An important exchange in Blood Meridian is the contact between the kid and the hermit. The kid happens upon the hermit by chance, when he spots the smoke coming from the hut. The hut being away from the “king’s road,” shows the hermit’s insistence with shying away from society, since roads are usually built where there is heavy traffic of human movement, which ultimately leads to society, it also demonstrates that for some reason the hermit has a bias against society. The hut itself is very natural, with a “smell of earth” and “ceiling of woven limbs and mud.” The way McCarthy uses anchorite (a religious recluse) to describe the hermit, brings about an antithesis because usually a hermit is more thought of as secular, and not pious. Which then …show more content…
brings about the question if the hermit is following a major religion, or is more of a spiritual guide. The main speaker in this scene is the hermit, and the audience is the kid.
The hermit is a lonely person who is at odds with what he has done in his past life, being a slaver. He was probably a bounty hunter who caught escaping slaves in order to return them to their masters, the reader can infer that because he mentions that he paid the same price for the heart that others paid to catch the “black son of a bitch it hung inside of.” Even if it wasn’t, it can still be inferred that whatever happened in getting the slave, was a turning point for the Hermit’s life, because few people, if any just buy hearts. The heart was probably a symbol to him, and an important memoir of the sins done from his past life. All of that, plus the descriptions McCarthy gave about him and the hut, points to the hermit being a spiritual guide, or at least someone who can grasp the essence of …show more content…
spiritual truth. One of the things the hermit postulates is that man “best not look in there,” (at his heart) because at the basis of man’s existence there is evil. The heart being such an important organ in humans, and ending up with time to become “dried and blackened,” demonstrates to the hermit that the basis of humanity is darkness, not purity, and so he says, “when God made man the devil was at the elbow.” He also sees darkness in the kid, and is probably the basis for their encounter. His insistence on the kid, “Los[ing] ye way in the dark,” reveals that the hermit has seen something inside the kid, and believes the kid is on a bad path. It is further concreted when the hermit asked about the weather and responds with the cryptic, “I reckon and I reckon right,” which gives the idea that he has some sort of supernatural knowledge about the future. One of the main literary styles of Blood Meridian that McCarthy uses, is bluntness.
Most of what is written is what is meant. In the beginning, he barely gives us a description of the kid or “child,” and the only thing we get about his character is that “in him broods already a taste for mindless violence.” Which until later, when we meet the hermit could the reader believe that the description was given either because violence was born in him from his father, or it was because the most innate instinct of humanity is violence. That bluntness is shown with the encounter with the hermit. For example, the hermit explicitly states his bias against society, which the reader could infer to be lust. The kid is more of a guide for the audience, we barely get to peer into his thoughts, and we also don’t get a name. The kid in this scene mostly listens to what the hermit says and does what the hermit tells him. It could be said, that meeting the hermit was a turning point in the kid’s life. After he met the Hermit, he experienced a greater magnitude of atrocities, from there being isolated bar fights and getting shot, to full on massacre of dozens of people with Captain White. The Hermit was a sort of doomsayer for the kid, meant to warn the kid of the inhospitality of the West, and how at it’s core, it is a violent and evil
place.
Often people are not what they seem. According to Roald Dahl, in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” When in public Patrick Maloney was the doting husband, but when the doors hid outside eyes Patrick revealed his true feelings. He wanted a divorce. He wanted to ruin his wife and soon-to-be child, but without anyone knowing. Thought the passage, the tone is revealed as condescending. The way Mr. Maloney talks to his wife is as though she is a small and unknowing child.
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
Creative Section Prompt: Write a scene where an “unlovable” character is involved in a surprising or unexpected hobby or appreciation for something.
