Robbie Nelson Poem

Kelley Simon’s anecdote, “Frank Sinatra’s Gum,” is a literacy narrative about an outcast teenage girl’s personal account of her riveting interview with the one and only Frank Sinatra. The narrative illustrates Simon’s internal struggle over how to successfully become part of a school clique of girls and her external struggle with Frank Sinatra. Her motivation for the interview, her self-identity, and her ultimate decision all play a part in her methods. She uses rhetorical devices throughout the autobiographical sketch of Sinatra that help portray her true feelings. Simon’s exaggerated use of imagery and sensory language, parallelism, and the modes of persuasion all dramatize the main focus in distinguishing between the allusion of an image and reality.

That's one nice thing about carousels, they always play the same songs.” (pg. 189) The carousel that Holden used to visit as a child still played the same song giving him hope that if the carrousel didn’t have to change over a such a long period time maybe he didn’t have to as well. By Salinger describing the young mind frame of Holden it is seen how his obsession with his world not changing can cause him to alienate himself as he feels as though if he is alone, he can control the way his own world works.

Buckley uses colloquial diction throughout the beginnings of this piece to allow readers to familiarize themselves with the content matter. He casually begins to complain how “inside the railroad car the temperature must have been 85 degrees.” His disgust of the unusually warm train becomes evident all the way through the first three to four paragraphs as he notices the “car was flecked with the white shirts of passengers”

23), followed by “It makes no difference to the lug wrench though” (Updike ln. 24). The connection to the lug wrench can be compared to how Flick is not confident with himself at work compared to being home on the court with a ball in his hands. According to Updike, ¨The ball loved Flick¨ (Updike ln. 16), while the lug wrench is said to not care about Flick. The times Flick is associated with his past the most is when he stops at Mae’s Luncheonette, the place where Flick is said to spend most of his free time. The speaker says that Flick does not do much at the luncheonette. He just plays pinball by himself and smokes. Barely speaking to Mae, Flick is more focused on what’s behind her. “Flick seldom says a word to Mae, just nods beyond her face toward bright applauding tiers of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads” (Updike ln. 28). The phrase “bright applauding tiers” (Updike ln. 28) can be connected to a crowd applauding in bleachers. To nod to the candy can be connected to when in the past whenever he’d make a basket he’d nod to the crowd, while the phrase “of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads” (Updike ln. 29) can be connected to the different types of people on the bleachers. Mentioned multiple times, Flick’s memories from the past show the significance of the use of personification to make meaningful, yet subtle references on how melancholy and lonely Flick truly feels inside.

Because of the descriptions of clothing ,music references, and other small comments the narrator gives us, “Digby shouted along with Toots & the Maytals…”(121), and “We stopped twice for a bucket of chicken and forty-cent hamburgers…”(121) the reader is

The American and Jig use very different ways of speaking to one another, they often use manipulation – differently– and subtle hints to convey their desires. For instance, as they order more drinks, Jig observes that her new beverage tastes of licorice. The American, perhaps annoyed by her analogy, replies that everything tastes of licorice. Jig agrees that his statement is true, and continues to say: “especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe” (paragraph 27). Here, Jig attempts to communicate that everything she longs for, or finds a solution for, leaves her feeling bitter in the end. Angry, the American asks Jig to “cut it out” (paragraph 28), which demonstrates his tendency towards avoidance. Finally, after some conversation – unrelated to the actual conflict – the American breaks the silence by saying: “it’s really an

In an excerpt “The Catcher in the Rye Should Not Be Censored” by Edward P.J. Corbett he states “the language is crude and profane in the Catcher in the Rye. It would be difficult to argue, however, that such a language is unfamiliar to our young people or that it is rougher then the language they are accustomed to hear in the streets among their acquaintances, but there is no question a vulgar message in print is much more shocking than if it was spoken” (Corbett 102). Donald P. Costello also agrees that Holden’s language embodies the typical teenage speech. But, the “overpowering degree of his language helps characterize him” for whom he truthfully is (Donald P. Costello 83). Holden’s vulgar language “reveals his age, even when he is thinking he is older” (Costello 84). Holden feels he obliged to use “Chrissake” and “goddam” to illustrate a strong expression. In the sense of Holden’s language a clear display of his adolescence is portrayed.

