RHETORICAL & LITERARY DEVICES

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Ms. L Guy

GROUPING AND MEMORY

• Here are the names of 12 cars
• Tesla Nissan Altima
• Mercedes Cadillac Escalade
• Volkswagen Jetta Lincoln Navigator
• Volvo
• BMW
• Porsche
• Fiat
• Lexus
• Ford Explorer

HOW MANY OF THE CARS DO YOU REMEMBER?

GROUPING AND MEMORY

• Here is the listing again:
• Tesla Nissan Altima
• Mercedes Cadillac Escalade
• Volkswagen Jetta Lincoln Navigator
• Volvo
• BMW
• Porsche
• Fiat
• Lexus
• Ford Explorer

GROUPING AND MEMORY

• Can you think of any groups that you can devise for the cars and assign them to those groups that might help you remember all 14?

POTENTIAL GROUPINGS

• SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle)
• Sedans
• Luxury Cars
• Italian Cars (or my country of manufacture)

OVERVIEW

• Now, use the thinking to respond: : What is the following object called? What does it do? What is it good for? What purpose does it serve?

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MY CATEGORIES

ELEMENTS OF PLOT

• SETTING
• CONFLICT
• CHARACTERS
• CLIMAX
• THEME
• TURNING POINT
• POINT OF VIEW

• We are going to use the same thinking to better learn literary techniques.
• Simile Symbol
• Plot Imagery
• Characterization allusion
• Rhyme personification
• Metaphor character
• Irony protagonist
• Narrator hero

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MY CATEGORIES

• Like yourself, I group literary techniques and rhetorical in categories to help me understand them in a meaningful way. Since we typically look for, and grasp patterns, I divided the list you had into categories based on patterns that I noticed as well

THE CONTRADICTIONS (IRONICALLY SPEAKING)…

Are often about seeing truth in contradictions.

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Contradictions are about gaps in perception.

CONTRADICTIONS

• Irony-discrepancy between expectation and result
• Litotes—understatement pay more attention to the small
• Paradox—apparent contradiction
• Oxymoron—is a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit:
• Antithesis (also in another area)—balanced opposites

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Irony…….

• Contradictory statements or situations reveal a reality that is different from what appears to be true.
• What is the contradictory reality in Oedipus?

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Three major types

Verbal Irony–Contrast between what is said and what meant. (hint..if the speaker knew more, they might not say what they said….)

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Irony…..

Dramatic Irony:

The reader of a text is aware of situations that the actual characters are not aware of…..therefore readers are left in a state of suspense or conflict until the characters come to know what the audience already does.

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Situational: The outcome is different from what is expected.

Irony

Explain the irony in each of the following taken from Oedipus….

“I come to see it with my eyes, no messengers..” (5)

“I know too well, you are all sick, yet sick not one so sick as I.” (7)

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“So I have heard….A man I never saw…”

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“Then I’ll go back and drag that shadowed past to light…”(11)

I’ll break this plague…

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For who knows, tomorrow this selfsame murderer may turn his bloody hands on me.

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The cause of Laius is therefore my own…..(11)

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Irony…..

COMPARISONS

• Metaphor
• Extended Metaphor
• Simile
• Personification
• Allusion
• Extended Simile
• Metonym
• Synecdoche

THE COMPARISONS SHOW HOW SOMETHING IS RELATED TO SOMETHING ELSE…

METAPHOR: MY LOVE IS A BLAZING FIRE

�������METAPHOR COMPARES TWO DIFFERENT THINGS BY SPEAKING OF ONE IN TERMS OF THE OTHER. UNLIKE A SIMILE OR ANALOGY, METAPHOR ASSERTS THAT ONE THING IS ANOTHER THING, NOT JUST THAT ONE IS LIKE ANOTHER. VERY FREQUENTLY A METAPHOR IS INVOKED BY THE TO BE VERB:

GLOW

BURN

WARM

ALLUSION-CAN EXPLAIN, CLARIFY OR ENHANCE WHATEVER SUBJECT IS UNDER DISCUSSION, WITHOUT SIDETRACKING THE READER.-

• “Ya know, I just can’t stop him from talking. He just seems to babble all the time!

Babble is actually a Biblical allusion to The Tower of Babble (Babylon) in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Babylonians wanted to build a tower so high it could reach God. They worked at it, but then God confounded their language; hence people could no longer understand each other. They babbled.

An allusion is a reference to a person, place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize. The top three allusions are to Greek & Roman Mythology; The Bible; and Shakespeare. The allusion makes a comparison between that object and its comparison.

SIMILE

• A Comparison saying/implying that something is “like” something else, using the words “like” or “as”. A comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. In formal prose the simile is a device both of art and explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some familiar thing (an object, event, process, etc.) known to the reader. When you compare a noun to a noun, the simile is usually introduced by like:
• I see men, but they look like trees, walking. --Mark 8:24

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• After such long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the houseplant looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.

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• When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used: They remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.

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• Here is your pencil and paper. I want you to compete as the greatest hero would in the race of his life.

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PERSONIFICATION

• Personification--metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and abstractions can also be personified.

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• While personification functions primarily as a device of art, it can often serve to make an abstraction clearer and more real to the reader by defining or explaining the concept in terms of everyday human action (as for example man's rejection of readily available wisdom is presented as a woman crying out to be heard but being ignored). Ideas can be brought to life through personification and objects can be given greater interest. But try always to be fresh: "winking stars" is worn out; "winking dewdrops" may be all right.

