Analyzing a Better Way to Write

Figurative Language:

Imagery:

“If anything made that country habitable it was the mountains themselves, purple when the sun dropped and so sharply etched in the morning light the granite dazzled almost more than the bright snow lacing it” (Houston 97:2). This example of imagery paints a very descriptive picture of the beautiful scenery around them and the feeling papa must of felt just looking at those mountains.

Simile:

“But he was running along the decks, like Paul Revere, bringing the news, and didn’t have time to explain”(Houston 6:3). This simile is comparing the sudden news of the British invasion to the sudden feeling they had when news of Pearl Harbor spread.

Metaphor:

“When he knew everyone was watching this- we were his audience, this dinning room his theater-…” (Houston 57:1). This metaphor compares the dinning room to a theater because he made an audience out of his family.

Alliteration:

“It only happened when he was singing or when someone else sang a song that moved him”(Houston 89:1). The same occurring “S” sound in the words singing, someone, else, and song make this an alliteration.

Hyperbole:

“That knocked all of us younger kids down at once, with fevers and vomiting” (Houston 30:1). The exaggeration that it knocked them down right away is what makes this sentence a hyperbole.

Personification:

“Every stone was a mouth, speaking for a family, for some man who had beautified his doorstep”(Houston 190:2). When it says that every stone has a mouth and is speaking, it is personifying the rock with human characteristics, which makes it personification.

Onomatopoeia:

“She let out two tiny groans “unh unh””(Houstan136: 1). When you spell out a sound or action being made, an onomatopoeia is formed.  

Oxymoron:

“They see their boy and girl tossed into the normal awkward growing up stage, but can offer little assistance or direction in their turbulent course…”(Houston102: 1). When the 2 words “normal” and “awkward are used together, it creates a contradiction because the 2 word have almost a complete opposite meaning; and because of that, it also creates an oxymoron.

Allusion:

“I had used a low cut sarong to win the contest. But once chosen, I would be a white-gown figure out of Gone With the Wind; I would be respectable”(Houston 178:1). By casually referencing Gone With the Wind, Jeanne made an allusion.

Idiom:

“When your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you just want them to stop fighting?” (Houston 64:1). When papa says this while he is being interviewed about his views on the war, he does not mean this in a literal way; he means it as a simpler way of understanding his position, making it an idiom.