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Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—The Kid From Tomkinsville:
To capture his childhood impression of the Swede, the narrator describes the Swede's bedroom and reflects on the books in his bookshelf. Both the imagery of the bedroom and the literary allusion reinforce the narrator's view of the Swede as an all-American boy.
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Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Cheer:
Early in the novel, the narrator captures the community's collective adoration for the Swede by describing the special cheer the Weequahic cheerleaders have for him. The imagery, simile, and hyperbole in this description contribute to the character's expositional characterization.
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Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Newark Entombed:
Throughout the book, the characters are preoccupied with what they perceive as the permanent downfall and decay of Newark. Roth reinforces this by way of metaphor and imagery in Chapter 5, when the narrator describes the city's deserted old factories as tombs and pyramids.
As the Swede drives through the old industrial district of Newark on his way to find Merry toward the end of Chapter 5, the narrator paints a vivid picture of his ominous surroundings:
Unlock with LitCharts A+These were the factories where people had lost fingers and arms and got their feet crushed and their faces scalded, where children once labored in the heat and the cold, the nineteenth-century factories that churned up people and churned out goods and now were unpierceable, airtight tombs. It was Newark that was entombed there, a city that was not going to stir again. The pyramids of Newark: as huge and dark and hideously impermeable as a great dynasty's burial edifice has every historical right to be.
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