composition week two

Rappaccini's Daughter is a story about a young man named Giovanni who takes interest in a girl named Beatrice. Beatrice is isolated from the outside world and unable to leave her home due to being contaminated by poisons from her father Rappaccini's garden. Rappaccini’s Daughter uses similes, onomatopoeia, and situational irony to help readers understand its many different meanings. One of the many literary devices Rappaccini’s Daughter uses is a literary device called a simile, which is a figure of speech that makes a comparison and shows the similarities of two dissimilar things. Similes are used in literature to provide better imagery. Commonly confused with a metaphor, a simile uses the words “like” or “as” to draw resemblance, while a metaphor states the resemblance without using “like” or “as.” One example of a simile in Rappaccini’s Daughter is when Beatrice says “‘Here am I, my father! What would you?’ cried a rich and youthful voice from the window of the opposite house; a voice as rich as a tropical sunset….” This example is comparing Beatrice’s voice to that of a sunset. The word ‘rich’ and the phrase ‘tropical sunset’ are used to denote that Beatrice’s voice is pleasant. Rappaccini’s Daughter also uses the literary term onomatopoeia, which is when a words imitates that of a sound, like cuckooing which is the imitation of a bird. One example of onomatopoeia is this quote: “A little gurgling sound ascended from the young man’s window….” (Hawthorne 1045) The word ‘gurgling’ is imitating the sound of something bubbling. Situational irony is a literary device in which the opposite of what the audience expects occurs. The audience is led to believe that Beatrice will recover after ingesting the antidote, but instead she dies from it. “Behold! there is a medicine, potent…. and almost divine in its efficacy…. It is distilled of blessed herbs. Shall we not quaff it together, and thus be purified from evil?” The opposite of what the audience thought would happen occured, as it was thought that Beatrice would be ‘purified’ after drinking the antidote.

Love in L.A is a short story on a self-centered man’s encounter with a young woman named Mariana. This short story uses many literary devices to convey a certain feeling throughout the story, such as irony, cacophony, and imagery. One literary device that is used in Love in L.A is irony, which is when a narrator conveys meaning that is opposite to what is being said. One use of irony in Love in L.A is when Jake tried continuously to get Mariana’s phone number, but he knowingly provided her with a false phone number, so he wouldn’t contact her anyway. “He considered giving a real phone number but went against that idea and made one up…. ‘So how about your phone number?’ He was rebounding maturely. She gave it to him.” (Glib 4) It’s peculiar that Jake wants Mariana’s number but didn’t give her his own number, almost as though he doesn’t intend to call her at all and doesn’t want her to call him. Cacophony is another literary device used in this short story, which is a figure of speech in which authors use words or phrases that sound harsh or jarring to make uncomfortable imagery. “He pounced the brake pedal and steered the front wheels away from the tiny brakelights but the smack was unavoidable.” (Glib 1) The words ‘pounced’ and ‘smack’ sound very harsh when said aloud, and can be considered cacophony. The word ‘smack’ can also be considered onomatopoeia, as the word imitates the sound of a slap or hard blow. The literary device imagery is also prevalent is the story. Imagery is where the author uses numerous literary terms such as metaphors, allusions, and similes to create a visual of the story. An example of imagery in Love in L.A is the description of the character Jake sitting in heavy traffic. “Jake slouched in a clot of near motionless traffic, in the peculiar gray of concrete, smog, and early morning beneath the overpass of the Hollywood Freeway on Alvarado Street.” (Glib 1) This description provides an image of a man sitting in his car whilst in traffic, underneath an overpass, with polluted air overhead.