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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Thousand Homicides :
When Mr. Compson hands Quentin a letter, written from Charles Bon to Judith Sutpen, he uses a metaphor and hyperbole when comparing those who lived in the 19th century to those in the present day:
Yes, for them: of that day and time, of a dead time; people too as we are and victims too as we are, but victims of a different circumstance [...] not dwarfed and involved but distinct, uncomplex who had the gift of loving once or dying once instead of being diffused and scattered creatures drawn blindly limb from limb from a grab bag and assembled, author and victim too of a thousand homicides and a thousand copulations and divorcements. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps any more light than this would be too much for it.”
As Quentin reads the letter, Mr. Compson compares the past and the present. Those who lived in the past, he claims, were "uncomplex" and "had the gift of loving once or dying once." Here, he is likely thinking of Judith, who never attempted to remarry after the death of Charles. In contrast, Mr. Compson states that those who live in the present days are "diffused and scattered creatures" who are "drawn blindly limb from limb from a grab bag and assembled."In this metaphor, he espouses the view that those who lived in the past had a clear sense of family, community, and identity, whereas those living in the 20th century have a weak sense of identity because they are not rooted to once place and are not closely tied to their families.
Lastly, he claims that those living in the modern world are "author and victim too of a thousand homicides and a thousand copulations and divorcements." In this clearly hyperbolic claim, he suggests that modern life is marked by criminal behavior, promiscuous sexual behavior, and divorce. There is, however, a clear sense of irony in his claims in this passage. The story he tells about the Sutpen family involves homicide, family abandonment, and bigamy, despite taking place in the 19th century.
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Lightless Womb:
While discussing her own difficult childhood, Rosa uses an extended metaphor that imagines her adolescent years as a protracted state of being in the womb of her mother:
I was fourteen then, fourteen in years if they could have been called years while in that unpaced corridor which I called childhood, which was not living but rather some projection of the lightless womb itself; I gestate and complete, not aged, just overdue because of some caesarean lack, some cold head-nuzzling forceps of the savage time which should have torn me free, I waited not for light but for that doom which we call female victory which is: endure and then endure, without rhyme or reason or hope of reward—and then endure; I like that blind subterranean fish [...]
Here, Rosa informs Quentin that she did not have a conventional childhood. Because of the early deaths of her parents and her isolation from other members of her family, Rosa feels that she did not experience a typical adolescence but rather a "projection of the lightless womb itself." Here, she uses clear hyperbole, exaggerating her own sense that she missed out on childhood and suggesting that she spent those years in the womb rather than developing from childhood to adulthood. Through this metaphor of prolonged gestation, Rosa underscores her sense of herself as having missed out on key stages of adolescent development due to factors outside of her own control.
