Sunday, March 15, 2009

week 3 literary elements

In order for me to be satisfied with my post on the literary elements in the book I scanned backwards to page 51. First off I wanted to make sure no one had the same example of my popular literary element. I chose the metaphor because it is my favorite. The reasons are that it is subtle and involves thought. Also metaphors compare two nouns in a usually more sophisticated way than similes. My example of a metaphor was n page 51, and referred to the “biznessman” as “a refined piece of bad news now hovering over her…”(51). Not only is there a metaphor but the comparison made also serves as foreshadowing. The word choice of “bad news” is the foreshadowing part that this man will bring upheaval to the company, which he doles out in doses. The metaphor between the serious man and the bad news shows the author’s intent to inform the audience that the secretary had intuition enough to know that this man would soon bring trouble, well adventure, to the firm. The ensuing action can easily be connected back to him later and this is the key phrase that promotes a revelation. At first I did not notice this foreshadowing at all, only after coming back and rereading the area around when he showed up did I notice this key phrase. The metaphor was so subtle it was easily overlooked.

2 comments:

  1. The way your describing it makes the quote sound a lot more like a descriptor as opposed to a metaphor. A metaphor is a comparison of two things completely unrelated. However, the attachment of the "bad news" statement seems a lot more like connotation related to the arrival of a businessman. When the businessman is introduced into the story, the reader is already thinking of him as bad news, and that in turn eliminates the possibility of the statement being a metaphor. Metaphorically speaking, that is. :P

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  2. I agree that we already think of the business man as bad news, which eliminates the foreshadowing. I still think that although this quote may not be a metaphor, it still shows how the author has expertly crafted these descriptions.

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