Figurative Language In The Road Language Essay

It is human nature for a person to go through extreme measures in order to satisfy their needs, even if it means disregarding concern for others or causing harm to them. This selfish habit is seen in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, where the world has been completely demolished by an unknown cause, leaving most survivors without hope. Their only means for sustenance is to become cannibals. However, an unnamed man and his son challenge that norm by reminding themselves that they are people who “carry the fire.” Throughout the novel, this phrase carries a symbolic meaning where the fire represents human resilience as well as the hope for humanity in a place where all of it is abandoned.

the setting and society by using figurative language, such as symbolism and imagery. Using characterization, and imagery, Bradbury shows the reader how society has lost its humanity and how it goes hand in hand with the setting and characters of the short story. Society in 2053 has become dependent on technology, brainwashed by television and expected not to think differently, showing that society has lost it's grasp on humanity and human nature. The atmosphere established by Bradbury shows that the city is dark, paralleling to the surroundings of a graveyard. Mr. Mead's world is shown as blank, and his character can be viewed as divergent due to him

In The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, the author retells a story of a group of immigrants who attempted to cross the border from Mexico into America. Throughout the novel, Urrea uses figurative language and syntax to prove the meaning that in order to grow as a community, there needs to be unity; making quick judgements about others can prevent people from uniting together. Towards the beginning of the novel, Urrea describes how the bodies of those who died crossing the border are treated in inspections for reports. He states, “Some reports wittily call these men Juan Does. Jane Doe becomes Juana Doe” (Urrea 36).

It is clear that they only have each other’s company and that the father feels that his only job is to protect his son from any danger. However, the son’s purpose is to “carry the fire”, a metaphor that keeps readers guessing about what the fire reflects. It could be that

In the opening of the novel The Street, author Ann Petry carefully establishes the bitterness and stressfulness between Lutie Johnson’s, and her relationship with her environments’ urban setting. Petry develops this relationship through the use of imagery, personification, selection of detail, and figurative language. With the use of imagery Petry establishes the stressfulness in which the wind causes between her, and the pedestrians around her. In the beginning of the opening Petry commences her first paragraph with a lengthy sentence which causes a stressfulness in a reader's breathing; similar to the way in which the wind causes in a person’s breathing.

In The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the world has changed and humanity is on the verge of extinction. In the face of death, however, a fire drives the characters to move on and survive. McCarthy explains this secret symbolism of fire through utilizing vivid imagery, compelling diction, and a compound tone.

Cormack McCarthy’s novel, The Road, is set in a post apocalyptic world, where humanity is struggling to survive. Through his simplistic writing style and powerful symbolism, McCarthy tells a story about the human condition as well as what it truly means to be human. Though it is set in a wasteland this novel still manages to project hope through the love of a boy and his father. The following passages are quotes that spoke to me stylistically or symbolically while I was reading.

As one is put through times of strife and struggle, an individual begins to lose their sense of human moral and switch into survival mode. Their main focus is their own survival, not of another's. In the post-apocalyptic novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a father and son travel along the road towards the coast, while battling to survive the harsh weather and scarce food supply, as well as avoid any threats that could do them harm. Throughout their journey along the road, the father and son are exposed to the horrid remnants of humanity. As a result, the father and son constantly refer to themselves as “the good guys” and that they “carry the fire”, meaning they carry the last existing spark of humanity within themselves. By the acts of compassion

The Road by Cormac McCarthy details a post-apocalyptic world with mysterious origins. While there are many questions about this world, the reader is left to their own imagination to determine how it got that way. Within this world, there is a man and a boy, father and son trying to make their way and survive until they can find a safe haven that may or may not exist. The see many things along the way and the man instills in the boy that it is important to remain a good guy and always “carry the fire”. Carrying the fire refers to the light inside of you that makes you who you are and may also carry the “goodness” of human nature. Inevitably, the man meets his fate via a mysterious illness leaving the boy on his own. The boy is then introduced to a family that has been following them knowing that the man was not well and the boy would need someone to look after him.

Every morning, a 71 year-old male stranger accompanies me on my way to school. I only know of his name, but I enjoy his company and chuckle as he comments on my generation’s use of language. Yet once NPR’s linguistic segment of Fresh Air ends, Geoff Nunberg’s witty remarks fade into the abyss. In the quietness of the car, I am left to revel in my own passion for languages: a transformative journey through Spanish and Chinese.

In Ann Petry’s novel, The Street, the wind and the city come alive through Petry’s use of personification, imagery, and figurative language. The wind is bullying the people on the streets and Lutie Johnson is one of them. Lutie just moved to the city and is looking for a place to stay but the wind is trying to keep her out.

The speaker did a very good job with his speech. His speech I believe is more informative, because he is describing his recent experience with appendicitis. The area that I liked most about his speech was his introduction. He had a very good hooked that got a lot of people’s attention including my own. He scared me for a moment, because he made everybody believe that he was going to show everybody his appendix that he just had removed from his body. Instead he showed the appendix of a book. Also, as he presented his speech he expressed what happened to him with very personal information. This information helped him establish his credibility. He presented his speech very well and sounded very confident. However, there were a few brief pauses

Throughout the novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy repetitively uses symbolism to portray several deeper themes throughout the novel. One theme of the symbolism that is mentioned many times in The Road is the fire. A significant occurrence of this is when the man is discussing the fire with the boy. '' 'Is the fire real? I don`t know where it.' 'Yes you do. It's inside you. It always was there. I can see it' "(McCarthy 279).The fire represents the hope for humanity, and the man sees the fire inside the boy. The boy shows compassion for everything, alive or dead. Not only does the fire symbolize the hope for humanity but it represents strength and the will to live. During the novel fires are lit to keep The Man and Boy safe and warm but the fire keeps them alive even in the heart of the storm.

The encounters and interactions the man and boy had while on the road help develop McCarthy’s larger theme of humanity losing its selflessness when it’s in danger. For example, while the man and the boy are traveling to the coast they come across a burnt man, half-dead lying in the road. After some observation, the boy asks the man if they could “help him” but is continuously shot down by his father who repeatedly tells him to “stop it” (McCarthy 50). The Road’s setting is one of the strongest over the weak, those who can’t survive for themselves they simply won’t. This burnt man, who was struck by lightning, is an example of that as he is now in no condition to scavenge for food and medical supplies and will probably just die where he currently sits. The boy, realizing this, wanted to do something to give the man even a small chance at survival, but the man knew he was a lost cause and should be left to die. The boy and his overwhelming desire to help the dying man is representative of old society and its pressure to help those with lesser than you, ideals that were result of religious codes and churches. But in a world where none of that matters or is present, the man is what humanity has become, selfish being whom only care about

In this research, the researcher discusses the figurative language based on Perrine’s perception. According to Perrine (1977:61-109), figurative language consists of 12 kinds, they are: simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, hyperbole/overstatement, understatement, and irony.