Monday, March 28, 2011

Rhetorical/Stylistic Devices (chapter 12)

This shouldn't be a long task or something but I want to pay special attention on the stylistic devices which I noticed at the beginning of chapter 12.

Some examples:
page 73; line 1: "... slept soundly, ..." "... morning meal."
              line 13: "Again and again, as ..."
---> ALLITERATIONS

page 73; lines 3-4: "... not ready to lie, not willing to tell the truth."
---> OXYMORON (connection between two contradictory terms)

page 73; lines 19-20: "That it was welcoming. That it was significant."
---> ANAPHORA

page 73; lines 14-15: "... it seemed as if there were a destination: 
                                      a something - he could not grasp what -
                                      that lay beyond the place..."
---> INTERCALATION  (in german: Einschiebung)

page 73; lines 24-26: "The classes were the same: language and
                                  communications; commerce and industry;
                                  science and technology; civil procedures and
                                  government."
---> ENUMERATION  (in german: Aufzählung)

page 74; lines 2-5: "How could you describe a sled without
                              describing a hill and snow; and
                              how could you describe a hill and
                              snow to someone who had never felt
                              height or wind or that feathery,
                              magical cold?"
---> RHETORICAL QUESTION
---> ANAPHORA
---> REPETITION
page 74; lines 7-8: "... what words could you use which would give
                                  another the experience of sunshine?"
---> RHETORICAL QUESTION
---> the reader is directly accosted
                              

2 comments:

  1. Good observance! What is the effect / the function of those stylistic devices though?

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  2. I think that it is more or less a coincidence that these stylistic devices exist into "The Giver". It is untypical in a novel and I would say that Lois Lowry didn't have the aim to include them there. But for example the oxymoron shows the conflict between Jonas and his rules/instructions. To lie was never accepted or allowded in the community but he really doesn't want to tell the truth in that situation. The intercalation claryfies the challenge to find the right words for something which he had never noticed before. The rhetorical questions include the reader to the stroy. He's directly accosted and feels with Jonas. It could help to understand that conflict a little bit more. The whole story sounds more personal and this is a reason to read on and to feel included to "The Giver". I would explain these devices in this way.

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