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How Is Onomatopoeia Used In Huckleberry Finn

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Literary Term #6: Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia: A word whose pronunciation is the same as the sound it represents.
Example: “Boom! I see the white smoke squirt out of the ferryboat’s side. You see, they was firing cannon over the water, trying to make my carcass come to the top” (37). Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. Print.
Function: This use of onomatopoeia represents a significant change in the story because, at this moment in the story, Huckleberry Finn is pretending to be dead. The people of the town are using cannons to find his corpse, but will not find it because Huckleberry Finn is not actually dead. The “boom” of the cannon represents how the novel will take a turn into an entirely new direction

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