In the short story “Cherry Bomb” by Maxine Clair, Clair uses imagery, symbolism, and allusion to characterize the adult narrator's memories of her fifth grade summer world as a memorable one. The literary techniques involve her bright descriptions, mentions of the Hairy Man, the ice truck, and the infamous cherry bomb.…
Throughout the water-gardens scene, Faulks makes frequent use of foreboding imagery; foreshadowing a turbulent future; conveying an air of unease and discomfort. Throughout, the ‘afternoon lay dull and heavy on them’, the ‘temperature had increased’ and the ‘static air coagulated, thick and choking’. Faulks’ use of pathetic fallacy conveys a heated atmosphere. This sultry atmosphere not only portrays the sexual tension, and desire, that exists between Stephen and Isabelle, but also the sense of sexual claustrophobia felt throughout France, 1910. In 1914, additionally, the year of the outbreak of World War One, the months of June, July and August were just as stifling. Faulks, having chosen to convey the water-gardens scene as heated, may be referencing the heat of 1914, drawing parallels between the water-gardens, and the fields of World War One. Hauntingly, Faulks talks of the ‘humid, clinging soil’ and ‘the static air coagulat[ing], thick and choking’ – perhaps referencing both the tunnels of World War One, and the use of gas, respectively. Furthermore,…
In paragraph twelve, “Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning … and try to remember today I am eleven, eleven.” Author use simple words show readers how a child acted in that situation. At the same time, author uses many digits to emphasize Rachel’s emotion is very sensitive. In paragraph eighteen,…
Again, in the scene described in the last paragraph, when the girl stands up, she walks into the sunlight to look at the prolific section of the valley. The sunlight represents her hope of a happy future with her child. Furthermore, when the man calls her back he asks her specifically to come back into the shade. The shade which represents the concealment of their affair and the sorrow of losing her baby. This element of the sunlight versus the shade reveals more of the girl’s emotions to the reader.…
In “The Violets,” the persona experiences a transition from childhood innocence to experience, sparking the process of maturation. This idea of childhood innocence is a Romantic ideal, and the process of growth that one experiences from this state of innocence to adulthood takes place when the persona learns about the inevitability of time. The dialogue, “Where’s morning gone?” is representative of this realisation, with the rhetorical question reflecting the child’s confusion at this stage of life when one is innocent and unburdened by certain mature knowledge. Also, the noun, “thing,” in the emotive lines, “used my tears to scold the thing that I could not grasp or name that, while I slept, had stolen from me,” refers to time and its namelessness symbolises the fact that it is abstract and unreturning, and incomprehensible to a child. This is what makes a child innocent and, Romantically invested; this is what Harwood is shown to value through her poetry. The emotive word, “tears,” and the dramatic verb, “stolen,” further exemplifies the harsh realities that accompany maturation and signify a loss of innocence. In these lines of the third stanza, there is a tone of sadness and despondency as the persona comes to terms with what the inevitability of time means for one’s life: that, regardless of when the process of maturation begins, one’s time is always limited. As Harwood’s poetry deals with the significant universal themes of personal growth, maturation and loss of innocence…
She writes in a visually descriptive language. She describes the children, with their hands in their pockets, their smooth jaws and chins, their freckles, their shortness and she uses simile and connotations in her poetic language. She writes: "My son, [...] chest narrow as the balsa keel of a model boat [...] (765)," suggesting that while he pretends to have this tough adult exterior, he is still fragile underneath. She also compares the birthday cake to a weapon of war, a turret, maybe on top of a tank, like it is on top of the table.…
For example, “warping” and “darkened” create a foreboding sense that highlights the child's fear (lines 1 and 2). Also, Wilbur includes a “forest bird” to calm the child by saying that words can make people afraid and can misguide one from the truth. In “The History Teacher” the teacher understates that the “Enola Gay” dropped a “tiny atom” instead of an atomic bomb (line 12). The children believed what the teacher had taught. In addition, Collins describes the teachers flaws by stating that “he gathered up his notes and walked home” while the children “leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart” (lines 18 and 14-16). Instead of the teacher controlling the situation, he ignores it and proves that he is inadequate to educate children.…
