This passage from the opening chapter of ‘Spies’ (by Michael Frayn) introduces an old man called Stephen Wheatley reflecting on his childhood - when his friend Keith first revealed that his own mother was a German spy. In many parts of the book, Frayn uses the first person narration in order to suggest some ambiguity, as the use of this often implies a bias view on a certain topic which may connote that there is no certain truth behind everything the narrator tells the reader about. As the story moves along, more tension is built as the mystery never seems to cease. Throughout this extract, the narrator seems to evoke a secret and an elusive sense of smell which in turn creates interest. As the narrator seems to reflect on his past, he asks the daughter about the familiar smell without revealing reasons. This may suggest that …show more content…
As this word is labelled by the daughter, the author begins to think deeply about this specific word. The author writes ‘Liguster…’ to recreate a sense of the narrator mulling over the meanings in his mind. The use of the ellipses may imply that this unfamiliar word (for the readers) has some manner of importance within this passage as he begins to come up with fragments of his time back when he was a child. As he gets nearer to a solution, the interest is intensified in correlation to this journey. At first he said, ‘I’m no wiser’, which denotes that Stephen does not have a clue what Liguster actually means and what it reminds him of. However, memories start to slowly come flooding back, as the narrator says ‘And yet’ and ‘Hold on, though’. Finally, he finds discovers the hidden meaning behind the odour, as he states ‘Of course! How obvious!’. The build up of tension and the suspense is what makes this passage so interesting for the
Despite being celebrated for its industrial achievements, the very foundation by which society was predicated on in the Gilded Age crumbled as labor unrest grew. This sense of discontent on the part of laborers is demonstrated through the Haymarket Affair of 1866. Among those tried for the crime was August Spies, who in his “Address of August Spies,” compromises his own life by persistently undermining the legitimacy of the State to emphasize the determination of the collective for which he views himself as a “representative.” In his attempt to illuminate the injustices of the State and foreshadow the unremitting turmoil that will emerge with his murder, Spies simultaneously showcases the divisions within society at the time. Consequently, because it is a product of its time period, the “Address of August Spies” can be used not only as a means of understanding the Haymarket Affair but the dynamics of society as a whole.
Throughout the novels Perfume and Chronicles of a Death Foretold the authors tends to use many literary devices in order to really bring life to the work and keep the reader intrigued. Exaggeration is very apparent in both novels and almost seems excessive, but vivid at the same time. In Perfume Suskind refers to “stench” many times and based on the imagery used in the novel the context gives the word “stench” almost a positive meaning at times. For Example, when Grenouille murders the girl, the way he describes her “sweaty armpits, oily hair, and fishy genitals”, makes the sensation seem like an actual perfume to his nose. The author also uses scent to characterize in the novel. Grenouille who had to apparent sent seemed equal to one with
...thing of his wife snoring those random nights he is nostalgic for. After time it was even comforting to him. The father is nostalgic for the comfort of the happiness that he received from his family.
In the novel, Perfume by Patrick Suskind,the author incorporates the idea that society may be attracted to certain individuals by a chemically active world. An individual’s scent may possibly emit different reactions to different society members. For example, the protagonist of Perfume, Grenouille starts out as an unwanted child whose smell was revolting. Suskind used this exaggeration of Grenouille’s odor to give the reader a sense of imagery, to imagine what the scent could have possibly smelled like. The author uses the protagonist’s depressing backstory (abandoned as a child, outcast to the world), to create a sense of pity from the reader, despite the fact that he is a murderer.
In the novel Perfume by Patrick Sϋskind, the protagonist Grenouille was a mysterious child, he was questioned by multiple people on account of him being without a scent. Ironically, Grenouille possessed a supernatural sense of smell. In the novel, Grenouille goes on to kill 25 young adult females. The scent these girls emit is what motivates him to carry out these murders. These murders are not out of cold blood. Grenouille uses the scent of these girls to create a mastermind perfume. Patrick Suskind uses such descriptive words that sensory imagery is inevitable.
