The Importance Of Figurative Language: Unbroken

Society is often content with adhering to orders and often don't question the true essence of what they’re being told. Plato ventured towards this issue within his famous “The Allegory of the Cave” by using rhetorical devices such as metaphors to illustrate his message. Plato explores the philosophy of society in a particular structure that forces the reader to ponder on the mindset of a blind individual who finally sees the light.

Most well written and descriptive stories use many disparate tools to make it better. The author of the story The Veldt used figurative language, imagery, and diction to foreshadow the tragic ending of the story. In the end the children use the lions from Africa to slaughter their parents ,and you can kind of guess that the children are planning something evil because of the descriptions and figurative language in the story. The children give off a very negative aura throughout the whole story that leads you to believe that something cynical is occuring.

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power.” -Patrick Rothfuss. Everyone in uses figurative language in someway, you could be writing a paper, yelling at your sister, or maybe just talking to yourself. But you use it in someway, shape, or form.

Life can really suck sometimes. It can give us the illusion that everything is going to go smoothly as planned, but then it surprises us with tragedy or rough, unexpected circumstances. It is during these times that we just don’t know what to do and feel hopeless. But hope is always there. Sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes it seems impossible to find, but there is always hope for any situation or circumstance.

Hoot, by Carl Hiaasan, in Florida, a teenage boy named Roy Eberhardt gets bullied on his way to middle school riding the school bus. Roy just moved there from Montana, so he has been having trouble making friends, and the fact that he has been targeted by the school bully, Dana Matherson, who loves to hector new kids, does not help. On this day, Dana is smashing Roy’s head into the bus window, and seeing as Roy can’t move he is forced to stare out of the window. He notices a boy about the same age running incredibly quickly, without shoes alongside the bus. Roy becomes curious of the boy, and vows to figure out who he is.

Helen Keller once said "...although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." This quotation means that in life, you come to find yourself in many struggles, but there is always a sense of accomplishment over such problems. The reason I agree with this quote is because such triumph can only be accomplished after the fact of the occurrence of a struggle. The realistic fiction book, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a perfect example of my interpretation of the quote. The author uses conflict, figurative language and characterization to show that this quote is true.

Enrique’s Journey is a real life story based on a son and his mother having to be seperated from one another due to the migration of the mother to the United State. Enrique’s mother Lourdes left Enrique in their hometown of Honduras at the age of 5, Enrique was devastated he could not handle the pain of being without his mother. After being separated from each other for 11 years Enrique was confident and gained all the strength inorder for him to reunite with his mother whether he has to make the dangerous odyssey of crossing through the border. Family abandonment leads to unimaginable repercussions. Lourdes reason behind leaving her family was to provide a better future for her children.

One example of figurative language in Laurie Hale Anderson’s book “Speak” is when Melinda decides to rid her garden of all weeds, and does some spring cleaning after it finally stops raining during May. Around the same time, Melinda is realizing that she wants to make some new changes in her life and in this figurative language example, Melinda’s life is her garden. She decides first to rake the leaves “suffocating the bushes” ; Melinda is ridding the demons from herself on the first layer of her skin. She says that she has to “fight the bushes (her problems)” and the bushes don’t like getting cleaned out but it is something one has to do if one makes

This quote begins the plot by creating the exposition. The narrator or speaker does this by explaining the setting of the Younger household, telling the audience which rooms are where and that they have lived in that space for many years. The narrator also gives personification to the objects such as the furniture around the house which makes them feel alive in a way. The time and place is also given which is the period after World War II in Chicago which may explain certain tones and language that the characters may use. Moreover, by telling the audience that many people live in the Younger household, other than themselves, and that they all share rooms or that their son sleeps in the living room, the audience can infer that they are not very

“In The Kitchen” by Henry Louis Gates, Jnr, has used many features of writing to construct, or more so to tell the story of the assimilation of black African Americans due to an increasing societal pressure, into an American lifestyle, a white lifestyle, and the erasure of black culture and identity, by carefully using many features of writing. Things like figurative language, idiom and register, and the tone of the writer himself, all contribute to the powerful, compelling story of, In The Kitchen. First and foremost, this is clearly a narrative. A retelling of Gate’s childhood, this makes the identity constructed within the story even more emotional and important, because it is the identity of Gates himself, a black American trying to fit

3 The story of “A&P” by John Updike adopts the uses of figurative language to embellish the critical moments of transitions of people’s lives, particularly in the life of Sammy. Updike utilizes crafts of plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, and symbol to constitute the story, and to project the idea of "life passages. " Also, Sammy undergoes a series of events that enables him to transition as a person in his life. 3

The unknown not knowing where you are, how you got there or the purpose of being there. The Maze Runner written by James Dashner, is a fictional novel based in the future. Dashner uses many literary devices to help portray his imaginative story, and paint a picture in the reader’s head. The characters are described in great detail and the reader can quickly imagine their personalities and appearance. The theme used is very basic but, is fully expressed throughout the book.

The song, “Someone Like You” by Adele uses many forms of figurative language, such as repetition, similes, and metaphors. Adele tells us that it can be callous to move on but it is always possible to find happiness again. The song is about Adele and another guy ending their relationship. She is not over him, but she is convinced she can be happy again without him.

Evolution has been present throughout the entire existence of Earth. Evolution takes form in many ways, and the development in our brains is not excluded from this process. “Cognitive science research shows our brains are wired to generate and understand metaphorical statements. Also, wired to REASON metaphorically.” Which begs the question why did we create this tool of speech we call Metaphors?

The stories of the World War Two air raids on Hamburg, Germany in the summer of 1943 has forever changed how the world views the Jewish race. The impacts they have had on the modern society’s recognition, views and beliefs of the horrific events have established a better understanding of what a Jewish Hamburger in the 1940’s had to go through during those times and how they had the will to survive. Marione Ingram’s ‘Operation Gomorrah’, relives an adult Jewish Hamburg looking back at their key childhood memories and constructs this survivalist identity through her use of textual form, figurative language, idiom/register and tone in her piece.