In an excerpt from the “Los Angeles Notebook,” Joan Didion challenges the relationship between scientific reasoning and human intuition by using changes in tone when describing a metaphorical natural phenomenon. The Santa Ana winds arguably have an “uneasy” presence in Los Angeles, as they settle some “unnatural stillness.” Didion describes the sound, sight, and feeling of the winds, yet there is little specificity in the way the winds are described. “Given over to whatever is in the air,” and “some tension” are refer to something unclear, and so because the language is somewhat vague and thus up to interpretation, the reader is forced to conceptualize the exact circumstance of the winds. “Unnatural stillness” and hearing “sirens in the night,” are two feeling that are …show more content…
Apprehension is something that is felt, not necessarily proven or seen, just as the Santa Ana winds are arriving because “we feel it.” After using subtle diction to indicate a deeper metaphorical context to the Santa Ana winds, the reader can effectively understand the power of intuition because the different responses to the Santa Ana winds are analogous to the way people cope with premonitions and unspoken fear. The winds caused the “Indians [to] throw themselves into the sea when the bad wind blew,” and Didion’s neighbor would decidedly respond to the winds by carrying a “machete.” Referring back to the conceptualization of the winds, the Indians running into the sea and the neighbor carrying a machete imply that there are several methods of responding to uncertainty. Didion implies that human instinct can cause people to respond in unique ways, and in order the characterize the tension between acting out of intuition or “cutting losses,” Didion adds a visually riveting image of a beating “surreal” “heart.” The human heart in the middle of a scene of conflict and force reinforces
Chicanos and Chicanas are often stereotyped by people based on crude and unfair assumptions but at the same time, these stereotypes are often based on the truth. Movie directors are no exception as they attempt to understand and give representation to entire Chicano/a and Latino/a culture in society. The trailer of the film, La Mission, Che seems to be happy with his life until he realizes his son, Jes, is gay. Che then finds himself in a struggle to accept the homosexuality of his son while at the same time, Jes is struggling to find his own identity and to fit into society. The trailer has distinct ways in how it represents and shows the intersection and issues of gender and sexuality, race and ethics, as well as class. The trailer represents
Joan Didion’s description of various experiences with the Santa Ana winds conveys her message through various rhetorical strategies. Early in the essay the feeling of worry and anxiety is introduced by the use of words such as “uneasy” , “unnatural stillness” , and “tension”. Because the emotion is described early on the audience can grasp this feeling those who live and Santa Ana are experiencing. This feeling causes people to act abnormal, even when they have no awareness it is coming. Additionally the suspenseful emotion continues through the use of imagery, to convey the unusual effect the winds have on the atmosphere. Didion describes the sky, having a “yellow cast” and screaming peacocks in “the olive trees… by the eerie absence of surf”.
Ken Kesey, the author, offers many examples of imagery through the Chief’s detailed narrative of the story. Appealing to the sense of sight, Bromden, describing the reactions of some invalid patients, says: “the Chronics woke up to look around with heads blue from lack of blood” (214). A touch imagery is present when the Chief describes McMurphy’s hands: “I remember the palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles…”(23). After killing McMurphy, Bromden’s narrative appeals to the sense of sound when he expresses he “heard the wires and connections tearing out of the floor” (310). Guessing that fall is coming and using the sense of smell, Bromden states: “I ca...
Not that the ideas are wrong, some can be proven as Lopez explains, "You expect to wait. You expect night to come. Morning. Winter to set in.". However when their assumption turns out not true, "they are no longer afraid of its secrets", and the person becomes frustrated. They wonder what was wrong in their guessing, what it was even to begin
“He uses similes to compare the curtains that danced in response to the breeze to pale flags gliding back and forth caught in the wind. The shadow from the curtains on the wine colored rug is related to the image of wind on the
The balance between fear and foresight is a necessary component for an individual to maintain a healthy lifestyle, an imbalance of these components can potentially put people in difficult situations as it relates to their survival. Fear can be a humbling experience when it is not balanced with foresight, the nuances of that particular experience instills a subconscious thought in an individual that resonates with fear, in terms of people realizing their mistakes and making the necessary adjustments in life.
