The passage selected from Johnny Got His Gun distinguishes itself from the rest of the novel through its uplifting tone. Joe creates his own personal victory and establishes a new sense of optimism towards the quality of his life. Trumbo portrays Joe’s newfound joy and blissful relief through the application of tactile imagery, polysyndeton, and oxymoronic phrasing. Tactile imagery is established from the first lines of the passage. Joe anticipates the sunlight on his skin like “a first kiss” or “running a hundred yard dash.” Despite his loss of four out of five senses, he retains the sensation of touch, and uses it to his advantage. The skin on his neck is “seared burned scorched” by the rays of sunlight, and the experience falls hand in hand with Joe’s sudden optimism and energy. …show more content…
The moment that Joe realizes that it is dawn, the sentences begin to unfold beautiful images and paint the scene, with the conjunction “and” creating an infinite aura. The sentences containing the most examples of polysyndeton would normally be labeled “run-on sentences.” The phrases that do not utilize polysyndeton are choppy and brief and stand alone to make dramatic, joyful revelations. The reader is able to understand Joe and the reason behind his energized stream of consciousness through several instances of oxymoronic description. The little town that Joe creates in his head is portrayed as “squat and ugly”, and yet still he still believes it to be “beautiful”. The babies in his “beautiful homely” dream are “awfully healthy”, and they correspond with the dawn in that they both symbolize new beginnings. The quaint little town alludes to God watching over his kingdom with admiration. Joe imagines his own utopia, because he succeeded in his goal, he now has access to it. The oxymorons establish Joe’s dewy, fresh appreciation for mundane, typical
The book shows many aspect of betrayals happened to the characters in the story. Linda, whitey, Geraldine -Joe’s mother-, and Joe, each one of them had exposure to betrayal in their own way. However Joe -the main character- in the story faced many of betrayals from his father or the tribal authorities. Those betrayals had influenced in his actions and behaviors.
The family shows signs of being part of either a low or poor class based off the conditions of the household they are living in and the bareness of their apartment. For instance, the dining room is extremely small and the kitchen seems old and worn out. Correspondingly, the family members seem to lack personality due to to the simple clothing they are wearing. However, the bright colors found interior of the home create a contrast between the dreary environment of the household. This helps convey the message that although the family may not be as economically stable and live a dull life, they still happily interact among one another and come together every evening to have a meal together.
The ideals and images of Sonny can also be considered symbolism for those who are shadowed in these small neighborhoods. Those who have dreams to leave and make it big, but many things deter their
Stephen King uses multiple literary devices in his novel On Writing to convey the feel of a fictional novel, though it is based on facts from his life. King effectively uses these devices to convey his theme of persevering through adversity to become a greater writer and person. A major technique used in his writing is imagery that comes in many forms, precisely in this passage. There was a sharp smell of alcohol. A clank as the ear doctor opened his sterilizer.
Hurston finds herself mystified by the beauty of the area and admires the people of the town that do not relish on its fame and only desire the simplistic way of life they lead. Through the uses of devices such as numeration, regional dialect, imagery, climax, and sentence structuring, Hurston effectively conveys her feelings regarding the town and the townspeople. Ultimately, Hurston purpose is to praise the town and its people for remaining culturally unchanged and simplistic in the way they
While the number of sentences in a paragraph varies – sometimes six, sometimes ten, sometimes more – their length changes to give the essay an almost musical rhythm. Even in the longer sentences the mind’s eyes is tickled by Parker’s constant use of figurative language, humor, description chock-full of metaphors and adjectives, and allusions to the biblical, the supernatural, and the historical (especially so in paragraph five). All of these elements work in tandem to slowly but surely illustrate and finally reach Parker’s point as they hold an audience member’s attention and give him a way to slip in facts and citations without boring the
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
one of the many times he uses imagery throughout this story is when the narrator says, “on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows” (Pg 1). By using imagery to compare walking through the neighborhood as walking through a graveyard shows that it is completely silent and there is no activity in any of the houses. Most people wouldn't describe their neighborhood as a graveyard, this also develops the mood. Another time he uses imagery is when the narrator says, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country” (1). This shows mood because the narrator describes him as a hawk in mid-country, that means that he is all alone in what he feels to be like a barren or abandoned place.
In the essay “Superman and Me”, the author, Sherman Alexie recalls the time he first learned to read. He talks about his Indian culture and the perception of people like himself. He also discusses his childhood and the outcome of learning to read. The reoccurring theme of the essay is the love of reading. The author used various literacy devices to express the feelings of empowerment, happiness and the necessity that came with learning to read.
Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo’s novel, “Johnny Got His Gun” tells all about a father and son relationship that many people may envy for. Trumbo characterizes their relationship with a respectful tone, yet Trumbo also makes the love and trust the father and son share very apparent throughout the novel. Trumbo is able utilize literary devices such as third person point of view and a lack of formal punctuation, using syntax to help the reader have a better perspective on the relationship the father and son partake in.
Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, introduces Joe Starks into the novel as a controlling, yet successful man who falls under the control of his own problematic characteristics. These traits influence actions of his which work for and against his favor. Joe is notably prideful; however, his insecurities cause him to verbally and physically mistreat Janie because he feels threatened by her better attributes. Joe’s pride is the drive for his ambition. It motivates him to do various activities that will bring him success, recognition, and admiration from his peers, such as when “he [unwraps] [the street lamp] and [has] it wiped off carefully and put up on a showcase… for everybody [in town] to see” (44).
Textual Response Racial stereotypes are nothing new, especially when it comes to African-American males; one such stereotype is that of African-American males being criminals. In “Who Shot Johnny?” Debra Dickerson shares her opinion on Black males being stereotyped after her nephew is shot in the back by a Black man. On the other hand, Brent Staples addresses the issue of Black men being stereotyped from observations he makes while out on his insomnia induced walks through the streets of Chicago and New York.
In “I Lost My Talk” by Rita Joe, the poem describes how her experiences at a Residential School attribute to her identity and empowerment through poetry that uses symbolism, imagery, and visual mental images to illustrate themes, white dominance, and empowerment. The poem is written in the point of view of an indigenous woman born in the time during the residential school crisis. This was a time when genocide was taking place, mothers separated from their children. Kids were segregated like it was 1957, in other words, the white 's were in their own educational system and the indigenous were forcefully put in schools to be assimilated of their raising. To be assimilated is to strenuously forget about your history, culture, language, and traditions.
Joe’s War shows use of humorous verbs in varying context, for example, “The princess, wearing a slave’s collar shackled to the High King’s chair. That is what I think “lost”, which makes the reader construe what the character is saying (Abercrombie, 2015, p. 7). Usually, people know princesses to have a royal life where they have everything they want by virtue of ascription, but a reader may find it improbable to picture a princess wearing shackles and tied to a king’s chair, because this usually never happens. Hence, it is creative in a way, and helps propagate what is generally know to be true.
On of the greatest examples of imagery that Alice Walker uses is the one that compares light and darkness. At the beguining of the story the author mentions delicate and calm setting of a farm. In creating this imagery the reader is able to understand that all the positive and upbeat words are associated with the farm setting. Myop’s light-hearted innocence is also shown when “watching the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale”. The effective description provides credibility to the environment, and makes the later events all the more shocking,