Throughout the course of this novel, Ishmael Beah keeps the readers on the edge of their seat by incorporating interchanging tones. At the beginning of the novel, the tone can be depicted as naïve, for Beah was unaware to what was actually occurring with the rebels. Eventually, the tone shifts to being very cynical and dark when he depicts the fighting he has endured both physically and mentally. However, the most game changing tone is towards the end of the novel in chapters nineteen and twenty. His tone can be understood as independent or prevailing. It can be portrayed as independent because Beah learns how to survive on his own and to take care of himself. At the same time, it is perceived as prevailing and uplifting because Beah was able to demonstrate that there is hope. Later in the novel, Beah travels to
Truman Capote showcases his very distinct style of writing in his true crime novel, In Cold Blood. Capote intentionally frames ruthless murderer Perry Smith as a relatable, well-intentioned human throughout the whole novel, and employs various rhetorical devices to show us that Perry is not just a stone cold killer. Specifically, Capote uses diction comprised of complex words, interviews conducted by Capote personally in which he interacted with the suspects and their loved ones, and sentence structure that came off as very to the point, in order to illustrate Perry’s dynamic and unique personality, opposed to the one dimensional heartless murderer many made him out to be.
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, he utilizes various literary devices to emphasize his many thematic topics. He demonstrates sin through the unholy nature of Abigail’s history with John Proctor with Abigail’s words, "I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!" (Miller 21). He reveals the wrongness of the situation, and shows the desperation Abigail has for John to return her feelings. due to his marital status and her age through his simile describing John’s actions and reactions near Abigail as animalistic and dirty. Miller’s similes also demonstrates the idea of good vs. evil through his description of the Devil’s effect on several girls. “...
I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves.
Prevailing Purposes in “The Crucible” Playwright and essayist, Arthur Miller, in his play, “The Crucible”, utilizes pathos, symbolism, and irony to convey his purpose of how the events of the Salem Witch Trials had detrimental effects on the society and how far the elites went to protect their reputation . Miller’s reasoning is to expand Parris’ and Danforth purpose for their side of the argument during the witch trials. He adapts a contrasting tone in order to appeal to similar feelings with reasoning in his american readers.
In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the narrator’s monotonous tone makes the reader experience a lack of emotion and feeling. The novel starts off describing Mersault’s current job and how he must go on leave in order to attend his mother’s funeral. He and his mother have been disconnected for some time as they had come to a mutual agreement with her staying in an elderly home. Mersault, the main protagonist, did not have the money or time to tend to his mother. The elderly home was the best option for the both of them. When he returns home from the funeral, Mersault gets caught up in external affairs he should not be in. He ends up writing a break up letter to Raymond’s girlfriend, which drives the rest of the story. Raymond beats his
“Challenges is what makes life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine. Life is difficult and people need to accept it and in someway every thing in life is a challenge and people need to know how overcome and how live life with those challenges. Morrie teaches people to live life by showing how to accept death, that money isn’t everything, and how to accept aging.
... man that was trying to have an affair with his wife. Carver uses this story “Cathedral” to open the readers eyes and send the profound message of intolerance and ignorance and how one can be blind mentally not physically. The narrator is so hostile to the idea of a visit from Robert because he is blinded by jealousy, anger, and confusion.
The point of view from the narrators perspective, highlights how self-absorbed and narrow-minded he is. “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together—had sex, sure—and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (Carver...
Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” portrays a story in which many in today’s society can relate. We are introduced from the first sentence of the story to a man that seems to be perturbed and agitated. As readers, we are initially unsure to the reasoning’s behind the man’s discomfort. The man, who seems to be a direct portrayal of Raymond Carver himself, shows his ignorance by stereotyping a blind man by the name of Robert, who has come to stay with he and his wife. From the very beginning, Carver shows his detest for Robert but over the course of the story eases into comfort with him and in the end is taught a lesson from the very one he despised.
The film Sicko (2007), is about the misfortune and distress associated with the American Health care system and how it compares to those in several foreign countries where universal health care is the normal. The audience explores Moore’s rhetorical strategies and how he represents the issue of health care with the goal of gaining support from the rest of society for his cause. Michael Moore make this film that has the purpose to especially inform the American audience about the current health system in America and terrible system created in America that is sometimes deadly. The filmmaker used emotion, reason, creditable people, counter arguments and humor/irony to develop his argument that the American health system is terrible to citizens.