What Happened During The Ice Storm Literary Analysis Essay

408 Words2 Pages

In the short story “What happened during the Ice Storm?” showed a theme of maturation using literary elements, specifically irony, symbolism, and the application of onomatopoeias were used to support the theme of maturation. The literary element irony is mostly used in the short story “What happened during the Ice Storm?” originally the boys wanted to hurt the pheasants like the author says, “They stood over the pheasants, turning their own heads, looking at each other, each expecting the other to do something. To pounce on a pheasant, or to yell Bang!” This quote is important because it showed the boys original intent; which was to hurt or kill the pheasants. Then they saw the condition the pheasants were in, as the author puts it, "They looked like unborn birds glazed in egg whites.” Which made the boys believe that the pheasants were innocent and that they could not do such a thing to something as fragile. When they saw the pheasants condition they decided to give the pheasant their coats, “He covered two of the crouching pheasants with his coat, rounding the back of it over them like a shell.” The pheasants were too fragile to hurt them, and they thought that they couldn’t do …show more content…

It shows that the pheasants are innocent, “ And the pheasants looked like unborn birds glazed in egg white.” It’s symbolism because it compares the pheasants to unborn glazed in egg whites. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. It helps support the theme of maturation because when they saw the pheasants condition they decided not to hurt the pheasants. Onomatopoeia is also used in the short story by the author, “To pounce on a pheasant, or to yell Bang!” The quote supports the fact that the boys wanted to hurt the pheasants but, they decided to be more mature and cover them up. It supports the theme of maturation by showing what they were originally gonna hurt