The Chrysalids By John Wyndham: Literary Analysis

Question 1) Figurative language Foreshadowing: “Look! Look at this fire! This terrible fire! Have mercy on me! Pg.25”

Did you know that authors use many different literary devices to tell a story? A literary device is a technique writers use to make their stories unique and interesting. Literary devices like simile, metaphor, suspense, personification, allusion, irony, foreshadowing, and imagery are used in lots of stories. In the short story ¨The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell uses literary devices such as suspense and simile to help the reader gain a clear understanding of the story. In this essay, I will provide two examples of literary devices used throughout Richard Connell’s short story.

"The Poet’s Occasional Alternative" by Grace Paley and ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art’ by Dylan Thomas are poems which portrays writing as an arduous and under-appreciated form of art. In "The Poet’s Occasional Alternative", the speaker’s disillusionment with the poor reception of his poetry is exacerbated by the contrasting attention his pie receives, while the speaker in ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art’ reveals his motivations for persevering in his writing despite the lack of attention it receives. Both poems illustrate how the act of writing receives little attention from the masses and is thus an unappreciated form of art. In "The Poet’s Occasional Alternative”, the speaker likens the process of writing poetry to that of making a pie with starkly different results. The pie is described to “already” have a “tumbling audience”, and these expressions show how the pie is able to garner a substantial and excited following with ease, even from “small trucks” which are inanimate objects, presumably toys.

Think Question 1: Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. How does the author of “The Monkey’s Paw” use foreshadowing in the first chapter to suggest that the spell placed on the paw might not bring happiness to whoever possesses it? Cite textual evidence from the selection to support your answer. Response 1: W. W. Jacobs uses foreshadowing in "The Monkey 's Paw" by having Sergeant-Major Morris recount his experience with the monkey’s paw. After Herbert asked Morris if he already requested his three wishes, Morris replies with, “‘I have,’...and his blotchy face whitened” (Jacobs).

Do the titles Divergent, The Giver, and The Hunger Games sound familiar? It’s no surprise if they do because these books are some of the most popular utopian turned dystopian books to date. The utopian/dystopian genre reached its greatest peak around 2013! But... why? Why is the general audience in love with the type of theme shown in Harrison Bergeron, another utopian/dystopian story written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961?

When reading a novel, readers do not often realize that many authors use the same types of characters and symbols. Applying a literary lens to a novels can help readers better understand why a novel was written. A literary theory is, “A term for analyzing, classifying, defining, interpreting, and evaluating literature” (Davidson). When observing a piece of literature with an Archetypal lens analysts can identify these patterns. According to Literary Devices, “In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action, or a situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature” (literarydevices).

Within the Exeter Poems there is The Seafarer, The Wanderer, Wife’s Lament. In these three poems they have a theme about what the person that the poem revolves around. In The Seafarer he is very dissatisfied about how his life has gone. In The Wanderer there is a lot of sadness about what has happened in his life that has caused him to now to be all alone. When reading Wife’s Lament she is saddened by all that has happened to her.

Foreseeing the Future Foreshadowing was used by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein to achieve her goal of making the reader predict what will happen. The first form of foreshadowing the reader notices is when Walton says to Victor, “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge” (11). This foreshadows the disasters that will face Victor as he experiments and tries to find the unknown. Then, Victor says, “Let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips?” (12).

In Mark Twain’s short story “The Story of the Good Little Boy” he describes a little boy being good by trying to make the bad little boys became good resulting in himself being bad. Twain's real name is Samuel Clemens and he worked at many jobs when he was eleven to help support his family when his father died. He was trained to be a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River and piloted boats professionally. This story is about Jacob Blivens who always obeys his parents and was a good boy who studies books and school. His Sunday-school book is his guide to became a good little boy when he tries to help the bad little boys to become good but it always got him in trouble.

Robert Browning was a popular English poet, whom gained prominence during the Victorian era for his dramatic monologues. ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ are some of Browning most popular works, as readers are drawn in by his exploration of the blurred lines between control, love and mental instability by using subtle techniques such as his choice in the form of poem and satire. Browning is able explore the controversial idea of control, in such a conservative age, by using the form of dramatic monologue which is “regarded as the most significant poetic innovation of the Victorian age” (Allison Chapman). Within dramatic monologues, the speaker inadvertently reveals their thoughts and information surrounding the plot. In ‘My Last Duchess’, the speaker is a Duke who although tries to paint himself as a loving husband, actually exposes himself as a jealous man who tried to control his late wife, to no avail.