Literary Devices In Knocking At Cars

In conclusion, the narrator feels terrible of what he has done to Doodle; which possibly lead to Doodle’s death. Near the end, the narrator gets really disappointed with Doodle, because he did

As the story develops, the reader’s thoughts are guided by the structure of the piece in a way that Tan is able to share an important lesson through the form of a personal narrative. The opening text immediately introduces the narrator and her insecurities as she wishes for a “slim new American nose” (Tan 1). The story initially takes on a negative tone as Tan proceeds to have a negative outlook throughout the entire evening. Her overwhelming anxiety can almost be felt by the reader as she worries what Robert will think of her “noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners” and overall “shabby Chinese Christmas” (Tan 1). With the tone set, Tan continues to amplify each dreadful detail of her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This includes the actual meal, that of which appeared to be

The last line in the poem “and since they were not the ones dead, turned to their own affairs” lacks the emotions the reader would expect a person to feel after a death of a close family member. But instead, it carries a neutral tone which implies that death doesn’t even matter anymore because it happened too often that the value of life became really low, these people are too poor so in order to survive, they must move on so that their lives can continue. A horrible sensory image was presented in the poem when the “saw leaped out at the boy’s hand” and is continued throughout the poem when “the boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh…the hand was gone already…and that ended it”, this shows emphasis to the numbness the child felt. The poem continues with the same cold tone without any expression of emotion or feelings included except for pain, which emphasizes the lack of sympathy given. Not only did the death of this child placed no effect on anyone in the society but he was also immediately forgotten as he has left nothing special enough behind for people to remember him, so “since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs”. This proves that life still carries on the same way whether he is present or not, as he is insignificant and that his death

The theme of the novel is that your culture and background does defy you. In other words, being in a gang or group doesn’t mean you're not unique. For example, Ponyboy is in a gang/hood group “The Greasers” and does things like mug and snatch like the other members of the group, but this doesn't mean he doesn't have a different personality than the others. Another theme in the novel is the power of brotherhood. This is a sub-theme because it not confronted to the readers until the end of the novel. On page 176, Sodapop Curtis said, “ We ought to be able to stick together against everything if we don't have each other we don't have anything.” This quote struck out to me because throughout the

In the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis the author uses personification when he writes “The lights knocked some of the darkness out of the way and we felt safe again.” (pg. 97). With this metaphor the author is comparing the car to a fighter and the headlights are his fists knocking the dangers out of their way. With this personification the author is showing how fearful and threatened the Watsons feel at the rest stop in Appalachia. The Watson’s are afraid that if the people in the Appalachian “caught [them] out here like this they’d hang [them]” (pg. 96). During 1963 this is a realistic fear. The author’s use of descriptive language and personification helps to bring this fear to life in his novel.

The despondent mood at the beginning of the story, mirrors the loss of innocence of the narrator because he had to face the responsibility and guilt of Doodle’s death.

Fear is also generated in this piece of propaganda in that it plays on the emotions of the viewer by making them aware of what may be left behind if they die by a thoughtless and preventable accident. This further prompts safe driving, that it reveals to the viewer real life accidents, and promotes concern to the viewer. It also gives a sense of pity for the child that has been abandon by its deceased parents.

Admiration for individuality, a common theme throughout “The Pink Car”, is constantly mentioned through the words of the Mark Halliday. Halliday personifies the cars in the poem as people; specifically focusing in on the pink car. He repeatedly describes the other cars in a jaundiced way; for example, he would characterize these cars as boisterous, rowdy, and big. However, he identifies the pink car as disparate, one who does not worry or care about other “cars’” perspectives. The author wrote, “Other cars might honk their horns to seem big- // the pink car doesn’t honk and doesn’t worry” (Halliday 25-26). Halliday symbolizes the car as ‘pink’ because society commonly construes the color as feminist, sweet, playful, the color of love, flowers and romantic. His intention of this poem was to help one find peace within themselves. The author wanted the reader to see that pointing out one’s flaws and blemishes cause people to become someone who is arrogant and too self confident by referring to the other cars who did not have the characteristics of the pink car. This poem definitely delineates what one wants to find in themselves, the satisfaction and happiness they eventually discover. The author characterizes the pink car with a certain type of satisfaction and pride which helps people look at themselves in a much more positive and confident way. He wanted people to read this poem, and have people realize that appearance does not define one’s personality. He wanted people to grasp, that in a similar way, pink should not let society define what it is.

