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Analysis Of The Colossus Of New York

Decent Essays

What is Your New York? The representation of New York City is different for everyone. Despite sharing the same city, no two people will experience it the same way. This is proven in the texts of The Colossus of New York, “Goodbye to All That,” and “Here is New York,” by Colson Whitehead, Joan Didion, and E. B. White respectfully. While all three authors have their own point of views about New York, they do manage to use some similar elements to express their knowledge of city while still having differences. All three authors use imagery to create a mental picture of what is being read. However, Whitehead uses satire, Didion uses the literary device of hyperbole, and White uses cacophonous words, to write about New York in a way that is …show more content…

She explains that although her first impression of New York was positive, it did not take long for that to change. Didion’s use of imagery allowed her to change the piece of literature from an upbeat to a depressing mood. She does so by at first writing about how she was “in love with New York” (Didion 228), but then as her story progresses she wrote about how she “hurt the people she cared about, and insulted those she did not” (Didion 237) which meant that she isolated herself from everyone else. However, New York was still unbearable to her when she locked herself in her apartment. What she discovered about New York is that the only people that will truly feel like they belong are young people. Didion explained that as she became older, everything that seemed fun to her about New York turned into a dreadful aspect of the city. Another literary device that Didion uses to portray her story of New York is the use of hyperbole. By using various examples of hyperbolic statements throughout her writing, she exaggerates enough to show the reader how she truly feels about living in New York. During her first few years living in the city, she describes New York to be an infinitely romantic notion, the mysterious nexus of all love and money and power, the shining and perishable dream itself” (Didion 231). What she means by this is that New York is such a spectacular city, where it seems that everything that one

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