In the short story “How I Met My Husband,” there are several literary devices used to portray different emotions and twists. There are four of them, however, that stand out a great deal: romance, diction, empathy, and irony. Romance, which is the theme of the whole story, is used to bring a feeling of excitement and is often times relatable to readers in some way. Diction is used to “spice things up” you could say, bringing great word choice into the reading. Empathy, although not used as much as romance or diction, is still vital in portraying emotion in this short story. Finally, the irony is what can bring you the twists, turns, and humor you see throughout the story.
The theme of this story, as mentioned in the introductory paragraph, is romance. It comes up several times throughout the reading and the title even reflects some form of romance. A prime example of this is when Edie and the pilot, whose name was Chris, were getting
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Some examples of this are when she met her actual husband! She was waiting for a letter from someone who she thought was going to be her husband, when all the while the mailman who was supposed to be delivering that letter to her, was the person God had chosen for her! It just brings a sense of humor and twists to an already-interesting short story. The reader was lead to believe that the pilot would be Edie’s husband, but in came some last second irony to bring some suspense.
Literary devices are very valuable when it comes to making a reader think a certain way, tricking a reader, and keeping the reader on its heels. It leaves them waiting on what is going to happen next! “How I Met My Husband” Surely did a good job of this. They used these in specific times and instances that played along with the theme and tone of the story
A prime example of this is on page 196, when Cassie offers to “sacrifice” school to help in the field. This is what is called verbal irony. Another good example of this is on page 258 when David says that there will be no “T.J.”s in the Logan house, but T.J. had just been in their house. When Cassie said that she wanted to “sacrifice” school it was a joke because in reality Cassie dislikes school; she would rather be out in the field. Both examples try to keep the story fresh and exciting and lighten the mood by adding humor to the story right before the story becomes very serious, as if the story was pulling punches. Additionally, the latter example brings attention to T.J. who is the main focus at the time; the statement is also ironic due to the fact that T.J. finally gets more of the thing he craves, attention: however this is at the time he wants it the least.
Dramatic irony is shown heavily throughout the story, as the reader connects with Mary as she goes through her whole plan on how to cover-up the murder. An example of dramatic irony that was shown is when the officers were eating the murder weapon and they didn’t even know except for Mary and the readers. I found the situational irony to be more dramatic because you would have never pictured a woman going from such a calm and loving state to one that killed her husband in the spur of the moment. It was shocking to me on how she had such a rapid change in attitude and how she was able to put on a smile
There are three principal sources of interest in narratives: suspense, mystery, and irony. In the narratives “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Ronald Dahl, irony is a primary source of interest. Irony is defined as a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. In both of these cases, the use of irony by the authors greatens the impact the pieces have on their audience. In both “A Rose for Emily” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the authors have numerous pieces of irony throughout their respective stories; this use of irony creates a better reading experience for the reader.
by authors to keep the reader more engaged in the novel. A great use of literary devices brings richness, clarity, insight and understanding of the text. Foreshadowing is used to warn or indicate an event in the future, extended metaphor is used to compare the difference between two things which continues throughout a series of sentences . Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite what is
Throughout the book the author writes the story from Libby’s and Jack’s point of view. Niven writes the book as though Libby is writing in her diary and then in the next chapter Jack is writing in his diary. The author also uses flashbacks in the story. We get a deeper understanding of the story and why things are happening in it because we can see that in the past all of these events lead up to this event. Another way the the author uses craft is how she uses figurative language to also add deeper meaning to the story. The author uses craft to make the story much more interesting to read. If there was no figurative language in the books it would not have gotten the ratings it did or be the book that no one wants to put
What is the point of literary devices in stories, books, and poems? What do they accomplish? Could you use them properly if you knew what they were? In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, author Richard Connell uses many of these devices, namely: simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, foreshadowing, irony, and allusion. Some well used devices in this story are personification and irony.
There are many ways authors include literary devices to not only express their position on certain things, but also to evoke emotion and thought from readers for them to fully understand the reason for them being presented. The author may drop hints through tone, style, symbolism, and motifs. These four elements help lead the reader to infer reasoning, meaning, and significance behind aspects of every story.
The next literary device the author utilizes is foreshadowing. The author hints at the reader in numerous ways, which builds curiosity, anticipation, and
The main theme in this story is identity.Throughout the book the main character, Irene struggles with her identity. In the first chapter Irene is a regular Passing women who lives in Harlem with her husband Brain, but we start to see her mental health problems as she reunites with her childhood friend Clare.Clare is also a woman that
Overall using literary devices in helps an author with what they’re writing sound better, help the readers understand what’s happening in the book and what the character does based on their actions using figurative language, or diction. Without it, the story would be plain and the author would have difficult time making the book enjoyable for his/her audience. If Author, Arthur Conan Doyle did not use any literary devices in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the novel would most likely not have the best ratings or reviews and that would lead to people not buying or enjoying the
When writing, authors need to think of their audience and involve an element of surprise. Authors use plot twists in their writing to help them accomplish surprising the audience, allowing them to keep their audience’s interest. Not only do plot twists help keep the audience’s attention, they also make the audience question their beliefs about what they think of the story. Authors can use this tool to advance their themes. Yann Martel uses a crazy plot twist in his book, the Life of Pi, to suggest to readers that truth is relative.
literary devices such as point of view and symbolism to give it a more dramatic effect and add to the madness the narrator portrays.
A very dull and boring story can be made into a great story simply by adding in something that is unexpected to happen. When the unexpected is used in literature it is known as irony. An author uses irony to shock the reader by
The theme of the story is under some circumstances people can be blind to the truth. Character Edie determines the style of the story by talking about the circumstances of her life as a fifteen year old girl and as an older woman. She retells the stories of those that she has known, and the man that she believed she loved deeply. Sometimes the things we want to happen may not be the things that life has for us. We need to be open to all the opportunities in life that are different from what we believe.
In the short story, “The Landlady,” Roald Dahl creates suspense by using irony to foreshadow events that happen later in the story. Near the end of the story the Landlady says, “I stuff all my little pets when they pass away.” Little does Billy know, but like all of her other little pets he will be stuffed too. Another example of Dahl using irony in the story is when Billy says, “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds.” This is an example of dramatic irony which Dahl used because the Landlady put arsenic poison in his tea. Dahl also creates suspense because arsenic poison smells like almonds. A third example of Roald Dahl using irony to foreshadow future events would be when the Landlady says, “Left? But my dear boy, he never left.