In “The Destructors” the leader of the gang becomes fascinated with a house that has somehow survived the bombings of WWII. The author uses imagery throughout the story to draw the reader's attention to the moral of the story, provides a description of imagery in different parts of the text, and provides deeper insight about the characters. There are a few examples of imagery in this story. “The tired evergreens kept off a stormy sun: Another wet Bank Holiday was being prepared over the Atlantic, beginning in swirls of dust under the trees” (Greene, 7)The imagery in this quote is showing the reader how the evergreens were tired, kept off a stormy sun, and swirls of dust under the trees. It describes what will happen in the future. This gives
With the power of words, that causes the destruction of Germany and the world, Liesel’s uses that same power to deal with the terror of death that looms over them, allowing her to give power and hope, to those that need it, especially in the midst of the chaos of World War II. Where the German forces were deteriorating, and the Allies only grew stronger with each bomb that they drop, Liesel and her neighbors hide within one of the basements, in attempt to survive the onslaught of attacks, fearfully and anxious. The only things that were with them was each other, and their most precious items, and for Liesel, it was her books. All they could do was wait for sirens, and because of this uncertainty, Liesel took it upon herself to ease her distress.
Luís Alberto Urrea uses the allegory of “desolation” in the book The Devils Highway, A True Story to illustrate life as well as death on the Devils Highway in the border region. The book accomplishes this through his usage of the word. The word “desolation” is defined as a state of complete emptiness or destruction. Often, the word does not appear, when this is the case, the illustration shifts to life.
The memoir contains a number of other fires that claim houses, sheds, and injure other characters. Fire is said to represent a trend of chaos that is both natural and staged by man. The theme of fire relates closely to other themes concerning nature and pollution that
As sentimental tone becomes evident frequently through the story, the author uses determination to display the struggles and growth that the author experiences. One of the major quotes that shows determination through a sentimental tone can be displayed as the hotel burning down where the Walls currently lived. Walls stated, “I wonder if the fire had been out to get me. I wonder if all fire was related . . . I didn’t have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived that at any moment could erupt . . . It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes” (Walls 34). This excerpt explains that the author and her family struggle through life to find a decent home--that they can afford. Jeannette spills her emotions through this quote; her struggles become strengths, as she narrates her childhood. The author displays the theme of struggle and the sentimental tone when “. . . the whole family stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read, with the dictionary in the middle of the room so [the] kids could look up words [they] didn't know. . .” (Walls 56). This quote really tears at the reader’s heart strings, as the family copes with their living situations. Jeannette exceeds with describing the story; adding imagery to the situation creates the sentimental tone. The idea of struggle and growth portrays the main point of the overall
Imagery can be defined as the ability to form mental images of things or events. The Holocaust was the careless and brutal massacre of six million Jews by the Nazis, who were under the rule of Adolf Hitler, during World War II. In the book “Night” Elie Wiesel describes his harsh, devastating journey throughout the Holocaust by using imagery. During the novel “Night”, Elie vividly describes his experiences throughout the holocaust when they first arrive at Auschwitz and saw the fire, when Elie and his convoy arrive at Buna, and during the alert when a man tries to get an extra ration of soup.
The speaker in “Dismantling the House” by Stephen Dunn reflects on the demolition of this house with respect to the memories he has of it along with the loss he feels. By speaking directly to the reader he is actually talking himself through how his house will be demolished and what it means to himself. By discussing his house and the demolition of the symbol of a prized memory, the speaker reveals the impossibility of distancing oneself from something whose symbolism is so important; this is important because it reveals the complexities that arise from the loss acquired through the demolition of the house and the ways one tries to drive this loss towards something positive. The speaker utilizes the second person narrative to speak to himself
The theme of “The Destructors” is the difference between classes in post-World War II London. The characters in “The Destructors” are twelve gang members who destroy a beautiful old house. The house represents the upper class society that was still present in this setting. One
A well-known Gilded Age author of satirical pieces, Mark Twain, in his text “Dreams Dissipated”, argues the elite and other influential groups he despises, should not be idolized by the public. Twain’s purpose is to reveal the true intentions and behavior of these groups at the face of tragedy in order to stop the public from aspiring to be like them or seek guidance from them. He adopts a connotative tone for his audience who may be unaware of the immoral behavior the elite display during the “great” earthquake in San Francisco. Twain supports this claim by first referring to a tragic event using connotative diction to hint at the animal-like behavior of these groups, then he illustrates a chaotic scene and the ill-fitted reactions of the
The scene is horrible, bodies lay on the ground killed by guns, hatchets, and knives even war clubs all just beyond words. The bodies on the ground are not the only ones they find, in the houses they find much more. Some that hid in the cellars died as they were trapped in the fire. Mothers, fathers and children burned and smothered in what they thought would be safe.
