In the excerpt from “Cherry Bomb” by Maxine Clair, the narrator makes use of diction, imagery and structure to characterize her naivety and innocent memories of her fifth-grade summer world. The diction employed throughout the passage signifies the narrator’s background and setting. The narrator’s choice of words illustrates how significant those memories were to her. Specific words help build the narrator’s Midwestern background with items like the locust, cattails and the Bible.
Barry communicates his fascination of the Mississippi through his intensely detailed sequences of the river, stand out word choice and use of juxtaposition with other rivers. If we were to imagine Barry’s passage without the use of these rhetorical devices, this enthusiasm would be largely dimmed and unable to convey to the readers. It is only through Barry’s use of words such as “radically alters”, “like an uncoiling rope” and as if it was trying to “devour itself” would the intense fascination that we get as readers of his writing be conveyed. The descriptions of the river flow, which could have just been described using words such as “fast” or “slow” has been granted with detailed complexity from Barry’s word choice. His decision to provide readers with almost a visual of the river through metaphors like “uncoiling a rope” and “snapping like a whip” allow us to envision the scene.
Longitude Rhetorical Essay In the novel “Longitude”, Dava Sobel narrates her argument that John Harrison was an unacknowledged genius by combining her research process of accounting historical and biblical accounts of traveling, thus showing her credibility in her research with an expanded ethos. Then, Sobel introduces the pathos by expressing her opinionated emotions towards the topic by creating an opinionated bias and molding it into the readers mind to engage the reader in the argument. Finally, Sobel lays out her logos by showing her explanation of her research process and laying out her argument’s logic by restating events and knowledge of prior astronomers and philosophers that led up to Harrison’s work and how he was the first to put his ideas into an invention.
Rogelio Ochoa Freed Period 2 Feb 8, 2023 Perception of Owl Creek Bridge One may see something as they want it to be instead of how it really is. The story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce takes place in Alabama. Peyton Farquhar the protagonist of Beirce’s story is a man who is to be hanged and takes place on Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhar was told that anyone who tried interfering with the railroad construction that was happening on the bridge would be hanged.
In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator’s remorseful attitude towards Doodle’s death is illustrated through the utilization of foreshadowing and flashback. This is made evident through the passing of the scarlet ibis and the narrator’s own prideful behavior and faith in his infallibility. The scarlet ibis that symbolizes Doodle with its death is incorporated into the foreseeable outcome of the end of Doodle’s life, and the indication of the narrator’s future guilt is manifested through his reminiscence of cruelty he displayed towards Doodle in his past. The significance of the appearance of the bird is emphasized alongside specific characteristics to foreshadow Doodle’s own fate, followed by the narrator’s guilt.
Ambrose Bierce’s “The Boarded Window” uses rhetorical devices such as irony and foreshadowing to develop the themes of death and failure in the story, advertently relating the narrative to events from his past. “The Boarded Window” follows the tale told by an unnamed narrator about the mysterious character of Murlock, a man in his 50’s who was recently found dead in his cabin in the woods just outside of Cincinnati; in his home they find a mysteriously boarded window. In a brief summary, the narrator explains that the window was boarded up soon after a young Murlock’s wife died, it’s revealed that when she fell ill, his lack of medical knowledge and recurring failure while treating her only prolonged her suffering. “The Boarded Window” has
In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, a respected Alabama planter and slave-owner, Peyton Farquhar, is being hanged for disobeying an order from the Yanks. The order is to stay away from bridges during a Civil War advance, and Farquhar is conspiring to blow up a bridge. Farquhar’s demise is foreshadowed using several literary techniques, such as preternatural plot elements and imagery. To start, preternatural plot elements are implied to foreshadow Farquhar’s death when he hears the distant sound of something striking a metallic object while he is awaiting his execution.
Ron Rash, born September 25, 1953, is an internationally acclaimed short story writer, novelist, and poet. Rash was born in a small mill town in South Carolina, and was raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina. Rash spent most of his youth on a farm near Boone, where he grew up listening to Appalachian folktales and reading voraciously; his time there later gave him inspiration for the setting of many of his stories. Rash’s family greatly influenced him as a reader and a writer. His father, a professor, and mother, a schoolteacher, encouraged him to read as much as possible, and his illiterate paternal grandfather inspired him to always be imaginative.
Cummings used his time in the room to show how society sought out to take away the citizens freedom and individuality away. Cummings showed this idea of taking it was by using art and unique art and his own way of language. In The Enormous Room, Cummings wrote about three men; The Delectable Mountains. The delectable mountains were the key to rail against society and win. They taught Cummings how to work on himself and how to not buckle under societies crooked ways.
In “The Silent Season of a Hero” Gay Talese utilizes various anecdotes in a nonlinear fashion and vivid imagery to juxtapose the conceived idea of a hero through DiMaggio; he examines the side of a hero out of the spotlight to reveal to the reader that people like DiMaggio are modest and have the same problems as everyone else. Talese utilizes anecdotes to enhance the story of DiMaggio by creatively organizing them in a way to help his purpose, instead of writing in chronological order. Talese tells the story of DiMaggio by comparing these anecdotes. He contrasts the vast differences in how
In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator’s bitter and petulant behavior towards Doodle’s life contrasts with his penitent emotions regarding Doodle’s inevitable death and constructs the irony between the substantial differences of the narrator’s point of view. The indication of Doodle’s death manifested through foreshadowing and the conflicting personalities of which the narrator takes on shown through dialogue assist in advancing this irony by clearly comparing the variation of attitudes the narrator goes through before and after his brother’s death. The symbolic scarlet ibis represents Doodle with its sickness that ultimately leads it to death. Furthermore, the significance of the appearance of the bird
Finding similarities and differences in stories provides an opportunity to analyze and develop personal opinions. The two stories analyzed are “The Street of the Cañon” by Josephina Niggli and “Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes in which the author’s backgrounds influence what moves them to write and the settings of the stories reflect their differences in background. “The Street of the Cañon” takes place in mid 20th century Mexico, while “The Highwayman” takes place in late 18th century England, two extremely different periods. Both stories though use their author’s passions to create tales of forbidden love, not unlike Romeo and Juliet. The short stories “The Street of the Cañon” and “The Highwayman” convey many different qualities of character,
Vanderhaeghe’s writing often specifies the importance of going against society’s standards. Through his story, he shows the comparison between a round, dynamic character, to a flat, self-indulged woman. His writing proves that those who suffer undergo change in a way only they can understand. Vanderhaeghe was a writer that felt strongly towards speaking out for those who could not. Many of his stories represented a fight for emotional survival that were not always won.
People hold Jack London’s short stories in high regard to this day, because of the vivid picture drawn by the true harshness of mother nature and the ignorance of man. London himself knows all too well the unforgiving vexation of the Klondike Gold Rush, having developed scurvy and an injury that permanently affected the use of his leg. His stories, influenced by the literary movement of naturalism, focus on extreme conditions that shape human mentality and spirit. London’s usual writing style consists of very long, drawn out descriptions of the characters or the scene around these characters. A large sum of his stories focus on the instincts of animals and the questionable survival of man in extreme conditions and situations.
Jack London’s short stories are held in high regard to this day, and are still considered to show the true harshness of mother nature and the ignorance of man. London himself knows all too well the unforgiving vexation of the Klondike Gold Rush, having developed scurvy and an injury that permanently affected the use of his leg. His stories are also influenced by the literary movement of naturalism, which focuses on extreme conditions that shape human mentality. London’s usual writing style consists of very long, drawn out descriptions of the characters or the scene around these characters. A large sum of his stories focus on the instincts of animals and the questionable survival of man in extreme conditions and situations.
