Earthquake Madness and Jack London

Earthquake Madness and Jack London, an Eyewitness
Did you know that San Francisco had an earthquake that completely destroyed most of the city in 1906? The Story of an Eyewitness by Jack London is a close up detailed memoir of this event. In 1906, there was a major earthquake in San Francisco that destroyed most of the city. After the earthquake many fires broke out, forcing people out of their homes and businesses, and also there was many fatalities. Jack London uses excellent literary devices when portraying the scene of the earthquake. He makes the reader able to envision the scene and events that were taking place. Hyperbole, parallelism, and simile are just a few of the literary devices that he uses.
One type of literary device he uses is called a hyperbole. The earthquake occurred Wednesday at approximately 5:15 a.m. Many fires broke out in factories and in the working-class ghetto. In the city, all communication and organization were non-existent. Wednesday afternoon, half the heart of the city was gone. A very intense, uncontrollable fire spread, and from every side of the city wind was coming in to it. "East, west, north, and south, strong winds were blowing upon the doomed city (London 1)." This is an example of hyperbole because it over exaggerates that the city is doomed. It is very badly damaged, but has the ability to eventually be rebuilt. This is just one of the literary devices used.
Another example of a literary device used would be parallelism. Wednesday night, the destruction of the very heart of the city was witnessed. The city could not stand the attacking flames. Every time fire-fighters made successful progress putting out the fire, the flames went on either side or came up behind them, turning small victories into large defeats. "An enumeration of the buildings undestroyed would be a line and would be a line and several addresses. An enumeration of the deeds of heroism would stock a library and bankrupt the Carnegie medal fund. An enumeration of the dead-will never be made (London 1)." This is a great example of parallelism, because "an enumeration" is being repeated four times. It allows the reader to really let it sink in that it was a huge fire. It enunciates that there were many acts of heroism. Also, a large number of people killed, but the real number will never be known. The sentences quoted above are a good use of parallelism. Now, let’s move on to our final example of literary devices.
My final example of great literary devices used by Jack London is called a simile. Many San Francisco streets were deserted. Kearney, a street in the very innermost heart of San Francisco was also deserted. About six blocks away from the intersection of Kearney and Market, where Jack was standing, he saw that it was burning on each side of Kearny Street. "San Francisco, at the present time, is like the crater of a volcano, around which are camped tens of thousands of refugees (London 1)." This simile is fantastic, because it represents the horrible conditions after the fire. It describes the city as being "like the crater of a volcano." It gives a very vivid imagery of the town. It is also a fantastic literary device, because he is using this simile to show the reader that things are barren and empty in the town, like a crater.
To conclude, in Jack London's The Story of an Eyewitness, Mr. London uses numerous literary devices - such as hyperbole, parallelism, and simile. He uses these to describe the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that destroyed and brought havoc to the city. These devices vividly portrayed his view of the heroics and hardships he encountered.