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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—Likable Hotel-Keeper:
When the wife leaves her hotel room in order to go rescue the cat in the rain outside, she walks past the hotel-keeper. Here, the narrator captures her reaction to the hotel-keeper, using hyperbolic language and imagery in the process:
He stood behind his desk in the far end of the dim room. The wife liked him. She liked the deadly serious way he received any complaints. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her. She liked the way he felt about being a hotel-keeper. She liked his old, heavy face and big hands.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Wife’s Desires:
After the wife returns to the hotel room after failing to find the cat in the rain, she tells her husband George about the things that she wants, using imagery in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I want to pull my hair back tight and smooth and make a big knot at the back that I can feel,” she said. “I want to have a kitty to sit on my lap and purr when I stroke her.”
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Explanation and Analysis—Small and Important:
When the wife goes back up to her hotel room after failing to locate the cat she was hoping to save from the rain, she walks by the desk of the hotel-keeper (who she here refers to as the "padrone," or "boss" in Italian). In capturing the wife’s emotional experience in this moment, Hemingway uses imagery and a paradox:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As the American girl passed the office, the padrone bowed from his desk. Something felt very small and tight inside the girl. The padrone made her feel very small and at the same time really important. She had a momentary feeling of being of supreme importance.
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