Turtle On A Fence Post Literary Analysis

Imagine losing the people who are closest to you and then being sent to live with a family you barely know. To top it all off, a petulant old man whose sole purpose in life seems to be complaining also joins the family. June Rae Wood’s enticing novel, “Turtle on a Fence Post”, captures the sorrow and the pain of a girl situation. Throughout all the losses in her life, Delrita (the protagonist) still manages to stay strong. This story makes people think and view situations through different viewpoints. June Rae Wood develops the story through literary devices such as imagery, foreshadowing, and figurative language.

To begin with, the use of imagery in this story helps draw the reader into the story and feel like they were a part of it. For instance, when Delrita was visiting Mr. Roebuck in the hospital, she “[R]ode the elevator to the third floor, and walked through a vast endless

hallway, . . . footsteps clicking against the tile and my pulse pounding in . . . [her] ears. The smell of medicines and disinfectant. White uniforms everywhere” (pg. 257). This illustrates the perfect use of imagery because it appeals to one’s sense of hearing, smell, and sight. That is to say, the footsteps appeal to one’s sense of hearing, the medicine and disinfectant appeal to one’s sense of smell, and the uniforms appeal to one’s sense of sight. Thus, it helps the reader feel like they are part of the story and it gives the story life. Without the use of imagery at this part, it would be harder to imagine the scene, and it would be harder to make an inference about Delrita’s feelings in this situation because there was a pounding in her ears and she noticed white uniforms everywhere (instead of noticing the variety of clothes worn by the people who weren’t sick). These factors showed that she was nervous. Overall, the use of imagery makes the story better and more relatable.
Second of all, Wood’s use of foreshadowing enhances the story and keeps readers eager to know more. For example, when Delrita is at Mr. Shackleford’s house, a cop comes to question Mr. Shackleford due to his crime record. After refusing to state his business several times, the cop bluntly states, “It’s about the burglaries in Tangle Nook” (pg. 146). Several clues in this part of the story prove that this is an example of foreshadowing. June Rae Wood gives hints that problems will arise for Mr. Shackleford (even though he’s innocent) since he took part in crimes before. One instance of Wood giving hints occurs when the cop didn’t want to tell Mr. Shackleford why he had come there. If the cop had come to question Mr. Shackleford as a witness instead of as a suspect, he wouldn’t have hesitated before stating why he had come there. Additionally, the reader can infer that Mr. Shackleford will be a prime suspect in the burglaries at Tangle Nook, considering Wood states that Mr. Shackleford had gone to jail several times before. It’s possible to make this inference because it is a well-known fact that people who have been in jail more than once are likely to commit other crimes. Briefly, foreshadowing in this story makes readers want to continue reading and see if their hunch was correct.
Moreover, figurative language in this story helps keep the story interesting and prevents readers from feeling as if the story keeps dragging on with no variety in writing style. As proof, Delrita thought, “I was the turtle he set off the fence post” (pg. 261). This demonstrates the author’s use of figurative language since it is a metaphor that keeps the reader interested. (This is a metaphor because it compares Delrita to a turtle on the fence post without using like or as.) Figurative language can convey a simple point and make it more fascinating. From this metaphor, the reader can tell that Delrita was in need of help and Orvis Roebuck helped her. This is apparent considering turtles cannot get off fence posts by themselves, so people must help them in order for them to get down. Similarly, this simple sentence helps keep the reader interested since they are forced to imagine the scenario and infer the meaning rather than simply read what the author meant. All in all, figurative language keeps readers absorbed in the story and prevents them from walking away from the book without finishing it.
In the spectacular novel, Turtle on a Fence Post, June Rae Wood uses multiple writing techniques such as imagery, foreshadowing, and figurative language.

These three main literary devices give a complete picture of the story, and this novel would not be as magnificent without them. Imagery paints a picture of certain scenes in the reader’s mind and makes them feel like part of the story; the use of foreshadowing keeps readers on the edge of their seat wanting to know what is going to happen; figurative language keeps the reader interested and makes them think. At any rate, this book had many strengths, including how the story prods emotional response from the reader (death of loved ones and mental issues generally make people sad). However, this story also has several weaknesses, such as the overuse of coincidences (Delrita had a retarded uncle, met a man with the same mental illness as her uncle, and learned that her ‘enemy’s’ mother was in the same nursing home as the man she met). Overall, this is an amazing novel made better by the various literary devices used by June Rae

Wood.