Cormac McCarthy's use of imagery in the last paragraph of The Road creates this sense of contrast between the natural world and the post-apocalyptic landscape that the characters must navigate. The brook trout are described, with their polished and muscular bodies, vermiculate patterns, and white edges of their fins that wimple softly in the flow. However, the powerful imagery also conveys a sense of profound loss, suffering, and hopelessness.
McCarthy's description of the trout's patterns as "maps of the world in its becoming" (287), emphasizes the connection of all living things and the fact that everything in nature has a purpose and place in the world. The sensory details of the trout's “smell of moss in your hand” (287) and texture create an image in the reader's mind that emphasizes the beauty and complexity of the natural world that has been lost in the novel's setting. The loss suggests that there is no hope for redemption or salvation and that the only response is to keep moving forward, as seen by the image of the trout moving down the stream.
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He also describes the deep glens as being "older than man and humming of mystery” (287). This description conveys a sense of timelessness as if the glens possess a spiritual or supernatural quality. The personification in this description further emphasizes the mystery and wonder of these deep glens, emphasizing the fact that they are not simply backdrops, but key parts of the natural world. The imagery of the glens reinforces the theme of the importance of nature in The Road. Throughout the novel, the man and the boy constantly hide in glens on the side of The Road to hide from “the bad
Matthew Null develops trout as a motif in his story “Telemetry;” the motif functions to show the theme of the abuse of locals in West Virginia, and it sheds light on the protagonist’s internal struggle to leaving her home. Kathryn and a team of researchers, named Gary and Michael, study the West Virginia state fish of native brook trout in an effort to determine facts about their unusual movement. This essay will focus on how trout function to show the abuse of locals by outsider companies, the movement that Kathryn desires, and the behavior of locals and outsiders. These different functions of trout add up to a general commentary on life in West Virginia. The results of Kathryn’s studies on native brook trout comment on the differences between lives of locals and outsiders by considering their movement.
Nick was amazed by the water that flowed underneath the bridge. It had been a long time since he had seen the rapid moving water and the fish. The fish he seen are known as trout. Although the day was hot and his emotions were running rampant, these things made Nick very happy and brought a sense of peace to him. He didn’t stop there though.
One side of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove. On the opposite side the land rises abruptly from the edge of the water , into a tall ridge on which grow a few scattered oaks of great age. Washingtons Irving , describes the setting as a dark, evil, and dim place, This basically shows Supernatrual because it shows how the place is related to evil by describing the place darkly like the place where evil things are occuring. This also shows that this setting takes it to the Dark Romanticism because the settings are obsessed with the idea of evil.. The woods represents a straying from the path of life, and when one strays they becomes prone to the influence of evil.
In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, imagery emphasises the fears of the characters and the importance of the settings. O’Brien focuses on sensory imagery and graphic context to characterize the characters, while writing with emphatic syntax. By emphasizing the writing and using the specific types of imagery, he provides an accurate representation of what war is like. When writing with imagery, his style and use of language changes to provide complexe feelings and situations. The exaggerated and strategically placed sensory imagery creates an empathetic mood.
Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road, follows a father and son on their journey through a post apocalyptic world. Throughout this journey, the man and his child are faced with many challenges and obstacles that they must overcome in order to survive. These obstacles consist of cannibals, food scarcity, and even harsh outdoor environments. One theme that is heavily presented throughout the duration of this novel is that death is inevitable. McCarthy often uses imagery to show death, whether that be through the horrific and detailed descriptions of the corpses or through the destroyed and ash-filled climates.
The view from the road of the lake during the afternoon in a quiet town gives the reader a sense of solitariness. The narrator describes that “Norman Bowker followed the tar road on its seven-mile loop around the lake, then he started all over again, driving slowly, feeling safe inside his father's big Chevy, now and then looking out on the lake to watch the boats and water-skiers and scenery” (O’Brien, 137). He feels safe in his car, silently protected from the terrors of the world. At the same time, though, it is beautiful and peaceful as he watches the scenery. Bowker drives for quite a long time.