In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe tell of a man going to great extents to get revenge. Montresor holds a grudge against Fortunato because he has insulted him several times causing pain inside him to form and builds up day by day. Fortunato has a talent of tasting wine but needs to find a way not to express his feelings that much. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe creates events in which he builds suspense. The author keeps his readers on their feel by having a surprise at every corner. Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates in “The Cask of Amontillado” how he uses the conflict to show the build of suspense, change of mood of the reader, develop the theme, reflect a change in the character/characters.

The tone of the story, objects, and the sentence structures help us relate to the dark theme. "Speaking softly the names of our dead" and "now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way." these quotes are examples of how the writer's word choice affected how we feel about the story. The two quotes listed in the previous sentence give a dark, like death, feeling. The first quote gives a sense of hearing reminders of those how have passed in the wind. The second quote gives an understanding of "how time has had its way" an abundance amount of things significant to the narrator happened during the summer like him helping his younger brother walk as well as helping him accomplish other things that everyone thought he would never be able to do. Now all of those memories seemed to have been ages ago when in reality it might have been only a couple of months ago. Thereupon the unfortunate event of Doodle's death in the middle of August making it seem as if time were flying by. "summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree" this quote is foreshadowing awful events that are to come. We later find out that it had been in the summer when the two young boys bonded. It might have started with pride, but it ended with the forming of an improbable

The Narrator is a very smart, loving, yet insecure person. After the death of his brother Doodle, he remembers all of the mistakes he made and feels very bad about it. Even though he loved his brother very much, he treated him wrong many different times. For example when his brother was five years old he was embarrassed by him and to be seen with him because of the fact he couldn’t walk even though he knew Doodle was paralyzed. Out of shame teaches him to walk and other things that push Doodle too hard. One day, a rare, injured bird alights in a backyard tree. It falls and dies, foreshadowing Doodle’s early death. He is killed after being deserted by his brother in a terrible storm. Because of all of the terrible things he did and how he treated Doodle he deals with his death with grief and

The scene caused is revolting and therefore captivating. In contrast, the beetle dies with “tidiness and order.” Its legs are neatly crossed and no mess it produced. What the beetle signifies, is that meaningless things in life will nevertheless stay meaningless. As it is on a different level of importance, it will stay that way, no matter how orderly it actually is. Through the utilization of irony, the large physical contrast between the unlike deaths and the difference in the importance of the two things are clearly intelligible. One should learn to not just disregard small things, but to give them consideration as well. Every single thing has a history to it, which should not be ignored, but acknowledged with intention.

On the night the narrator arrives, Roderick's sister Madeline finally passes away. Roderick is very disturbed by his sister's death. Roderick begins to go insane after the burial of his sister. Stricken with guilt, he starts to believe that she is still alive in her tomb. The narrator tries to calm Roderick by reading him a story entitled "Mad Twist." This story is very ironic to the situation that the narrator is resolving. "It was, however, the only book immediately at hand: and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement which now

To anyone from New York City, the dangers of train cars are evident. This is why, when the reader begins to see that the children are acting recklessly, he becomes quite worried. This is because there are countless numbers of warnings on trains,

Each event in one's life whether important, meaningless, joyful or sickening has an impact on that person's character. Harrowing & tragic events occur often as it was for Edgar Allen Poe which left a vast impact on his character. This author's stories focus on his wretched life and obstacles placed in the forms of stories. His unfortunate events turned into eerie, emblematic tales such as “The Raven”, “The Black Cat”, “The cask of amontillado” & more which all have twisted plot lines such as horror, sadness, revenge etc.