Figurative Language In La Guma

La Guma uses indirect characterization, colorful dialogue and external and internal language, as well as vivid imagery, to craft together five symbolic characters who journey through a lemon orchard, on a cold night.
The author begins the progressive plot by establishing the setting, which is woven together by descriptive and figurative language that appeals to the senses.
His story opens up in the winter where he delineates a scene using words like “chill”, “cold” and “damp” to create our idea of it. He makes use of the various elements associated to the season like death as the colored man is threatened to be shot numerous times in the story like here when the leader declares; “Do you hear, hotnot? Answer me or I will shoot a hole through your spine.” The weather itself is symbolic of the character’s personalities. The leader’s

The night is a setting for crisis and therefore it is no surprise that the first image we encounter is that of the moon, which is also associated with hunting and madness. The moon is a symbol which mimics human nature. At the beginning of the passage it is hiding behind clouds that are likened to “suspended streamers of dirty cotton wool” as if afraid to witness what is about to happen, which suggests that a crime of some kind is about to be committed, one that nature wants no part in. This is reinforced by the use of simile where the image of the “dirty cotton wool” foreshadows violence, as cotton wool is used to clean up blood. This acts as a structural device which prepares the reader for what is to come and creates a menacing mood. The use of contrast also shows how a “cloud” which should be white and pure is soiled by racism. Further, with the use of alliteration in “suspended streamers … in the sky” the author impresses this central image upon our minds so that we remember its significance; that not only is racism a crime, but it destroys the natural