Figurative Language In Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

First, Capote involves his reader. "This immediacy, this spellbinding 'you-are-there' effect, comes less from the sensational facts (which are underplayed) than from the 'fictive' techniques Capote employs" (Hollowell 82). Capote takes historical facts and brings in scenes, dialogue, and point of view to help draw the reader in (Hollowell 82).

All families have a different Christmas tradition. Whether it be opening one gift on Christmas eve, leaving cookies for Santa, or sitting around a decorated tree telling stories. In my family, every Christmas eve, my mom would read me the book “The Night Before Christmas”. This was my favorite part of Christmas eve because I would get to hear my mom’s gentle voice tell the story. I always admired how she could flow words together to make sentences with ease. How she can effortlessly pronounce the vintage language that created a story I loved so much. Seeing this every christmas eve made me yearn to be able to read just like her one day.

In Cold Blood is a masterpiece of storytelling and visual representations that come from Truman Capote’s use of delicate details to his lucid language and even his imaginative imagery. Everything from the gruesome horrors to the magnificent beauties, Capote carefully crafts his novel into more than just another mystery plot, but into a piece of figurative language work of art that we will continue to study for many more years to come. He more than exceeds the definition of what it means to be an author, a revolutionary, because he makes certain connections in this novel that include spiritual implications that connect with the reader empathetically. In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the author’s purpose in using imagery is to evoke emotions that he creates to connect on an empathetic level with the reader and to convey his abstract ideas about spirituality and the concept of life and death.

One literary device that Capote utilizes is imagery. It is most noticeable when he describes the atmosphere of the town after the murder. “Imagination, of course, can open any door-turn the key and let terror walk right in.” Ever since the murder, the people of Holcomb have been imagining the worse. Capote puts it perfectly as he describes the town that the hunters see when they first arrive from Colorado: “windows ablaze, almost every window in almost every house,

Capote opens his narrative by illustrating how Nancy 's bedroom looks. He starts off by using comparison of Nancy 's bedroom by describing it as, "... the smallest, most personal room in the house-girlish, and as frothy as a ballerina 's tutu." The author first uses a simile to describe her bedroom. The way Capote describes the bedroom lets the reader know she was girly. He then uses two parallels, mentioning, "Walls, ceilings, and everything else except a bureau and a writing desk, were pink or blue or white." Capote 's description of the bedroom lets the reader know what colors her room was. The descriptions give the reader more of an understanding of how girly and innocent Nancy was. Capote uses imagery throughout the story to give the audience an understanding of how Nancy 's bedroom was set up. For example, "A cork bulletin board, painted pink, hung above a white started dressing table..." and "The white-and-pink bed, piled with blue pillows..." This

In Cold Blood and the Death Penalty Is the killing of certain people morally acceptable? In his novel, In Cold Blood, Capote makes an argument about the death penalty. In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote, is a seemingly objective account of the Clutter murders of Holcomb Kansas. Capote details both the lives of the Clutters and the lives of the two men involved in their murder. In this novel Capote argues against the death penalty using devices such as simile, metaphor, juxtaposition, and.

Capote begins his novel with a conventional narrative structure choice: describing the setting. He spends several pages familiarizing the reader with the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This move is crucial, especially when contrasted with his unconventional choices for the traditional narrative timeline as the book progresses. As Capote introduces the reader to the Clutter family, with a particular focus on Herb, he sets the groundwork for the conflict. With necessary background information in mind, the reader first confronts the conflict with the words, “...he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” (13). It is this moment, that the reader experiences the first sense of satisfaction. This is the

Childhood friendship is the most beautiful memory that can't be replaced. The book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a story about how a young black man was put on trial for being accused of raping a girl who lived a poor life. This story is written in the eyes of scout finch, a smart young girl who doesn't have much fear. The story takes place in a small town called Maycomb during the Great Depression. This story has a sad moment with a happy ending. The story “A Christmas Memory”, by Truman Capote is about a little boy and his interactions with his elderly cousin. In the story we learn his cousin has a mental problem and dies later in the story. This story takes place during the depression also and the people in the story are very poor.

In the short story, “A Christmas Memory,” written by Truman Capote, imagery and similes are often used by the author to convey the theme of human nature to judge people based on first appearances. For instance, Buddy’s friend is sixty-something and with the author’s first description of her, a majority of people would immediately conceive her character as someone who is stodgy. Moreover, in the beginning of the story, the author describes Buddy’s friend as, “small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched” (1). At first glance of reading this quote, the use of imagery would cause people to believe that Buddy’s friend is similar to one’s grandmother; a regular

Truman Capote’s story A Christmas Memory, is about Capote’s childhood memory of a particular holiday season and how he enjoyed that moment in time with a special friend. Capote is illustrated by the main character, Buddy. Buddy and his distant cousin have a bonding friendship and tell of their exploits during that Christmas. They pick out a very special Christmas tree, make each other presents, and make fruitcakes.

To start off, Buddy doesn't have a family to fall back on except for his cousin, he makes sure that his cousin is always well taken care of and is always happy. When his cousin was sad, he cheered her up by saying she was “Not funny. Fun. More fun than anybody.” (68) Buddy makes sure that his cousin is always happy and cheerful, he doesn't want to see her upset and he is the one person who can make her laugh in her time of despair. Buddy tries to do what is best for his cousin and makes sure that she always stays in good spirit. Buddy will do absolutely anything for his cousin, just as she would do for him. Buddy went to pick out a tree far from where they had gone before because it made his cousin happy, “Queenie wades the stream first, paddles across barking complaints about the swiftness of the current.” (69) Buddy would never go against his cousins wishes knowing that it would disappoint her, Buddy goes to get the tree with his cousin even though he knows that is it dangerous. Buddy knows that the tree is something that she wanted and it meant something big to her, she is the only person Buddy has ever really had to care about, he wants the best for her no matter what it is that he has to do.

old sinner! Hard as a steel and sharp as a flint, from which no steel

(“Notable” 219) Earlier works of Capote focused on southern settings and people and drew praise due to his vivid descriptions and characterizations. (“Great” 233)

Sierra 1 Catalina Sierra January 11, 2016 Mr.Wiglesworth Blk 3 12 Days of Christmas Many readers don’t know about poetic devices and where they are mostly located in literature. Poetic devices in general is a group of certain things that many people use in order to make something rhyme, in most parts. Such thing can be mostly found in songs, where one of the many devices, repetition, is situated in the lyrics of the song. Considering that in many different types modern or ancient music, readers can always find a way to visualize the lyrics of the song, this is known as the Imagery poetic device.

There must be something to fruitcake. It appears at Christmas every year without fail. And yet, it’s also the brunt of some serious jokes. (Who can forget Johnny Carson proclaiming that there is only one fruitcake in the entire world: It just gets passed around a lot…)