Imagery In W. P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe

After Matt Null’s presentation, I was entertained by the creative writings of the famous novelist and short story writer Edward P. Jones. His presentation began with one of his associates introducing him as one of the greatest writers in contemporary America writing on the struggles African Americans faced in the nation’s history. In his presentation, Jones read to us two of his newest short stories The Devil Swims Across the Anacostia River and In The Blink of God’s Eye. Jones used outstanding imagery, but what I took note of most was the particular way he used dialog to describe his characters subliminally. He would use intense descriptive details to describe a scene’s environment and perhaps the outfits of his characters, but Jones took

This quarter I read the realistic fiction book, The Batboy by Mike Lupica. This book is a story about a 14 year old boy named Brian Dudley. Son of a former pitcher and an avid baseball fan, Brian gets his dream summer job: the bat boy for his favorite team the Detroit Tigers. When it seems like his summer cannot get any better, his all-time favorite player Hank Bishop is signed to the team. At the beginning, Hank is cold and yells at Brian a lot, but in the end they become friends. At the end of the summer, Brian is in for the best weekend of his life when the Tigers have a home stand with Hank currently sitting at 499 career home runs. I really liked this book because I could relate well with the main character. Brian is the same age as me and we both like baseball. The plot is very interesting and the end, although predictable, is satisfying.

The book, Ghost, by Jason Reynolds is a story about a boy named Castle, but is called Ghost. Castle has a very rough life because his father is imprisoned and his mother struggles with finances. Castle is a misbehaved kid who struggles in school and makes a track team which motivates him to be good in school. Track played ended up playing a huge role in his life and went through the ups and downs with him. Track taught him respect and discipline which spread throughout his home.

Literary devices are used by an author to enhance a story. These devices can help to make a piece more descriptive, complex and thrilling. Literary devices can also help the reader further understand the text. Conflict, characterization, and imagery are exemplary examples of literary devices used by authors.

Chaim Potok’s The Chosen is a mysterious novel with very interesting dialogue and detail. Although the narrator’s name is never said or mentioned, Potok still managed to write this thrilling novel that has readers at the edge of their seats. In this novel, a 15 year-old boy, who is a protagonist, has a deep love for baseball shares Jewish culture and habits. Him and all the boys who go to school together play baseball on their spare time and are all on the same baseball team. While being friends and sharing many hobbies, the boys finally meet anonymous narrator’s father. Without the narrator even knowing why, all the boys become distant from him and seem to have formed an alliance against him after they had met his father. They had tried

A tangerine is not only a citrus fruit, but also a county in Florida that is home to Paul Fisher and his older brother Erik. In the novel titled Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Paul Fisher, the protagonist, is not only bullied at school, but also at home by his brother, while having to live in the house where his dad lives in the illusion of the “Erik Fisher Football Dream.” In this new county that Paul moves to, he constantly has to put up with natural disasters like muck fires and sinkholes. The move from Houston, Texas to Tangerine County, Florida is the start of a new chapter for the Fisher family, especially Paul.

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, illustrates the experiences of a man and his comrades throughout the war in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien actually served in the war, so he had a phenomenal background when it came to telling the true story about the war. In his novel, Tim O’Brien uses imagery to portray every necessary detail about the war and provide the reader with a true depiction of the war in Vietnam.

In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens utilizes a plethora of literary devices such as similes, metaphors, imagery, and denouement to explore the capacity for change. This reveals that changing is never impossible until you’re six-feet under.

Well known author and journalist, George Orwell, in his essay, Shooting an Elephant, describes his experiences as a Policeman in Moulmein, Burma during European Imperialism. Orwell’s purpose is to convey the ideal that what is right and what is accepted don’t always align. He adopts a remorseful tone in order to convey to the reader the weight of his actions. By looking at George Orwell’s use of imagery and figurative language, one can see his strongly conflicting opinions on Imperialism.

In John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player” the poet uses literary devices to depict the existing way of life of a once-famous sportsperson. Flick Webb was in before times a gifted athlete on his high school basketball team, and he was commendable of much awe. However, Flick never acquired any other skills to prepare him for a future. Accordingly, he now is locked into an unskilled job and his former glories have pale to all but Flick himself. Updike has created a character that is at this point in time going nowhere and spends most of his time thinking about his former days of glory. Flick dwells more restricted by the past than the present because the past was much brighter for him. Flick’s emotional retreat into his earlier period is exposed

Imagery is something that is constantly being used since the beginning of time in multiple ways. The book writers, music artist, and everyday people use it to create an image in someone's head. Throughout Beowulf, there is a lot of imagery being used. In the beginning of Beowulf’s last battle, even before he fights, he says farewell to his followers for the last time and he chooses his words. He creates an image in the reader’s heads. The images that the words create makes it feel as if you were really there looking at everything actually happening. Such as, “They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships. The great ring-giver. Farfetched treasures were piled on him,and precious gear.” This is a great example of imagery. This is from one of

Literature is a medium that enables people to effectively express their opinions and perspectives. Being the vast genre that it is, fiction presents writers with the opportunity to utilize literary devices in their pieces. These devices help in communicating the message of the author’s work. Several fictional texts use common literary devices such as metaphors, similes, symbols, and imagery. These devices allow for writers to personally involve readers with the author’s message. Specifically, allowing for the writer to demonstrate a sense of cultural identity through their writing. For African writers David Don Mattera and David Diop, the use of literary devices is essential in conveying the message of their texts. When analyzing Mattera’s “Afrika Road” and Diop’s

Pat Tillman, an NFL superstar who gave it all up to defend our country, embodied the American dream and more. Worked hard on and off the field he earned a comfortable life for him and his family. He not only achieved the American dream, but also gave the ultimate sacrifice of any American – his life. Because of his importance, Sports Illustrated created two different magazine covers to illustrate Pat Tillman's death.

Columbine, by Dave Cullen is a non-fiction book documenting the horrific massacre which took place in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. Not only does the writer give great detail about the shooting itself, he also gives and in depth look into the lives of the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and their victims. The focus of this book is for the author to attempt to bring to light what really happened and hopefully gain better understanding as to why it all took place. Cullen, a journalist, begins an extensive nine year research in order to achieve awareness of the happenings before, during and after this tragic event. Entries from the perpetrators personal journals, stories from the ones who witnessed the shootings first hand, countless interviews from the victim’s families, as well as multiple other pieces of information give the reader an extremely up close and personal surrounding Columbine. Dave Cullen spent many years perfecting his book to make sure all the readers would know the correct story of Columbine.

“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death. Jackson uses imagery and irony, as well as symbolism to make us aware of the custom, and violence and tradition as the themes of this short story.