In David Sedaris’s story, “A Plague of Tics”, he effectively demonstrates vivid imagery by describing how “if he mashed the right amount of force, a blow to the nose can be positively narcotic. Touching objects satisfied a mental itch, but the task involved a great deal of movement; run upstairs, cross the room, remove a shoe” (365). His use of imagery through words such as “mashed” and “blow to the nose”, appealing to the sense of touch, paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind of the amount of force he uses in order to satisfy a mental itch. The imagery illustrates to the reader how much force is used instead of directly saying it in the text, allowing the reader to stay involved in interpreting the story. Also, Sedaris writes about his
impetuous decision to “accompan[y] [his] habits with an outlandish wardrobe, [he] might be viewed as eccentric rather than just plain retarded...they clanged and jangled with every jerk of my head” (368). He uses both visual and auditory imagery through the words “outlandish”, “clanged”, and “jangled” emphasizing his extremely odd appearance and actions. The imagery helps the audience place themselves in the Sedaris’s shoes, therefore being able to fully understand the underlying message of the story. Additionally, Sedaris effectively illustrates a compelling conflict and resolution in his narrative, through expressing his conflict with “[his] mind” and that “there must have been an off switch somewhere, but I was damned if I could find it” (361). By introducing his internal conflict, Sedaris increases the audience’s desire to know what will be the “off switch” for his uncontrollable and incessant tics. The tension brought on by his internal conflict keeps readers more engaged by leaving them with a feeling of uncertainty. It makes the reader question if there even is a solution to his mental problems and in order to find the answer they have to keep reading. Perhaps others can relate to Sedaris's internal conflict of letting his compulsions run his life, therefore making them feel part of his world. In the end, he reveals that “his nervous habit faded about the same time I took up with cigarettes” (Sedaris 370) which provides closure for the reader, ending the tension of the narrative.
“In response he expected us to play the part of an enthusiastic family, but we were unwilling to resume our old roles” (Sedaris 5). In life, unreliable people surround us. These people often break promises, bringing disappointment in one’s life. Sometimes the unreliable person may not realize the disappointment the broken promises bring to others. Like in the quote from “The Ship Shape” by David Sedaris, the father expected the family to be excited about the promises, but instead they were disappointed because they had been let down numerous times. Being continuously disappointed by a person can also lead to future problems such as not trusting the person, which eventually jeopardizes the relationship. This situation was true for both Sedaris and me. In both situations, people to whom we were close to made promises, but never delivered.
Authors use many different types of imagery in order to better portray their point of view to a reader. This imagery can depict many different things and often enhances the reader’s ability to picture what is occurring in a literary work, and therefore is more able to connect to the writing. An example of imagery used to enhance the quality of a story can be found in Leyvik Yehoash’s poem “Lynching.” In this poem, the imagery that repeatably appears is related to the body of the person who was lynched, and the various ways to describe different parts of his person. The repetition of these description serves as a textual echo, and the variation in description over the course of the poem helps to portray the events that occurred and their importance from the author to the reader. The repeated anatomic imagery and vivid description of various body parts is a textual echo used by Leyvik Yehoash and helps make his poem more powerful and effective for the reader and expand on its message about the hardship for African Americans living
“ 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
Jimmy S.Baca use of metaphors, similes, imagery, diction, tone and mood are used in a very effective way in his essay Coming into Language. His use of metaphors and similes really give the reader a visual, helping develop imagery. Baca’s use of imagery paints pictures in the reader’s head but also develops a type of emotion by the use of diction. The word choice used provides the reader with an understanding of where the author is coming from leading us into tone and mood. The author’s tone starts off very low but by the end of the essay you will feel very satisfied.
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...
Imagery is used by many authors as a crucial element of character development. These authors draw parallels between the imagery in their stories and the main characters' thoughts and feelings. Through intense imagery, non-human elements such as the natural environment, animals, and inanimate objects are brought to life with characteristics that match those of the characters involved.
Authors use figurative language to express nuanced ideas, those that beggar literal description. Such language provides the author an opportunity to play with his reader’s imagination and sense. A piece of literature that uses figurative language is more intriguing and engaging than a writing that aims only to explain. Ralph Ellison’s use of figurative language in “The Battle Royal” paints a powerful and unique story of oppression and the struggle for self-discovery. His juxtaposition of literal and figural language gave the story a dream like quality, all while creating a profound and vivid image.
