Ji-Li Jiang
Chapters 3-5
Rhetorical Question- "Who would have believed that our entire educational system was wrong after all?" (pg.38) I think this literary device created a great opening to the chapter as well as a hook. The opening line makes you wonder about the rest of the chapter and if the first sentence is boring you feel like the rest of the chapter will be un-entertaining as well. The opening line makes you wonder why Ji-Li says the educational system was corrupt.
Simile- "The row of tall parasol trees that lined the inside the inside of the school yard was festooned with more da-zi-bao, hanging like flowers from the branches" (pg. 39) I think that the way the author used this simile made the reader picture how many da-zi-bao the students were creating and the revolutionary spirit that was in the air.
Personification- "The characters danced before my eyes..." (pg. 49) The literary device symbolizes that the words Ji-Li is seeing is flashing in her brain and making her only think about the bad things the students wrote about her.
Flashback- "I looked around the room one more time before I left, and Du Hai's jeers seemed almost as far behind me as the day I had been elected da-dui-zhang. This literary device tells how Ji-Li is moving on from the days when she was a school role model and into the world of unknown middle school.
Hi Brantley,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job finding literary devices throughout the three chapters we read. I noticed that one of your examples was a simile. I can connect to that part, because in quizzes, I used to always get confused about similes. However, after reading your example, and the reason why you think the author uses them, I feel like I can understand them better. From now on, I will remember your blog post and the quote you added. On the other hand, rhetorical questions are very easy for me to spot. I think this is because you just need to scan the page for a question mark. I love personification, because I can picture the objects do actions. My mind fills with all sorts of images of inanimate objects doing different activities. I think you found a good flashback, but you could have explained a little more what it was about. All in all, thank you for clearing my understanding of different literary devices!
Mary