She describes the ominous changes that occur right before a Santa Ana struck, “eerie absence of the surf”, “surreal heat”, etc (Didion 2). This imagery provides a clear picture of the malicious change in Los Angeles. To convey disorder and corruption, Didion states one would be woken up to the sound of “peacocks screaming in the olive trees” (Didion 2). Peacocks, normally perceived as regal and elegant scream in contrast to this. Being that the olive tree is a symbol of peace, these two contrasting ideas evoke a sense of confusion. Didion describes how she will “see black smoke back in the canyons, and hear sirens in the night”. Her use of sensory words such as “hearing” and “see”, ignite the 5 senses. The reader can picture the smoke through her words. “Hearing sirens” gave us a sense of danger and this was something Didion wanted to express. The fear and anguish expressed through Didion’s imagery evokes pathos from her
The film Sunset Boulevard, presented in 1950 is a black and white film. The film is about Norma Desmond an old actress, who has issues accepting that she is becoming old. The main actor in the film is Gloria Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond, an older woman who believes she is still young. Desmond is not content with the fact that Hollywood has replaced her with younger actresses. The next actor Nancy Olson, plays Betty Schaffer who falls in love with Gillis despite being engaged to his friend. The third actor is William Holden who plays as Joe Gillis, who has financial problems and decides to turn himself into a gigolo to earn money. The dilemma with Joe is he does not want Betty to know about his job because he knows he might lose Betty as
Sunset Boulevard is a hollywood classic film that digs into the aftermath of the sound era caused. Sunset blvd came out on August 10, 1950. The film was directed by Billy Wilder, produced by Charles Brackett, and starred William Holden and Gloria Swanson. Sunset blvd shows us the aftermath of Norma Desmond and how she is stuck in the past of silent hollywood. The darkness and bitterness that many silent movie experienced after they were kicked to the curb once sound came. The film is has a classic dark drama/comedy that is one of the most acclaimed films in film noir history. The film touches on the loneliness and narcissism that silent legends were enduring. The mood of the film is immediately established as decadent and decaying by the narrator of a dead man floating face down in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills.
...ictures for the reader. The similar use of personification in “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker and the use of diction and imagery in “Nighttime Fires” by Regina Barreca support how the use of different poetic devices aid in imagery. The contrasting tones of “Song” by John Donne and “Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims show how even though the poems have opposite tones of each other, that doesn’t mean the amount of imagery changes.
Fear is the emotional state that someone goes into when they feel threatened or endangered. The fact that we do not know everything makes us think that everything we do not know is feared. There are many stories that include the fear of the unknown. Each poem, story, and drama include some type of fear. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “Hills Like White Elephants”, and “Poof” there is an extensive amount of fear for the unknown. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ernest Hemingway, and Lynn Nottage all used the fear to their advantage while writing and making an entertainment for the readers.
In his essay Calypso Borealis, John Muir mainly uses diction while using some examples of imagery to express his relationship with nature. When describing his journey to find the Calypso Borealis Muir writes, “…holding a general though very crooked course… struggling through tangled drooping branches and over and under broad heaps of fallen trees.” Using specific descriptions of his surroundings helps the reader
... a space above the world, far above peoples’ heads, yet people stare at them all day. The weather around dictates their mood, the clouds overhead change their views on the entire day. A beautiful sunset is a backdrop to a proposal and happy kiss, the wetness of cloudy rainy day is responsible for an illness that leads to a death, lives are changed in the meeting of the clouds above and the people below. Cole and Blake understood the emotional meaning that comes with the space of clouds. They understood how clouds rolling in make a person feel trapped, and how sunlight clouds are filled with beauty, and how the dark smoke of clouds is a threatening symbol of a revolution. Artists and writers understand the meaning that people associate with clouds, even a meaning as simple as a young woman seeing her hopeful future child in the shapes of the clouds above her.
The use of a hyperbole creates exaggeration in the text on page six, “the flutter mill might turn forever.” Rawling also used many similes throughout her novel. One example of this is on page six, “A shaft of sunlight, warm and thin like a light patchwork quilt, lay across his body.” This simile created imagery with vivid explanations. In addition to similes, Rawling also uses metaphors throughout her work. On page six, “In mid-afternoon the skies turned so black that the chickens went to roost.” Metaphors allow to express emotions, experiences, and imagines with creativity. Lastly, personification was present through many aspects of the story. Personification helps relate ideas and objects to people by giving things human characteristics. For example on page 224, "A gust of wind moved through and slammed both doors.” This quote gave wind human characteristics which caught my attention. To conclude, the usage of figurative language in Rawlings essay strengthened the
Poetry is a craft of near-paradox. Poets often say that they aim to encase the abstract within the concrete, describe without adjectives or adverbs, and expound upon concepts with the utmost concision. To meet these formidable challenges, they keep several important literary devices at their disposal, one of which is the conceit. Commonly defined as an elaborately extended metaphor, the conceit often allows poets to capture complicated ideas through comparison with images closer to readers’ everyday experiences. If the concept that the poet wishes to illustrate comes from the theological or philosophical fields, figurative language like the conceit can rescue the poet from didacticism as well as opacity. “On a Drop of Dew,” a short poem by the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, employs the conceit for just this purpose. Marvell’s use of the conceit allows him convey the Christian story of the human soul in his poem with subtlety and simplicity, from its birth in heaven through its placement on earth and eventual reunion with God in heaven.