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Metaphor is pervasive and universal in everyday life, not only in language but also in thought and action; our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of...
English 12 figurative language
English 12 figurative language
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “One of These Days,” describes the disparity between everyday working class people and higher class politicians. The story focuses mainly on two contrasting characters: a humble dentist, Aurelio Escovar, and an aggressive and abusive mayor who takes advantage of his townspeople. Deep in this piece, the situation between the two characters symbolize the corruption of power and the negative influence it can put on society. Though the mayor owns all of the dominance out of everyone in the town, the dentist receives influence for a period of time, taking advantage of it at all cost. We learn at the end of the passage that no matter the identity nor class of an individual, the excess of power can lead to corruption. The sentence structure and diction used in the author’s work provides the reader with the overall sense of an …show more content…
After the dentist extracts the mayor’s tooth, Marquez ends his story shortly after the climax. The quick shift after the treatment is a technique used to portray how the mayor’s overall influence is infinite and everlasting. Though the dentist took advantage of the mayor for a brief period, the real control will always reside with the head of the town. This represents how this certain society is unfair. Only one person, in this case, has total authority. “Send the bill.” the mayor said. “To you or the town?” the dentist asked. “It’s the same damn thing.” the mayor proclaimed. This quotation perfectly explains the immoral aspect of this town. The town should be representing the people, however, the author depicts the unfairness of the community by describing the mayor and the town as the exact same thing. Metaphorically, the author also uses the extraction of the infected tooth to symbolize the “infected” government in this society and how the mayor’s dominance is so innate in the town’s
Often times the message of an article gets muddled to the reader depending on the stylistic manner of the author’s writing. The style in which the author uses to write, Am I Still Here?, takes away from the actual message of the article. The author, Anthony Doerr(‘)s, uses very descriptive language which is distracting to the reader. Also, the use of metaphors can deem challenging for the reader to understand the true meaning behind the article. Finally, the use of complicated diction makes it arduous to understand what the article is attempting to get across. The stylistic choices that the author uses takes away from the message of the article.
... In addition to being powerful, his ruthless murders made him a dangerous man too. This specific case in Latin American history comes to show how economic “stability” does not always mean happiness and wealth. The Dominican Republic’s economy was stable, but all the wealth belonged to one man, Trujillo. A Nation’s wealth in the hands of one man only means that the Nation’s safety and life-force also rest in his hands.
She writes, “‘We’re going to have to do something about your tongue,’ … And I think how do you tame a wild tongue, train it to be quiet, how do you bridle and saddle it? How do you make it lie down?” This example includes Anzaldúa at the dentist and the dentist attempting to work on her mouth but her tongue interferes with the procedure and makes it difficult for the doctor to work. In this example, tongue works as a double meaning for both the body part and for one’s mother tongue, or the language they natively speak. This is how the struggles that the dentist has with her tongue becomes a metaphor for the struggles she experiences due to her wild tongue, as in native language rather than the body part, in Texas. The ethos in this passage are encompassed in the personal experience aspect of the passage and the pathos is due to the descriptive nature of the violent actions used to take away one’s native tongue. The emotion comes across due mainly to Anzaldúa’s analysis of the situation, where she uses harsh language with strong negative connotations. Accompanying her word choice with her analysis of the situation, the reader understands the emotion and empathizes with
used as this can give a good insight into the author and on this note,
Junot Diaz's short story “Fiesta, 1980” gives an insight into the everyday life of a lower class family, a family with a troubled young boy, Yunior and a strong, abusive father, Papi. The conflict, man vs. man is one of the central themes of this story. This theme is portrayed through the conflicts between Papi and his son. Papi asserts his dominance in what can be considered unfashionable ways. Unconsciously, every action Papi makes yields negative reactions for his family. Yunior simply yearns for a tighter bond with his father, but knows-just like many other members of his family-Papi’s outlandish ways hurts him. As the story unfolds it becomes obvious that the conflicts between Papi and himself-along with conflicts between Yunior and himself-affect not only them as individuals, but their family as a whole.
Esteban’s case represents that of the oppressed, poor class that is constantly struggling to survive. This struggle for survival becomes so pressing that they start thinking how, if they got the chance, could make things better. They usually fight a lot, but finally, when they reach the position of helping, power becomes their obsession...
The story is written by Gabriel García Marquez, and is a magic realism novel.One Hundred Years of Solitude consists of the past of the segregated town, Macondo, as well as the Buendías family behind it. Besides a few gypsies that come to see the town every now and then to sell things, Macondo has had zero contact with the outside world for years.It is a very isolated village that keeps to itself, preferring to not involve themselves too much in the affairs of nearby nations. José ArcadioBuendía, the head of the family, is passionate and curious. He is very introverted, preferring not to be with others as he is deeply interested in mysterious events. He seems to spend a lot more time alone than with others. His descendants take on these attributes throughout the story. One of his sons, José Arcadio, inherits the great physique and impulsiveness of his father. The younger one, Aureliano, receives his father’s strong curiosity and intelligence. Over time, the village’s isolation vanishes when it comes in contact with the other towns nearby in its region.
