Sensory Detail and Connection
In the chapter Le Bateleur of Erin Morgenstern’s book The Night Circus, sensory detail was used to help the reader connect to the text. In this chapter, one of the main characters, Marco Alisdair meets a new friend and shows her how he can change what a person is seeing. The first example is where Isobel (who is the friend) describes what her reaction is when Marco shows her his magic. “Blinking as her eyes adjust to the light, Isobel first sees Marco in front of her, but something is different. There are no drops of rain at all; instead, there is sunlight casting a soft glow around him. But that is not what makes Isobel gasp…” With this mini-paragraph, I could connect to the text. I could feel her surprise and the
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After that, she describes what is around her and the startling feeling of such a new environment. “What elicits the gasp is the fact that they are standing in a forest, her back pressed up against a huge, ancient tree trunk. The trees are bare and black, their branches stretching into the bright blue expanse of sky above them. The ground is covered in a light dusting of snow that sparkles and shines in the sunlight. It is a perfect winter day and there is not a building in sight for miles, only an expanse of snow and wood. A bird calls in a nearby tree, and one in the answers it.” This paragraph helped me see a huge area of pleasant, old, and peaceful oaks that are living in a natural and fresh world. I think of a day in winter where it is slightly warm and not a cloud in the sky. From the way the text exclaimed “birds calling”, I hear a chirp of a bird similar to the sound I hear when I wake up after sleeping in. At the end of this chapter, Isobel has to debate with herself whether or not all of this has been real. “Isobel is baffled. It is real. She can feel the sun against her skin and the bark of the tree beneath her fingers. The cold of the snow is palpable, though she realizes her dress
Sensory Imagery: make the reader envision objects and settings in the book with greater detail.
“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to
In the small, desolate town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan Frome lives a life of poverty. Not only does he live hopelessly, but “he was a prisoner for life” to the economy (Ammons 2). A young engineer from outside of town narrates the beginning of the story. He develops a curiosity towards Ethan Frome and the smash-up that he hears about in bits and pieces. Later, due to a terrible winter storm that caused the snow itself to seem like “a part of the thickening darkness, to be the winter night itself descending on us layer by layer” (Wharton 20), the narrator is forced to stay the night at Frome’s. As he enters the unfamiliar house, the story flashes back twenty-four years to Ethan Frome’s young life. Living out his life with Zenobia Frome, his hypochondriac of a wife whom he does not love, Ethan has nowhere to turn for a glance at happiness. But when Zenobia’s, or Zeena’s, young cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to care for her, Ethan falls in love with the young aid. Mattie is Ethan’s sole light in life and “she is in contrast to everything in Starkfield; her feelings bubble near the surface” (Bernard 2). All through the novella, the two young lovers hide their feelings towards each other. When they finally let out their true emotions to each other in the end, the consequence is an unforeseen one. Throughout Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton portrays a twisted fairy tale similar to the story of Snow White with the traditional characters, but without a happy ending to show that in a bleak and stark reality, the beautiful and enchanting maiden could become the witch.
In the first paragraph the author describes the old woman and the setting of her environment. The setting is described as a cold early morning in the month of December and the location is in the country,
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
For example, in the prologue it states, “I can hear the neighborhood kids playing cricket in the alley behind our home” (Yousafzai pg. 1). Which shows that she uses the sense of hearing to create a sort of environment for the reader to experience what she is experiencing. Another example is also shown in the prologue of the novel, which states that, ”I smell rice cooking as my mother works in the kitchen” (Yousafzai pg. 1). Showing that she not only used the sense hearing in her novel, but the sense of smell for the reader to imagine the environment around her during the time period and location. As a result, giving evidence that Malala utilized imagery in her novel to persuade the reader by displaying it in her
Transforming a story through the use of sensory details enriches the content and creates a realm in which the plot line corresponds with the visual, auditory, and olfactory elements from the text. Both Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Gogol make use of language that is richly descriptive of the story’s surroundings. This type of language is used to describe characters, landscapes, as well as structures and places. As a result of this, another level of complexity is added to the plot and the author has the ability to reveal certain aspects of the plot. An example of this is found in The Knocking when Turgenev describes a part of the rising in action, where the clatter of the cart is synonymous with the uncertainty of the situation and fear that they
The second paragraph is the first vivid image she talks about, it is this vegetable clown painting on the hotel wall. She uses the sense of sight, as she describes all the vegetables they used to create this clown. She describes the painting as, “a print of a detailed and lifelike painting of a smiling clown’s head, made out of vegetables” (pg. 325). She then describes the hotel lobby where she uses the senses of sight and sound. She writes on how there was a drunk man screaming at the TV, while others were asleep. She writes about the aquarium, the women sitting on the chair, the child’s bucket and shovel and how the hotel lobby was, “dark, derelict room, narrow as a
The setting takes place mostly in the woods around Andy’s house in Pennsylvania. The season is winter and snow has covered every inch of the woods and Andy’s favorite place to be in, “They had been in her dreams, and she had never lost' sight of them…woods always stayed the same.” (327). While the woods manage to continually stay the same, Andy wants to stay the same too because she is scared of growing up. The woods are where she can do manly activities such as hunting, fishing and camping with her father. Andy thinks of the woods as peaceful and relaxing, even when the snow hits the grounds making the woods sparkle and shimmer. When they got to the campsite, they immediately started heading out to hunt for doe. Andy describes the woods as always being the same, but she claims that “If they weren't there, everything would be quieter, and the woods would be the same as before. But they are here and so it's all different.” (329) By them being in the woods, everything is different, and Andy hates different. The authors use of literary elements contributes to the effect of the theme by explaining what the setting means to Andy. The woods make Andy happy and she wants to be there all the time, but meanwhile the woods give Andy a realization that she must grow up. Even though the woods change she must change as
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. ( This description of the scenery is very happy, usually not how one sees the world after hearing devastating news of her husbands death.)