Both authors use sensory imagery to create vivid images in the reader's mind with ease. In Harrison “In the trenches,” he uses descriptive similes and personifications to show the reader the disturbing reality of war effectively. After being viscously bombed, Harrison beautifully describes the “S.O.S” flare that is sent up shortly after being attacked, saying that “the sky is lit by hundreds of fancy fireworks like a night carnival.” This descriptive simile creates a visual image of a sky so bright that it resembles a carnival at night. As incoming bombs were dropping Harrison describes them by using the simile “the air screams and howls like an insane woman,” from this line any reader can imagine what it would sound like if artillery was dropping and exploding near you. Similarly, in twains “two ways of seeing a river,” he uses similes to create vivid images of the “majestic river.” Right from the beginning twain states that “I [have] mastered the language of this water and…every trifling feature…as familiarly as I [know] the letters of the alphabet.” This simile compares his vast knowledge of all the features of the river to his familiarity to the alphabets. The reader can visualize the importance and beauty of the river. Also, both authors similarly utilize sensory
It is often difficult for individuals with mental and physical disorders to differentiate between their identity and their abnormalities. In “Witty Ticcy Ray” by Oliver Sacks, Ray struggles to create an identity separate from his Tourette’s. Affecting each individual differently, Tourette’s syndrome “is characterised by an excess of nervous energy, and a great production and extravagance of strange motions and notions” (Sacks, 1981). In 1971, following the popularization of Tourette’s syndrome, Sacks met with an individual, Ray, who had suffered from this disorder since childhood. Oliver Sacks and Ray attempted to control Ray’s Tourette’s through different treatment techniques like using psychoanalytic drugs and performing deep analysis. Throughout
The creation of a stressful psychological state of mind is prevalent in the story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Ophelia’s struggles in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, and the self-inflicted sickness seen in William Blake’s “Mad Song”. All the characters, in these stories and poems, are subjected to external forces that plant the seed of irrationality into their minds; thus, creating an adverse intellectual reaction, that from an outsider’s point of view, could be misconstrued as being in an altered state due to the introduction of a drug, prescribed or otherwise, furthering the percep...
Imagery is a key part of any poem or literary piece and creates an illustration in the mind of the reader by using descriptive and vivid language. Olds creates a vibrant mental picture of the couple’s surroundings, “the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood/ the
As a teenager, Sheff’s son is described as “muscular, a weightlifter” with “stringy hair and a world-weary visage and languor”, giving readers the ability to imagine a good portion of Nic’s physique. Sheff describes his son, during his drug use, as being “frail, ill, and rambling -- a barely recognizable phantom.” The choice of words make it easy to be able to picture the state of Nic’s physical appearance compared to that of his younger, pre-drug abuse, self. There is another instance in which illustrative vocabulary is used to describe the clothing Sheff remembers Nic wearing in everyday life, such as “I imagine him wearing a worn-out T-shirt, his pants sagging and dirty, a black belt with metal studs [and] Converse sneakers, and his long curling hair pushed back out of his eyes.” The imagery used in this sentence allows readers to vividly picture all the aspects of what Sheff himself was picturing. This aspect of writing, imagery, helps convey the experiences that have been lived by the
The Great Electrical Revolution creates vivid imagery by using descriptive words that engage the reader. An example of such imagery is: “Grandad could only crouch on the democrat, trying to hide from the enormous sky, and whispering hoarsely at Fred to go faster. He’d come four thousand miles to the wide open spaces only to discover he suffered from agoraphobia” (Mitchell 310). Imagery is created by the description of the vast prairie, which helps the reader to imagine the feelings and thoughts that granddad was experiencing. This imagery allows the reader to put themselves into the story, and thus obtain a clearer understanding of what is occurring. It also helps engage the reader by allowing them to relate to what is being said in various different
When a person becomes fascinated with a certain object or thing, their attention is irresistibly drawn towards it. They become enticed and overly interested in the object, trying to study it more, in hopes of learning and gather more information from it. However, when this fascination violently preoccupies every second of our time then it is no longer just a captivating interest but now an obsession. When someone is obsessed with something they are devoted and completely infatuated with the idea of that object, becoming powerless to resist the temptation that the object compels over them. It becomes an aggressive fixation and in some cases they may even lose themselves or their own sanity in the process. This idea that obsession leads to insanity is furthermore explored in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” in which the narrator becomes so enthralled with the eye of his old neighbor, that when he kills his neighbor in attempts to get rid of the eye, he cannot keep himself together and reveals to the authorities his secret, which in turn can be assumed to result in the narrator’s own death. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” Poe uses great symbolism and a distinct style to reveal that obsession ultimately leads to insanity.
In the essay “Letting Go” by David Sedaris, he writes about his experiences with smoking. Throughout the essay Sedaris expresses his views and experiences with smoking. Sedaris grew up in the 1960’s and 70’s when smoking was a common thing to do, so much so that grade school students in his native North Carolina, would have field trips to tobacco factories where they were given packs of cigarettes to give to their parents. Sedaris describes views about smoking that changed throughout his life-time. At one stage in his life he was against smoking, and was even bothered by the smell of cigarettes. Then Sedaris himself, in a different stage of his life became a smoker. Smoking caused Sedaris’s mother to gain some health problems due to her smoking