Death is a constant theme in The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. In the world they live in now, death is all around them. Almost all the people, plants and animals have died off by now and there is little to nothing left. “There was yet a lingering odor of cows in the barn and he stood there thinking about cows and he realized they were extinct”(120). Because there is nothing left, the boy and the man are the only thing eachother has right now and they are the only thing keeping each other alive.
It shows that like the "wilderness" can listen like a human being. As the poet tries to decide what to do with the dead deer and fawn, he anthropomorphizes the natural wilderness that surrounds the speaker. This brief description is
In The Road, Cormac McCarthy uses figurative language, to demonstrate the difference in the people’s decisions and values when compared to the real world. The survivors of the apocalypse, including the father all had to undergo a series of radical changes in order to adapt and survive in the new world. When the father enters the house, where the people are kept for food, not only does he see naked people both male and female but also a man with his leg cut off. McCarthy writes, “On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and stumps of them blackened and burnt” (McCarthy 110).
To Change is to Grow Through the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy the boy and the father show a great amount of change and maturity, while also learning to adapt and love. The story has a good balance of how different events can affect and impact someone's life in either a good or bad way. There are many events that change the mind and heart of the boy and father, but change can only be helpful if you learn from it and mature out of being afraid for things to happen. The stories main idea is very tragic in a dark, grey world where nothing ever good happens and instead of learning to live your preparing to die.
Controversy of the Iraq War sparked an ethical conversation that was similar to the Vietnam War, authors such as Tim O’Brien and Chris Kyle share their primary accounts on their thoughts of war. In 1990, about 15 years after the Vietnam war ended, Tim O’Brien publishes his work of fiction called, The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried was a melancholy, detailed collection of short stories that follows the protagonist, Tim O’Brien and his company of men before, during and after the Vietnam War. Later in 2012, after his tour of duty in Iraq, Chris Kyle publishes his memoir of his accounts in Iraq. American Sniper is a patriotic, straightforward novel that explains Kyle’s thought process while he’s at the Iraq War.
Many stories throughout history attempt to recreate what war seemingly feels like. War is largely undescribable to those who have not actually experienced it, but literary devices can bridge the gap between actual experience and “experience” gained strictly through reading. Specifically, in The Things They Carry, the author appeals to the reader's senses and by doing this creates an image in the reader’s mind. This image helps the reader create an empathetic and more legitimate depiction of the war experience. Furthermore, word choice helps the reader decipher the mucky world of war by creating imagery that helps them relate to their own experiences.
Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” is filled repeatedly with imagery. These descriptive phrases of imagery provide vivid details that make the story easy to imagine, so real and visual. Bradbury’s writing comes alive to the reader. This short story is about a peaceful man, walking by himself, who is picked up by the police and thrown in jail. Imagery helped readers understand the setting of “The pedestrian.”
Throughout life, we all go through rough moments where we think all is lost. However, we as humans always grow from these experiences and turn into beings with a new awakening and understanding of the world. In a passage from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, the narrator describes a striking ordeal, in which a man is coping with the death of a she-wolf. Despite the cause of death being left ambiguous, this dramatic experience has a vivid effect on the main character—causing him to change and grow into a new man by the end of the passage. McCarthy uses eloquent and expressive diction to create imagery which gives the reader an understanding of the narrator’s experience, supplemented by spiritual references as well as setting changes, elucidating the deep sadness and wonder felt by the protagonist.
In “The Road Not Taken” a traveler goes to the woods to find himself and make a decision based on self-reliance. The setting of the poem relays this overall message. Providing the mood of the poem, the setting of nature brings a tense feeling to “The Road Not Taken”. With yellow woods in the midst of the forest, the setting “combines a sense of wonder at the beauty of the natural world with a sense of frustration as the individual tries to find a place for himself within nature’s complexity” (“The Road Not Taken”). The setting is further evidence signifying the tense and meditative mood of the poem as well as in making choices.