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Literary Techniques In Stephen King's On Writing

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Stephen King uses multiple literary devices in his novel On Writing to convey the feel of a fictional novel, though it is based on facts from his life. King effectively uses these devices to convey his theme of persevering through adversity to become a greater writer and person. A major technique used in his writing is imagery that comes in many forms, precisely in this passage.

There was a sharp smell of alcohol. A clank as the ear doctor opened his sterilizer. I saw the needle in his hand it looked as long as a ruler in my school pencil box and tensed…. He slid the needle in my ear and punctured my eardrum with it. The pain was beyond anything I have ever felt since...” (King 11).

This use of imagery, in this case, is used to make the audience sympathetic towards young Stephen, but at the same time it is used to put the reader in his place. This imagery is meant to bring the reader into the worst and most painful situation in King’s life and with phrases describing the needles length, and the smell that he has come to associate with the pain he went through. The imagery is also effective in transferring the feelings to the reader, just the …show more content…

A perfect part of the novel to explain how King uses anecdotes involves Eula-Beulah, Stephen’s babysitter at the time. “Eula-Beulah prepared me for literary criticism. After having two-hundred-pound babysitter fart on your face and yell POW! The Village Voice holds few terrors”(King 7). He helps us imagine an evil and gassy babysitter, all for the purposes of explaining how a little criticism is no comparison to an obese person farting on your face. Though the story’s purpose is not singular, it also accomplishes a boost to Stephen’s ability to understood throughout the novel and enhances the later portions by giving him credibility on the subject of his

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