All the Light We Cannot See Literary Devices

Definition of Personification

Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition

Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition

Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition

Explanation and Analysis—The Radio:

In Section One, Doerr again uses personification as a means of characterizing the radio, affording the machine both agency and presence:

Is it any wonder, asks the radio, that courage, confidence, and optimism in growing measure
fill the German people? Is not the flame of a new faith rising from this sacrificial readiness?

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Explanation and Analysis—Mouth of the Country:

In the following excerpt from Section One, Doerr engages in the common literary technique of personifying countries. In this instance, he personifies the country of Germany, ostensibly united under Nazi rule:

Seven days a week the miners drag coal into the light and the coal is pulverized and fed into
coke ovens and the coke is cooled in huge quenching towers and carted to the blast furnaces to
melt iron ore and the iron is refined into steel and cast into billets and loaded onto barges and
floated off into the great hungry mouth of the country.

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Explanation and Analysis—Voice of the Reich:

In the following excerpt from Section One, the narrator meditates on the use of radio in Germany. It is a uniting force, albeit with sinister connotations, that Doerr chooses to personify:

Radio: it ties a million ears to a single mouth. Out of loudspeakers all around Zollverein, the
staccato voice of the Reich grows like some imperturbable tree; its subjects lean toward its
branches as if toward the lips of God. And when God stops whispering, they become desperate for
someone who can put things right.

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All the Light We Cannot See: Personification 3 key examples

Definition of Personification