Katherine Brush Literary Devices

In “How to read literature like a professor” by Thomas Foster he explains different literary techniques that writers use when writing a story. Some of these techniques were symbolism, tone, major conflicts, foreshadowing and using certain settings. Even though all of these techniques are important to the story, symbolism is more important because it is used the most throughout the book. Symbolism is the use of people or objects to portray a certain idea or quality of something.

Without imagery, the point of view would be quite bland. The use of descriptive language helps the reader fully engulf the narrator’s surroundings and feelings. Together with the hunter, “A week before Christmas you’ll rent It’s a Wonderful Life and watch it together, curled on your

The use of imagery builds the story and expresses how important Dillard's childhood was in shaping the women she has become today . The excerpt begins with a reflection upon her childhood and growing up a tomboy. Dillard set the stage for “the chase” by explaining the day as “cloudy but cold” (5) with cars lining the snow covered street. Imagery is used not only to set the stage for the day of “the chase” but it is also used to describe the man chasing them as a city man dressed in “a suit and tie, street shoes” (10). Using imagery to describe the man’s appearance helps the reader to understand how unusual the man's appearance was and that the man was chasing them through the city. Dillard builds the suspense of “the chase” by taking the reader through the motions, past a “...yellow house...under a low tree, up a bank, through a hedge…” (12), she builds an image in our minds of the neighborhood. The imagery is used to build up the scene, convey suspense and create emotions for the reader.

In the story "The Chrysanthemums," by John Steinbeck, imagery is important in the development of his characters. The man who drives the wagon and fixes things is a perfect example of imagery. "His worn black suit was wrinkled and spotted with grease. The laughter had disappeared from his face and eyes the moment his laughing voice ceased. His eyes were dark, and they were full of the

First and foremost, Willa Cather and Mary Austin both employ beautiful imagery in their writings to recreate the landscape of the story they are telling, which heightens the understanding and appreciation for their writings. Their use of imagery is specific to appealing to their audience’s visual senses. In My Antonia, for example, Willa Cather describes the landscape at a particular moment by saying, “One afternoon we were having our reading lessons on the warm, grassy bank where the badger lived. It was a day of amber sunlight, but there was a shiver of coming winter in the air. I had seen ice on the little horsepond that morning, and as we went through the garden we found tall asparagus, with its red berries, lying on the ground, a mass of slimy green” (Cather 29). My Antonia has these descriptive passages throughout it, which enables the reader to feel part of the book. Likewise, Mary Austin’s The Land of Little Rain also utilizes imagery: Mary Austin says, “the mountains are steep and the rains are heavy, the pool is

When Chris Crutcher decides to use imagery it is often very detailed. He takes the time to describe what these characters are seeing and feeling. Chris wants to make sure that the readers can see every situation, feel the weight of every decision, and feel the pain of the characters. Imagery is a very helpful tool to help Chris’ ideas really jump off the page and into your head. Some of these scenes of imagery include a little girl scrubbing off her skin using a brillo pad, and a character's father

Charlotte rejects her mother’s ideology from a young age, and has the perspective to see past the illusions of perfection her mother creates, and Miss. Hancock gives her the weapons to fight her mother. In seventh grade, Miss. Hancock teaches Charlotte about the metaphor, sparking the creativity within Charlotte her mother shunned. The metaphor becomes a symbol throughout the short story, but it also develops into something deeper. The metaphor becomes an allegory of Charlotte 's rebellion against her mother’s influence, and her future. Writing is an outlet, an opportunity for Charlotte to express and understand herself. The form of expression was a gift from Miss. Hancock, who arms her with the power of creativity. “‘My home,’ I said aloud, ‘is a box It is cool and quiet and empty and uninteresting. Nobody lives in the box,” Charlotte says in seventh grade. She has a complex understanding of herself, and is able to articulate her frustrations through metaphors. After graduating out of Miss. Hancock’s seventh grade class, the story picks up introducing the reader to Charlotte as a

In the short story “the Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and the short story “blue + yellow” by Chris Killen compare in many ways. These two stories use the same literary device strongly such as imagery. Imagery is a literary device in which the author uses words and phrases to paint a picture in the readers head throughout the story. These two short stories are written with very descriptive language to help paint a picture of the occurrences in the story and describe a scene. These two stories also contrast in many ways such as the way they use symbolism as well as the relationships between the characters in both stories.

Please Note: Diction, detail, point of view, organization and syntax are all devices that the author uses to make the tone of the story evident to the reader. Your commentary should

Short stories have fully developed themes but appear significantly shorter and less elaborate than novels. A similar theme found in short stories “Winter Dreams” written by Scott F. Fitzgerald and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner included the social and environmental influences that encouraged and controlled the character’s life and decisions. In “Winter Dreams”, the main protagonist-- Dexter-- fell into a fixation over a young, whimsical blueblood, Judy Jones. His obsession led him to believe that Judy Jones reciprocated his feelings for her, leaving him bare and mortal-- despite prior beliefs. Following her father’s death, Miss Emily fell into a dark obscurity due to the pressure and compulsion of having to carry on the honorable family name. While using a unique point of view (first person peripheral), “A Rose for Emily” followed a mysterious and desirable woman named Miss Emily as her hometown tried to understand her peculiar ways and began to find her disgraceful. By comparing and contrasting these two literary pieces, a similar organization-- including the writers’ purpose and themes-- should become clear. By using literary devices-- such as point of view, dramatic irony, detail, and figurative language-- Scott F. Fitzgerald and William Faulkner conducted two short stories similar in aim and reasoning, probable for contrasting and comparing elements within the parallel writings.

Discuss the use of imagery in two stories of your choice. How do the various images work in a particular story to bring its subject matter into focus? Is there a central image? And how does this enhance or confuse or complicate the effect of the story?

She used imagery to describe the story of a new mother having memories of her childhood and imagining what and who her baby will grow up to be. The mother imagines him/her to grow up and be a smaller version of her father, grandfather, or even herself. Though Esther doesn’t use imagery in her poem, she still has the same sort of connection to her family. Both poems inform the readers about the tradition their families shared. Laura reveals “a woman dusting corn pollen over a baby’s head” (line 47) as a common tradition in her tribe. A line from the Night Travel also reveals traditions and memories “daddy would clime into the cab with mom carrying a thermos full of coffee and some Pendleton blankets” (line 18).

Imagery is used by many writers and this is when the writer uses visually descriptive or figurative language.

Imagery is used flawlessly in this short story. O’Connor uses descriptive adjectives fairly often to paint a picture in the reader’s mind and to add spice to her

Everyone has some summers that are very more memorable than others, and for Clair it was her fifth-grade summer. In the passage Cherry Bomb Maxine Clair uses various different literary techniques to characterize her memories of her fifth grade summer world. She uses literary devices such as diction, imagery and details to characterize the memories of her fifth-grade summer as joyous as well as a time of innocence. Clair uses diction and language to help characterize her adult memories of her fifth grade summer. Clair uses words from a childhood perspective to emphasize and show what it was like when she was a child.