Clutter and Perry Smith’s breakfasts. He describes Mr. Clutter’s morning ritual, “That morning an apple and a glass of milk were enough for him; because he touched neither coffee or tea, he was accustomed to begin the day on a cold stomach” (10). Mr. Clutter’s breakfast reflects on his persona as he is a simple natured, yet wholesome man. He is a healthy man who does not drink alcohol, caffeine, or smoke. All of this is shown to be opposite of Perry Smith as Capote lists his breakfast, “Like Mr. Clutter, the young man breakfasting in a café called Little Jewel never drank coffee. He preferred root beer. Three aspirin, cold root beer, and a chain of Pall Mall cigarettes – that was his notion of a proper “chow-down”’ (14). By cataloging each one of the items, the reader is able to visualize Perry in Little Jewel, in comparison their cold breakfasts are the only similarity between the two men. The parallel drawn creates an image in the reader’s mind of a side by side of the two men, contrasting their

Sarah Vowell’s use of hyperbole in her essay helped develop her humorous tone; the exaggerations presented aided the audience in capturing an image of the relationship Vowell and her father had. One example was in the introductory paragraph: “You could have looked at the Democratic campaign poster in the upstairs window and the Republican one in the downstairs window and seen our home for the Civil War battleground it was.” This is an example of hyperbole because Vowell’s home is not literally a war battleground; instead it feels as if it were because of the tensions her and her father’s believes have created. Another example was presented in paragraph seven, a statement vaguely similar to the first: “Our home was partitioned off into territories.” Again, Vowell’s home is not literally separated; her home has a figurative barrier that her and her father’s believes have created. These exaggerations help create an image for the reader to understand the tensions between father and daughter.

I have been around for a long time and I know a lot.” On the paper in bold type were the words, {Revolution, where had he heard that before. Bernie's revolution, that's what I will do, I will join Bernie and his revolution.} Geo looked up and said, “Oh that revolution. well Bernie didn't do as good as I thought he should have in Nevada. And with the passing of Justice Scalia I'm having a hard time keeping up.” At this time, the waitress was there with Ron's breakfast. As they eat, they made small talk about Missoula and where was a good place to go horseback riding. The waitress asked the oldest of the men, if he would like a refill? “Yes.” he said, “but, only one, for two cups is my limit.” Geo, turned silent, as he rolled his large cappuccino cup between his hands, while watching the other finish his breakfast. Geo had accomplished this task, with four Geo size gulps, of each sandwich. Ron, placed his spoon beside the bowl. Picked up his cup of coffee, leaning back in his chair, slowly drank the coffee, as he watched Geo's eyes. For some reason, he could not look

To begin, the setting is introduced with “It was 2:00 A.M; the bars were closing. There was nothing to do but take a bottle of lemon-flavored gin up to

The town ahead lit like a newly buffed spur against the musky, dusty plain. Folks think that going to this dust bowl will be exciting, that’s what my ma told me, but it is what it says on the tin, a bland plain. It just ain’t what they say it is, wagon drivers don’t tip their hat to you, they just as rotten as the folk who live and breath the saloon, and the sheriffs are just as fowl as them. I only live ‘ere to give ma-self the satisfaction that I turned a washed up drinker to the ol’ church. It ain’t always so bland, it ain’t fun to have bullets whizzing past ye noggin, ye filled with horror till the gent loses all ‘is ammo or ye pop a cap into him. It ain’t fun but ye gotta do it to stop the sin.

In the passage from The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle the author Tobias Smollett uses dialogue, syntax and word choice to convey the complexities of emotions and social propriety.

     “Why must everyone like you? Who liked J.P. Morgan? Was he impressive? In a Turkish bath he’d look like a butcher. But with his pockets on he was very well liked. Now listen, Willy, I know you don’t like me, and nobody can say I’m in love with you, but

Considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, The Catcher in the Rye has affected readers around the globe since its publication in 1951. Its contemporary critics, however, gave the novel mixed reviews. Compared to the ideals of 1950s America, Holden Caulfield, the emotionally immature, extremely judgmental, teen-aged main character of “Catcher,” embodies the antithesis. Holden was an affront to the new social order, which demanded conformity and propagated the “father knows best” mentality. Americans, however, despite the postwar economic boom, remained suspicious of authority. In idyllic suburban neighborhoods across the country, while families huddled around their new television screens, people discussed their neighbors’ movements, made distrustful even of their closest friends by the “Red Scare”. The American Dream seemed like a golden ring just out of reach, leaving people feeling like they were going around in circles without a clear destination or purpose. With his sense of nostalgia for better times, his bleak perspective of the future, and his contradictory nature, Holden speaks directly to this sense of confusion at the world that Americans felt during the 1950s.