In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” author Gloria Anzaldua portrays all the negative aspects of having to dispose of her hispanic roots and taming her wild tongue to do so. She begins the article by describing her agonizing trip to the dentist and how they were forcefully pulling metal bits from her mouth. She talks of the terrible smell that is wafted when she tries to express the pain. At one point the dentist says, “We’re going to have to do something about your tongue.”(Anzaldua 2947) Her tongue kept forcing its way past the cotton border to get to the surgical utensils and drills. The dentist also remarks about her tongue saying, “I’ve never seen anything as strong or as stubborn.”(Anzaldua 2947) In that moment Anzaldua is taken back to her childhood, a time when
A question arises whether they felt “coerced” to use the court system because the judicial system was the only avenue, other than violence, in trying to right perceived wrongs. A careful examination of “Scandal at the Church: José de Alfaro Accuses Doña Theresa Bravo and Others of Insulting and Beating His Castiza Wife, Josefa Cadena (Mexico, 1782),” illustrates the surprising role of an elite court system as an equalizer within a socially-stratified society. More specifically to this case, the court acted as a vehicle to restore honour in an attack from an upper class society member to someone in a class lower. The chapter chronicled a criminal proceeding initiated by the plaintiff because of the injury and insult inflicted upon his wife by the defendant and her family. The physical injuries inflicted on José de
The Old Gringo is a fiction novel written by one of Latin America's most renowned and eloquent authors, Carlos Fuentes. Filled with war, adventure, love and more, this novel takes you back to the Mexican revolution fought in 1912. This contemporary fiction is based on many themes found and experienced by the main characters in this novel. The relationship between Mexico and the United States, the drive to find one's true self and the different ways two men need a woman are only a few themes contained in this story. The question: Is he Ambrose Bierce or just an old gringo, is one that I had to answer while reading this book. We all have different opinions, but it is a question that all ask themselves while reading The Old Gringo.
With an evident attempt at objectivity, the syntax of Passage 1 relies almost entirely on sentences of medium length, uses a few long sentences for balance, and concludes with a strong telegraphic sentence. The varying sentence length helps keep the readers engaged, while also ensuring that the writing remains succinct and informative. Like the varying sentence length, the sentence structures vary as complex sentences are offset by a few scattered simple sentences. The complex sentences provide the necessary description, and the simple sentences keep the writing easy to follow. Conversely, Passage 2 contains mostly long, flowing sentences, broken up by a single eight word sentence in the middle. This short sentence, juxtaposed against the length of the preceding and following sentences, provides a needed break in the text, but also bridges the ideas of the two sentences it falls between. The author employs the long sentences to develop his ideas and descriptions to the fullest extent, filling the sentences with literary elements and images. Coupled...
In the story Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez portrays how the bystander effect impacts the people around Santiago Nasar to act submissively revealing how people do not want to help others in difficult situations, unless it directly affects them. Marquez informs readers how individuals only see the different ways for personal gain, thereby not having “time” to help others in need. As Santiago Nasar nears his death, many of those who are informed of it do nothing to save his life, as they all rely on others to help rather than taking matters into their own hands and stepping up. Ignorance by specific townspeople, like Angela Vicario, Lazaro Aponte, Clotilde Armenta, and even a friend, Cristo Bedoya. Each person’s ignorance caused them to fail in helping a fellow citizen to their small town while some did not take enough initiative in preventing the murder.
In contrast, syntax provides a new perspective to the narrator s behavior as sentence structure draws attention to her erratic behavior. By her last entry, the narrator s sentences have become short and simple. Paragraphs 227 through 238 contain few adjectives resulting in limited descriptions yet her short sentences emphasize her actions providing plenty of imagery. The syntax quickly pulls the reader through the end as the narrator reaches an end to her madness.
Essay 2 Psychoanalysis is the method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts (“Psychoanalysis”). This transfers to analyzing writing in order to obtain a meaning behind the text. There are two types of people who read stories and articles. The first type attempts to understand the plot or topic while the second type reads to understand the meaning behind the text. Baldick is the second type who analyzes everything.
Life in Mexico was, before the Revolution, defined by the figure of the patron that held all of power in a certain area. Juan Preciado, who was born in an urban city outside of Comala, “came to Comala because [he] had been told that [his] father, a man named Pedro Paramo lived there” (1). He initially was unaware of the general dislike that his father was subjected to in that area of Mexico. Pedro was regarded as “[l]iving bile” (1) by the people that still inhabited Comala, a classification that Juan did not expect. This reveals that it was not known by those outside of the patron’s dominion of the cruel abuse that they levied upon their people. Pedro Paramo held...