At the beginning of the story, we encounter loneliness that forces Elisa to dedicate her energies and love to her flowers. The creation and setting of this narrative gives an impression of isolation and a miserable ambiance. The setting is in autumn, a season characterized by dead leaves and chilly whether. In addition, the place where Elisa stays is compared to a “closed pot” (Steinbeck 175) and it is set apart from the rest of the universe by the “grey-flannel fog” (Steinbeck 175), which is representative of the pot’s cover.…
Unlike most eleven year olds, Rachel believes that she does not have enough life experience to be respected and she often mentions that, she wishes she “was one hundred and two” because then she would have the confidence and wisdom to know what to say to her teacher, Mrs. Price (Cisneros 1991). This illustrates that, the narrator is beyond her years and she knows that with age, she will be given more understanding of the world, but she doesn’t think that she is wise beyond her years. As a result, Rachel has no control in her environment and she is clearly disappointed by that. Rachel’s use of language, such as “because she sees I’ve shoved the red sweater to the tippy-tip corner of my desk and it’s hanging all over the edge like a waterfall, but I don’t’ care” suggests that she’s a child (Cisneros 1991). That is to say that, the use of dialogue throughout, makes the story seem more personal, as the reader hears the teacher's words at the same time the character does. By emphasizing Rachel’s youth, the author repeats the process of counting down the years three separate times. Also, the narrator seems to mention home a lot, but she never returns home for her birthday. Rachel mentions, “Mama is making a cake for me tonight, and when Papa comes home everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you” which symbolizes that the narrator won’t regret being at home because she is respected by her parents and they listen to her very well, which is every child’s…
How do the weather and the time of year emphasize the mood of the opening section? The author describes the time of year as “a raw, nondescript time of year, toward the end of November”, it was “wet”, and “icy”, which emphasize how dull and dark the mood is, reflecting the author’s feelings of “fear”.…
“It was early June” speaks of the adolescence of teens, explaining their immaturity "the air, soft as a hand on your cheek, the third night of…
June 27 in "The Lottery” paints a scenario of a beautiful summer day where “the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson). There are square dances, Halloween programs, and the teen club by Mr. Summers who…
A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt illustrates the adult life of Sir Thomas More. In this play, the Common Man portrays man and his vices and sins showing the ordinary man of every age, class, culture, and society. Bolt uses the Common Man in the roles of the steward, boatman, and jailor to show how man can easily sin. Common Man exhibits man’s immorality through the roles of the steward, boatman, and jailor, in A Man for All Seasons.…
In the short story, a girl named Lizabeth who is the narrator is remembering her childhood, and her transition from childhood to adulthood which occurred after she had committed an unforgiving act of foolishness. Lizabeth is lives in a town filled with poverty, hopelessness, and dust. But despite this there was always a small symbol of hope and beauty left in town, the marigolds Miss Lottie so tenderly cared for. Miss Lottie was old woman who must have at least a hundred years old and lived in an equally old worn-out house. As far back as the children could remember they always hated the marigolds for some odd reason, and even though the marigolds were beautiful the children could never understand the marigolds true beauty. Although the marigolds did offer some form of beauty and hope to the town there was a darker side of town that left many families broken and hurt. Unfortunately Lizabeth’s father was a victim of the town’s economic collapse leaving him desperate for work, hence making her mother the main financial support for the family. These events ultimately lead her father to break down emotionally in the middle of the night. Overhearing this Lizabeth becomes overwhelmed with a fury of emotions and goes off into the night and destroys the only beauty in town, Miss Lottie’s marigolds.…
i. “Opening paragraph introduces an element of irony in the narrator’s attitude toward her mother’s vision of America as a place where “you could become anything you wanted to be(Brent)”.…