What Is The Theme Of Now Is Everything By Amy Giles Characterize
In Amy Giles’ novel, Now is Everything, the vocabulary that she uses is very informal, and casual. Giles uses an untold amount of antecedents to tell Hadley’s fictional story. The climax is not fully discovered until nearly the end, because the novel was written in a then and now format.
Descriptive imagery, similes, and most of all, anecdotes, are all factors of how the author communicates her diction. A remarkable example of how Giles uses precise terminology is when Miles finds Charlie’s jacket in their house. “He crushes the pack in his hands and throws it across the room. Then he holds the jacket up in the air in a tight fist. ‘I’m going to ask you again. Whose jacket is this?’ He shakes it like an animal rattling its prey to death. Tears
spring to my eyes.” (Giles 176). Here, the reader can clearly see that Giles choice of diction is rather transparent, yet violent at the same time. The vocabulary that she chose to use to thoroughly describe the brutal and violent scenes was undeniably very meticulously thought about. Her comparison of the jacket and an animal rattling its prey to death indicated that Miles was acting as if he were a cold blooded vicious animal. Giles specifically used the simile to remind the reader that Miles is not human, for he cannot even feel remorse for abusing his entire family. Another fascinating use of vocabulary is when the author uses the term crushed repeatedly throughout the novel, which in this case means “to press or squeeze with a force that destroys or deforms” (Dictionary.com). It is, of course used in a different context each time, but with each use of the word, the more Hadley loses her bubbly personality. In this case, Miles forbids Hadley from seeing Charlie and then proceeds to beat her. Not only does Hadley feel emotionally drained, empty and lonesome, but she also has to endure the physical pain. As the story continues to unravel, the more frequent the word appears, and the more Hadley becomes completely emotionally drained.
Descriptive imagery, similes, and most of all, anecdotes, are all factors of how the author communicates her diction. A remarkable example of how Giles uses precise terminology is when Miles finds Charlie’s jacket in their house. “He crushes the pack in his hands and throws it across the room. Then he holds the jacket up in the air in a tight fist. ‘I’m going to ask you again. Whose jacket is this?’ He shakes it like an animal rattling its prey to death. Tears
spring to my eyes.” (Giles 176). Here, the reader can clearly see that Giles choice of diction is rather transparent, yet violent at the same time. The vocabulary that she chose to use to thoroughly describe the brutal and violent scenes was undeniably very meticulously thought about. Her comparison of the jacket and an animal rattling its prey to death indicated that Miles was acting as if he were a cold blooded vicious animal. Giles specifically used the simile to remind the reader that Miles is not human, for he cannot even feel remorse for abusing his entire family. Another fascinating use of vocabulary is when the author uses the term crushed repeatedly throughout the novel, which in this case means “to press or squeeze with a force that destroys or deforms” (Dictionary.com). It is, of course used in a different context each time, but with each use of the word, the more Hadley loses her bubbly personality. In this case, Miles forbids Hadley from seeing Charlie and then proceeds to beat her. Not only does Hadley feel emotionally drained, empty and lonesome, but she also has to endure the physical pain. As the story continues to unravel, the more frequent the word appears, and the more Hadley becomes completely emotionally drained.