The Bill Figurative Language

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What does it mean to be a human being? Although the answer to that has been a concern for many writers from ancient times to the present, John Donne and Bernard Malamud endeavored the topic in their literary works, Meditation XVII and The Bill. John Donne, the author of Meditation XVII discusses the topic of death and mourning, while using a meditative tone. On the other hand, Bernard Malamud, the author of The Bill, focuses on the dreary story of poverty, guilt, and hopelessness. Though both pieces share similar themes, both writers used unique ways to captivate their audiences through compelling content, diction, tone, and figurative language, in order to define what it means to be a human being.

To begin, due to the comprehensive time difference between The Bill and …show more content…

The reader can easily recognize the extensive use of figurative language in both writings. For example, in Meditation XVII Donne stated, “...all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...”. This quote is a metaphor described through the use of imagery. It describes humankind as a book and every person is a chapter and god is the author of the book. Similarly, in The Bill, Malamud wrote, “All day they (tenants) pestered Willy like clusters of flies and he holds them what the landlord had ordered”. This quote is a simile comparing the tenants to clusters of flies that keep buzzing and annoying Willy to pay rent. In addition to the figurative language, one can identify the common theme between the essay and the short story as well. Although elucidated through unique approaches, both The Bill and Meditation XVII, focus on defining interdependent relationships among

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