The floors, the wooden stairwells, the roof, the ceilings and the wooden partitions all came down. However, the greatest damage was the loss of life. The authors make the reader relive one of the most horrific nightmares, the death of the innocent. Every story of the death of a child is a tragedy, but what makes this one particularly sad is that the disaster occurred in a place where parents and the society assumed that the children were safe. The authors say, “When parents sent their children off to learn in such structures, they usually did so without a second thought to safety, assured by routine that their youngsters would return home safely at the end
Here, author Truman Capote delves into the ramifications of “four shotgun blasts.” He begins with the obvious––the Clutter family is killed––but soon shifts his focus from the immediate consequences of these “somber explosions” to the metaphorical “fires of mistrust” that they spark within the people of Holcomb. Through his specific language (i.e., the words “blasts,” “explosions,” and “fires”), Capote conveys the violent and irrevocable havoc that the simple pulling of a trigger can wreak. Overnight, the entire town’s faith and sense of security is lost: neighbors have become strangers, and unlocked doors are now a thing of the past. What’s more, Capote foreshadows Dick and Perry’s eventual doom when he mentions that the shotgun ended six lives. However, he counteracts the grim reality of the events described with an almost dreamlike narrative, which ensures that his readers feel curiosity rather than dread at what is to come.
In Ground Zero Berne uses many examples of imagery and metaphors to paint a descriptive picture of her surroundings and what she saw to enhance her reader’s experience. She uses the imagery to make her readers feel as if they were there and make them feel the same feelings of awareness, and sadness she did. Suzanne achieves this by recalling back to the horrid memories of 9/ll when “the skyscraper shrouded in black plastic, the boarded windows, the steel skeleton of the shattered Winter Garden.” (Berne 176), By using these extremely explicit and descriptive details Suzanne allows her readers to experience the rude awakening she had when she saw nothing in Ground Zero, but was able to recall the chaos that went on that day. Suzanne lets her readers understand what was going on in her mind , and clearly experience what she was feeling that day
Another favorite moments of imagery that I had was when Bobby was attack by hanuman. After Mrs.Das telling Mr. Kapasi that Bobby is not really Mr. Das son, Mrs. Das walk off eating puffed rice and the monkeys began following her. Everyone had later realize that Bobby was missing. When they found him, they were shocked that he was surrounded by the hanuman. Mrs. Das had accidentally spilled her puffed rice at Bobby’s feet. The monkeys began going at him. The author says, “When they found him, a little farther down the path under a tree, he was surrounded by a group of monkeys, over a dozen of them, pulling at his T-shirt with their long black fingers. The puffed rice Mrs. Das had spilled was scattered at his feet, raked over by the monkeys’
While the plot and the theme are always very significant, a reader should never forget the importance of the setting in a story. This short story is a perfect example of the importance of the setting, since it is through it that the reader is able to truly understand the author’s message and intensions. It is through the description of a post-apocalyptic world, a city in ruins and the last house standing, that the reader is able to truly understand the
After this point, it seems that the destruction has taken its course and there is nothing left but emptiness and everyone “battered bleak of brain all drained of Brilliance in the drear light of Zoo.” The last “fantastic Book,” “open door,” and “piece of mental furniture” represent any remaining originality, opportunities, and ideas that were left being “thrown out the tenement window” and “slammed shut” by society and the capitalist system.