girl On The Train Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document