The story starts off with the narrator showing the reader that he was interested in going home by using phrases such as "Ever since this evening, when against a fading sky I saw geese wedge southward. They were going home". He goes on to mention that his home is beyond the mountains and he is not at home; he wants to be amongst his people and celebrate the night sky. The first comparison is made in the third paragraph of the story, "Here where fall hides in the valleys, and winder never comes down from the mountains. Here where all the trees grow in rows; the palms stand stiffly by the roadsides..."; The narrator is comparing the plants and trees that grow in the city and the trees that grow on the reservation. Clearly, the trees that grow in the city are systematically planted in rows and lack the aspect that makes them unique in any way. He admits that there is still beauty in this order; however, it is the beauty of captivity. The narrator goes on to say "A pine fighting for existence on a windy knoll is much more beautiful". He uses this ...
The setting takes place mostly in the woods around Andy’s house in Pennsylvania. The season is winter and snow has covered every inch of the woods and Andy’s favorite place to be in, “They had been in her dreams, and she had never lost' sight of them…woods always stayed the same.” (327). While the woods manage to continually stay the same, Andy wants to stay the same too because she is scared of growing up. The woods are where she can do manly activities such as hunting, fishing and camping with her father. According to Andy, she thinks of the woods as peaceful and relaxing, even when the snow hits the grounds making the woods sparkle and shimmer. When they got to the campsite, they immediately started heading out to hunt for a doe. Andy describes the woods as always being the same, but she claims that “If they weren't there, everything would be quieter, and the woods would be the same as before. But they are here and so it's all different.” (329) By them being in the woods, everything is different, and Andy hates different. The authors use of literary elements contributes to the effect of the theme by explaining what the setting means to Andy. The woods make Andy happy and she wants to be there all the time, but meanwhile the woods give Andy a realization that she must grow up. Even though the woods change she must change as
For example, on page 1, the word nightmare is used to show the transition between the real world and the nightmare world. Page 2 depicts the Alien sucker punching the Teddy Bear and knocking her out with a big “POW”. The word “POW” is a non-sensory image used to help describe the actions of the Alien. Turning the page, another non-sensory image is used to show that the Teddy Bear is seeing stars and is unconscious. Further on page 5, the Teddy Bear emerges from the cave and a thought bubble with images depicting confusion, this shows that the Teddy Bear is confused by her surroundings. There were numerous sensory images in the story as well. The safe space of the room and the bed where The Girl fell asleep is a stark contrast to the sensory images in her dream which included fire, a boiling pot of water, and a staircase that appeared too tall to climb just to name a
The passage begins with the author establishing the mood with the use of the word “chatter”. It’s quite a positive word, which creates a light, happy atmosphere at the outset of the excerpt. The emphasis placed on “more” snow later on in the sentence lends to the interpretation that this passage takes place in the winter, with an abundance of snow and cold temperatures. We are then introduced to the 1st person perspective of the protagonist; the use of the word “maybe” indicates that it is a supposition, which is a contrast to the narrator’s descriptive tone. The rhetorical questions that follow this speculation give the reader an insight into the protagonist’s mind. She questions the birds’ ability to keep warm in the harsh cold, which illustrates her growing association between the cold and her husband’s death, a technique Glancy uses throughout the passage. Furthermore, the leap between the “little hearts” question and the “shovels” one is decidedly arbitrary, giving the first impressions of the protagonist’s unhinged mind.
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...