She questions them, trying to get them to tell her the ‘truth’, that they can see the ghosts, even though she fully believes they do. She questions Flora about it one time she saw the child looking out the window. Flora replied ‘“Ah, NO!" she returned, almost with the full privilege of childish inconsequence, resentfully, though with a long sweetness in her little drawl of the negative. At that moment, in the state of my nerves, I absolutely believed she lied…’ The governess believes that Flora is trying to hide her lie behind her innocence and beauty. The child 's sweetness, such loved before, was now an escape from trouble in the Governesses. The children continue to do this to the governess, saying such things but with such sweetness as for what Miles did, talking to her. “Think me—for a change—bad!" I shall never forget the sweetness and gaiety with which he brought out the word” Miles hid his words behind his sweetness and happiness, that the child still is innocent seeming. The children are beginning to act as how the governess believes them to act, bad yet
As the writer of this story, Flannery O’Connor has used the omniscient narration as a tool in this story in very effective and efficient manners so it is difficult for the reader to judge that what will happen next. Many events remain secret for the reader, and these secrets start revealing, as the story progresses. When the story ends, the reader comes to know that he/she was wrong at the start of the story. Many other characters have also entered in this story, the introduction of these characters by the writer was to make this story as more interesting and more thoughtful like,
When Divakaruni moved to the United States, tried to abandon the smells of her childhood in favor of acculturation. She realized this is a mistake when she has a child of her own. She eventually comes to appreciate the smells’ abilities to comfort, give joy, and motivate. One smell in particular she told about is how the smell of iodine reminded her that “love sometimes hurts while it’s doing its job.” In rearing her own offspring, she intentionally tried to replicate the “smell technique” with her own twist in hopes that her children reap similar benefits. One example is how she filled the house with the aroma of spices and sang American and Indian tunes with her
Louise found that Baptiste’s skin “tasted sour with old body salts.” The use of the word “salt” evokes the association of minerals pertaining to the earth. I immediately begin to think about elements and in turn affiliate Baptiste’s character with natural substances. After Louise got close to Baptiste, she noticed that he smelt like the “sweet, warm earth and the faint, odd smell of lime that covered anything unclean.” Baptiste has a paradoxical scent because he smells both like the “warm earth” and “anything unclean” at the same time. The description of “warm earth” makes me think of the nature and all things fresh. However, fresh and “unclean” are words that fail to coincide with one another. This presents Baptiste’s character as a mystery because it’s difficult to explain the inner working of a
Despite being a short piece, this poem has no lack of technē as it describes a couples concern with intimacy. Nonetheless, the technē found here is more subtle than that of the medieval or ancient periods which is fitting for its time and style. To begin with, all the scents described serve as a form of technē since they function to change the way in which someone is perceived; the smell of cinnamon marks the speaker’s wife as such. Moreover, the speaker “buried [his] hands in saffron, disguised them over smoking tar, helped the honey gatherers” making these scents tools for veiling his unique aroma (154). Similarly, the couple also made use of water to protect themselves from the scent. All of these uses of technē are rather personal to the
" A golden surprise that caused excited little tremors run up her jaws". The smells in the air triggered Myop's other senses and we can see that she is quite aware of these familiar surroundings. Walker then begins reveals more about Myop's ... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the eyes of critics, Saving Private Ryan has been renowned to be the most iconic and well directed war movie in film history. However, the millennial generation remained uninformed of the magnitude of the film. Throughout the movie, soldiers sacrifice their lives to save the life of other men. However, some soldiers sacrifice by choice while others do under the influence of hierarchy. When the remaining soldiers out of the eight find Private Ryan, he refuses to go back home for “[he] was with the only brother [he] had left” (Spielberg). Ryan, under his own influence, decides to risk his own life to thwart off the Germans from the bridge with his remaining comrades. The bond of brotherhood with which developed between soldiers during the
The biscuits and gravy always smelled so good. They smelled like pepper ,sausage ,and nice buttery biscuits. Her Father would make them when she was still asleep because he knew that the delicious of the gravy and biscuits would wake her up. And they did, every time. She would always wake up to the aroma of the sausage when they were almost done.
In conclusion, reading the poem “Smell!” by William Carlos Williams made me realized that the way my nose function can be compare to many other aspects in my life. The author tells us about the good and bad odors our nose smell. I also find this poem to be really inspirational because we can all draw many different conclusions out of this
We receive her point of view, and is she who speaks here. It is a homodiegetic narrator who tries to reproduce her own impressions in an internal focalisation; we see the story throughout her eyes. She is an overt narrator with a distinct personality who makes her opinions known. We can distinguish her presence very clearly and it is the main reason for the sense of mystery surrounding the story. On the other hand, she is an unreliable narrator; we cannot be certain the information the governess is presenting is completely trustable, not because she is not sincere, but because we only have her personal point of view and she may not be aware of the implications her feelings