Maxine Clair Literary Devices

Childhood is a time of joy, a time of curiosity, and a time of carefree life. When destroyed, this is devastating to individuals, as no longer can any of their actions be taken without fear of injuring themselves, others, or both. As one gets older or experiences traumatic events, childhood is lost, which leads to the loss of curiosity and joy, which was an idea highlighted in Maxine Clair’s “ Cherry Bomb”. In the short story “Cherry Bomb”, Clair utilizes the literary techniques of epithets, conversational tone , and color symbolism in order to characterize the narrator's childhood and to further the theme of lost childhood and efforts to regain connections to it.
Throughout this short story, epithets are used throughout to highlight the heavy, hopeless atmosphere. Words such as “heavy coats”, “raggedy mounton”, and “cave-dark closet” emphasize this atmosphere by using words associated with the dark and lack of hopelessness. Especially prevalent in the paragraph lines 34 through 49, the use of these negative descriptors creates a suffocating tone, which reflects the suffocation of her childhood due to the death of her mother. In the rest

When negatively impacted, children lose hope for the future, which scars them for life. Clair understood this loss of childhood, which she wrote in her short story “Cherry Bomb”. While the circumstances faced by the narrator is deplorable, she also held onto her childhood through the Cherry Bomb, a gift that represents the shred of human kindness reflecting the good nature of society. Through this gift, Clair shows that while as humans may lose belief that there is good in the world, there is always a way to find good individuals and aspects of life that help us succeed. By showing this ability to see kindness, the narrator remembers her childhood more nostalgically than one would originally believe, as seeing this kindness reaps positivity in