Definition of Hyperbole
Key Examples in A Retrieved Reformation
After Jimmy settles down in Elmore to build a new life with Annabel, he decides to give up his old life of crime and pass his burglary tools onto his friend Billy. In the letter Jimmy sends to Billy offering up his tools, he describes the changes that have happened in his life, using a series of hyperboles in the process:
“I’m making an honest living, and I’m going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now. It’s the only life, Billy—the straight one. I wouldn’t touch a dollar of another man’s money now for a million. After I get married I’m going to sell out and go West, where there won’t be so much danger of having old scores brought up against me. I tell you, Billy, she’s an angel. She believes in me; and I wouldn’t do another crooked thing for the whole world.”