Point of View and Setting The point of view from which the story is told is an unusual one, since the narrator is not an individual voice but a collective one: the members of the town stretching over a period spanning many generations. This point of view effectively conveys a sense of community; the town…
Tag: Literary Devices
Great Day by David Malouf – Literary Devices
Imagery The dominant image in the story is fire, which appears in the beginning as Ned watches a group on the beach build a bonfire and, at the end, when the museum is set ablaze. The fires provide an ironic tension in the story as they suggest both destruction and positive change. Both the bonfire…
The Good Doctor by Adam Haslett – Literary Devices
Setting “The Good Doctor” is set in northeast Nebraska, near the small towns of Atkinson, Tilden, and Ewing. The Buckholdt family lives in a “white fifties prefab, sagged on one side” with “empty prairie stretching miles in every direction.” The first thing Dr. Briggs notices on the property is “the skeleton of a Chevy Nova,…
Fish by Jill McCorkle – Literary Devices
Metaphor Metaphor is a figure of speech in which one subject is described in terms of a dissimilar subject, in order to suggest an analogy. McCorkle uses metaphor directly at the beginning of the story when the narrator describes her father’s “metaphor for life”: “You WERE TERRIFIED of the water, but you loved to step…
The English Pupil – Literary Devices
Imagery of the Natural World The Linnaeus of the story has loved the natural world so much that it has embedded itself in his thinking and the way he uses language. When he expresses his thoughts to himself or when the narrator explains his state of mind, it is through metaphors and similes drawn from…
The Canal by Richard Yates – Literary Devices
Point of View Point of view is the angle from which the action of the story is seen. In this case, the story is told in third-person, limited omniscient point of view. The story is told in the third person, and readers are given the inner thoughts of one character, but not the inner thoughts…
Titanic Survivors Found in Bermuda Triangle – Literary Devices
Symbolism Throughout “ Titanic Survivors Found in Bermuda Triangle,” water is used to symbolize Margaret’s fear of being touched. This is made most obvious in the segment of the story describing her trip to Venice. The trip itself is a quick diversion: she leaves London, goes to Venice, and is quickly back in London. It…
A Silver Dish by Saul Bellow – Literary Devices
Anti-hero Bellow makes the character of Morris Selbst enough of a likeable rouge that readers can easily see why his son would be willing to forgive his crimes and try to help him improve. Morris may be considered a hero of the work because he is a sympathetic main character: certainly, he is something of…
Rosa by Cynthia Ozick – Literary Devices
Setting The setting of Miami, Florida, figures prominently in this story. The incessant heat and humidity add to Rosa’s suffering and make her even more reluctant to leave her room. “Where I put myself is in hell,” Rosa writes to Stella early in the story. The frequent mentions of the intense, suffocating heat confirm this…
The Pearl by John Steinbeck – Literary Devices
Parable A parable is a story designed to illustrate a lesson or moral. Steinbeck notes at the beginning of The Pearl that the story of Kino and the pearl has been told so often, “it has taken root in every man’s mind” and “heart.” He characterizes the story as a parable when he explains that…