SETTING

• Setting: the time, place and social circumstances/conventions of a novel, play and text.

SETTING

• Setting includes time, place, social situations/customs/conventions that govern behavior.
• Think of the setting as what holds a ring into place. Great metaphor for a story. The Setting holds the elements of the story in place.

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What rules might govern behavior in each of the above settings?

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CHARACTERS

• The actors in a story or text. Characters may be personified entities, animals, qualities of character..
• Characterization is the method of analyzing and categorizing characters. Some labels include: protagonist; antagonist; foil character; major character; minor character;
• When we analyze a character we look at his or her actions; words; inner thoughts, relationships to others, reputation. We look for both patterns and discrepancies

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POINT OF VIEW

• THE POINT OF VIEW FROM WHICH A STORY IS TOLD AFFECTS HOW WE AS READERS UNDERSTAND THE EVENTS THAT OCCUR.
• POINT OF VIEW/NARRATION
• FIRST PERSON
• OMNISCIENT
• THIRD PERSON-LIMITED

CONFLICT

• Conflict in Literature is when forces collide. These forces can be internal or external. Often conflict in literature places the main character in some conflict with the values of his or her society.

USING OUR LENSES

• When reading a novel, its is also helpful to apply different lenses or perspectives to that novel, or the events that happen in it. In our next novel, Things Fall Apart, events that happen in the novel can be viewed in many ways, leading to a richer interpretation.

VIEWING IDEAS FROM MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES…

MYTHOLOGY OF THE APPLE

• HOW CAN AN APPLE BE VIEWED THROUGH A MYTHOLOGICAL LENS? IN WHAT WAYS DOES AN APPLE APPEAR IN MYTHOLOGY?
• Position: Mythological or archetypal criticism attempts to identify patterns, characters, and images that evoke deep universal responses in readers. Unlike psychological criticism that examines the conscious and unconscious dimensions on an author’s psyche, mythological critics interpret the hopes, fears, and expectations of entire cultures. Myths can explain cultural perceptions of nature, phases of life, values, and beliefs, and comparative mythology tracks recurrent patterns which occur in many different cultures. Mythological critics look for these patterns, or archetypes, in literature. These universal symbols evoke the universality of human experience, including initiations, scapegoats, meditative withdrawals, quests, rebirths, and feats of skill, courage, or magic.
• Considerations: Mythological criticism can reveal the appeal of some literature and seem irrelevant to other works. Attempts to force archetypes can distort a work and lead to commentary with questionable relevance.

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HISTORY OF THE APPLE

• Position: Literature expresses the values, issues, and concerns of the age which produced it. Literary historians go beyond the biographical information which focuses on the author, and instead consider the work in its historical context, including historical events, attitudes, social roles, and expectations of authors, literature, and readers. New Historicism emphasizes the gap between a literary work’s historical context and a modern reader’s understanding of that period, however limited or distorted that understanding might be. These critics emphasize the difference between a contemporary audience’s response and a modern reader’s response to an event, a character’s actions, or a literary approach to a subject, implying that a work exists in more than one historical context.
• Consideration: Literature reflects its period, but the image it produces may be distorted. Literature is not history, and to assume that it simply presents historical truths is a disservice to both literature and history.
• WHAT MIGHT THE HISTORY OF THE APPLE INCLUDE?

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SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM�

• Two critical approaches, Marxist criticism and feminist criticism, examine social groups, relationships and values reflected in a literary work. Marxist criticism emphasizes the social milieu, especially economic issues and social injustices. Marxists have seen literature as a means of advancing their social and political goals; thus, they comment upon the degree to which a literary work fits their ideology, especially in its assumptions about race, class, and power. Feminist criticism examines the social relationships in a literary work, an author’s life, or the context of a work in terms of the patriarchal social forces in the culture. In feminist criticism, attitudes toward women, the pressures on female characters, and the image of women which the work presents are all relevant critical issues. This approach also examines the power relationships of institutions which treat men and women differently or which have oppressed women.
• Considerations: Literature often transcends propaganda. Insofar as sociological criticism clarifies a point of view or motivation, it offer a valuable perspective. If it serves propaganda more than critical inquiry, it becomes a political tool irrelevant to literary criticism.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM�

• Position: Psychological approaches to literary criticism use the theories of Sigmund Freud to explore the motivations of characters and the symbolic meanings of events. Psychological explanations for the writer’s motivations and the reader’s responses to a work are also open to analysis. The critic considers dreams, unconscious desires, and sexual repression within the context of the Freudian view of the id, ego, and superego. According the psychological criticism, a literary work is an expression of the conscious and unconscious needs, desires, ambitions, frustrations, and resentments of the author.
• Considerations: To deny a writer the power to imagine and create diminishes literary art. All literature has a psychological dimension and relates to the emotions of both the writer and the reader. However, these emotional elements are not a case study, nor are they necessarily deviant or bizarre, even if the author’s lifestyle has been unconventional. Psychological delving may not illuminate the work.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

• AS WE READ AND ANALYZE THE NOVEL THINGS FALL APART, WE WILL USE THE LENS TO EXAMINE THE EVENTS IN THE STORY AND DISCOVER LAYERS OF SIGNIFICANCE.