Passage In Joyce Carol Oates's 'We Were The Mulvaneys'

The typical perception of the “Roaring 20’s” is viewed as a glamorous and grandiose era. However, many are unaware of the realization of corrupt dealings concealed by the joyfulness and carelessness of this era. The idea of the 1920’s being an ideal time to have lived in is a matter that spectators have disagreed upon over the decades. In Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” he contradicts the typical perception of the “Roaring 20’s” by gloomy descriptions, a wistful journey, and a desperate trek to win over a “golden girl.”

In the novel, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, there are many passages that tend to be perplexing and difficult to understand, if not read closely by the reader. Although there are many passages in the novel that are compelling, the passage expressed by the deceased

The theme of the story is about the happiness in life so many people have numbed themselves to or feel as though they are forbidden to feel. Through the surprise and ironic death of the protagonist, Oates shows how easily that joy and happiness can disappear or be ripped away. The setting and theme of this story relates to our current society and how individuals within society feel entitled to extreme privacy and personal space and are unable to cope with stress, anxiety and the struggles of everyday life. Oates also depicts and how an invasion of this could trigger irrational reactions to something as small as a

In this excerpt from “The Beet Queen”, by Louise Erdrich, Mary and Karl Adare give the impression as diverse characters. The passage explores their retorts to their surroundings in the environment and of their perspectives around them during the time of depression. Erdrich uses literary devices such as tone, imagery combined with juxtaposition, selection of detail, and point of view to convey the impact from the environment.

Authors use literary devices so that the readers can connect and better understand the mood of the story. Bradbury in “The Pedestrian” uses a variety of lit devices to develop his mood of the story. Bradbury in "The Pedestrian" uses personification, simile, and imagery to develop the mood of loneliness so that the reader can see the dark world the character is living in.

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text 's major themes. One of the recurring themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye is the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs because of his reluctance to interact with the living world. As his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded by. Holden becomes increasingly attracted

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937) is an intensely-focused novella that deals with friendship, trust, the relationship between good and evil and the role of justice. It is the second book in Steinbeck’s trilogy about agricultural labour, alongside with In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

In We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates uses depressing tones, repetition, specific punctuation, and dismal imagery to emphasize the narrator’s thoughts and feelings about death. These literary devices not only help to do so, but they help to draw out the anxiousness Judd Mulvaney experiences. They also help show his maturity level, which is higher than most since he is able to accept his fate with death. Overall this passage teaches a lesson on maturity and helps the reader to become more aware of the fact that no one is

The Holocaust was one of humanity's darkest events and was the most devastating genocide in history. Even in the darkest event in history, there were those who didn’t give up hope and survived. One of these survivors was Elie Wiesel. He recounts the horrors he faced in Night, a retelling of what happened inside the concentration camp Auschwitz. Elie was only fifteen when he was deported in 1944. He tells the story about how he survived through the camps. With Night, Wiesel hopes that it can convince future generations to not make the same mistakes that were made which caused suffering and death. They often dealt with issues like starvation and selection. However death always loomed over them. Wiesel often uses words with dark connotations and meanings to describe the horror he experienced and to get his message across.

In the excerpt, Oates uses disorganized and unusual syntax to display the enormity of Judd’s revelation, thus alluding to his sudden awareness and depicting him as a young boy shocked by the brevity of life. As Judd comes to terms with the fact that one day he will die, he becomes disturbed by the reality that death is inevitable and his heart rate quickens. He interrupts his sentence to describe its rhythm: “ONEtwothree ONEtwothree!”. The sudden irregularity of his sentence and disruption of the natural flow of the piece conveys the chaos and distress Judd is experiencing as he digests his revelation. He does this multiple times, interrupting another sentence with the question “Am I going to die?”, and using sentence fragments, run-ons, and random, off-topic interjections. By using this writing style, Oates conveys Judd’s thought process. He is jumping from thought to

Although they lead different lifestyles, Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley both deal differently with death in Before the Birth of One of Her Children and To a Gentleman… the latter in a way that is more optimistic than the former.

The constant death that encircles Janie is a persistent reminder that no one can defend against their finite lifespan, so instead, death should not be feared, or fought in order for new beginnings to arise. The motif of death relates to the book as a whole because both Tea Cake and Jody fear death and try to avoid it, often emotionally and physically harming Janie to their dying breath.

He uses the metaphor “as still as if he would return to stone”. The audience knows the toad went to go lie down to die. Knowing the author was in war, the toad could be a soldier who got injured. In the third line of the second stanza the word “gutter” is used. The audience can predict the “gutter” could be a trench used in the war. So the soldier went to the trench to lie down and die. There is also another shift when the author says “and soundlessly attending, dies…”. In the last stanza, the audience can infer that the author is at peace with the death. He says “misted and ebullient seas and cooling shores, towards Amphibia’s empiries.” The audience can feel the relaxation. Also, the author symbolizes heaven by using “amphibian empiries”. That shows the author is relaxed about the death and the soldier, or toad, is in a better place. The audience can also infer the author has PTSD from war. The last sentence says “in the wide and antique eyes which still appear to watch across the castrate lawn, the haggard daylight steer.” This imagery lets the audience see that the author is probably sitting and remember seeing all the accidents that happened in the war. Also, the audience can use “antique eyes” and “haggard” to predict the old age of the author. The toad represents the soldier. But also it could reveal that the author gives dignity to death of all living

Everyone leads different lifesytles and varying experiences, but no matter how diffrering a humans life is, it all ends with death. The essay “The Death of The Moth” was published posthumously in 1942, a year after Virginia Woolf lost a battle with depression and mental illness, and at age 59 committed suicide. Virginia Woolf 's "The Death of the Moth" shows the audience the power of death through a short narration about everyday, yet very symbolic moth. Woolf uses her own experience of watching a moth die to apply it to a larger theme. Woolf connects a simple moths lifespan to paint a gorgeous picture of “life” and then destroys it right in front of the audience 's eyes, to leave a lasting impression of Woolf 's perception of life and death. With further analysis and a more in depth look at its message, it is an essay filled with literary devices, diction, detailed descriptions, and use of contrast that provide us with a clear perspective on Virginia Woolf 's acknowledgment of our ultimate destiny with death.

Imprisonment and constraint, can be felt in many different scenarios in the passage from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. However, we get these two feelings with a girl who is portrayed as an orphan in this chapter. When being an orphan many feelings can run through a person’s mind, for example abandonment and not feeling loved, or being/feeling trapped. The feeling of imprisonment and constraint in this chapter is expressed through the use of imagery and diction.