Monday, March 16, 2015

Marina Dissinger- Literary Analysis

Marina Dissinger
Red Scarf Girl, Ji- li Jiang
Lit Analysis

How did the author use a particular literary technique (allusion, metaphor, imagery, symbolism, etc.) and what effect does this technique have on the reader?

Source
The book "Red Scarf Girl", by Ji- li Jiang, is an auto- biography, depicting the changes that the cultural revolution did to China. The focus of the revolution was to destroy the Fourolds, meaning old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas (BBC News). 

In this book, the author uses many literary techniques, like irony (the expression of one's meaning by using language that signifies the opposite) and metaphors (the comparison of two similar things without the use of "like"). However, the literary devise which is most used in the novel is imagery (descriptive or figurative language). This is used throughout the book, normally in the start of chapters or in critical stages os the book. One example is: "I did not want her to see me. I bent down and pretended to tie my shoelaces. But I could not block out her voice, dry, hoarse, and trembling." (Jiang, 46) This passage has imagery in it because one can imagine what the author is describing in their head clearly. 

This technique has a huge affect on the reader because one can imagine the story distinctly, and therefor understand it better. For example, the phrase "The flower is red" isn't intriguing, it is life- less. But, in contrast, the phrase "The flower has bright red pedals, almost like blood", has a deeper affect on the reader. One can clearly imagine the scene described, and therefor understand and enjoy the reading more.

2 comments:

  1. Marina,
    Great job on your post! I really think it was great. It was deep and descriptive, well done! The only thing I think you could improve on, though, is your lack of examples. I think only one example from the novel is too little. If you could add a few more, and describe them and interpret them with as much, maybe even more detail than you have on your current one, your post would greatly improve. It would show more expertise.

    Overall, great job! I think the picture you chose connected with your post, and you included lots of detail. But you could improve on your examples.

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  2. Marina,
    I agree with your response to the question. I really liked how you defined what some of the literary techniques were. I think you could make your post better by adding more in text citations from the book, of examples of the literary techniques. I think you should also add another picture to push our thinking forward.
    Overall, I thought your post was really good!

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