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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
Part 1, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Eminent Peril:
In Part 1, Chapter 7, Sal moves in with a writer friend, and he describes the situation with two literary allusions.
The following ten days were, as W. C. Fields said, "fraught with eminent peril"—and mad. I moved in with Roland Major [...] We each had a bedroom, and there was a kitchenette with food in the icebox, and a huge living room where Major sat in his silk dressing gown composing his latest Hemingwayan short story—a choleric, red-faced, pudgy hater of everything, who could turn on the warmest and most charming smile in the world when real life confronted him sweetly in the night.
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Part 1, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Denver to Frisco:
In Part 1, Chapter 11, Sal describes his journey to San Francisco with a stream of consciousness style that emphasizes the speed of his travel and the associations he has with the American cities he sees. His imagery illustrates more about the time of day and weather in the places he drives through than any specific characteristics of the cities themselves.
Unlock with LitCharts A+The bus trip from Denver to Frisco was uneventful except that my whole soul leaped to it the nearer we got to Frisco. Cheyenne again, in the afternoon this time, and then west over the range; crossing the Divide at midnight in Creston, arriving at Salt Lake City at dawn—a city of sprinklers, the least likely place for Dean to have been born; then out to Nevada in the hot sun, Reno by nightfall, its twinkling Chinese streets; then up to Sierra Nevada, pines, stars, mountain lodges signifying Friso romances [...]
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Explanation and Analysis—My American Continent:
When Sal climbs a mountain in San Francisco, toward the end of Chapter 11 of Part 1, he describes what he sees with personification, imagery, and metaphorical language.
Unlock with LitCharts A+And before me was the great raw bulge and bulk of my American continent; somewhere far across, gloomy, crazy New York was throwing up its cloud of dust and brown steam. There is something brown and holy about the East; and California is white like washlines and emptyheaded—at least that's what I thought then.
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Part 2, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—To Live and Go:
In Chapter 1 of Part 2, Sal describes with personification and metaphors a changed and, according to him, more mature Dean.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Fury spat out of his eyes when he told of things he hated; great glows of joy replaced this when he suddenly got happy; every muscle twitched to live and go.
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Part 3, Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Angel of Terror:
Sal describes yet more of Dean's skilled but irresponsibly fast driving in Chapter 9 of Part 3. His description involves a simile, a metaphor, and precise verbs that allow the reader to imagine Dean's eager yet deliberate maneuvers.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Dean came up on lines of cars like the Angel of Terror. He almost rammed them along as he looked for an opening. He teased their bumpers, he eased and pushed and craned around to see the curve, then the huge car leaped to his touch and passed, and always by a hair we made it back to our side as other lines filed by in the opposite direction and I shuddered. I couldn't take it any more.
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Part 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Long Red Dusk:
In Chapter 1 of Part 4, Dean shows Sal a picture of Camille, then takes out more photos. These pictures send Sal into a reverie about the way people in the future will interpret the photos of his present. With metaphors and personification, Sal describes his reflections, first on the photographs, then upon Dean's departure.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Dean took out other pictures. I realized these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered, stabilized-within-the-photo lives and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot of our actual lives, or actual night, the hell of it, the senseless nightmare road. [...] Dean walked off into the long red dusk. Locomotives smoked and reeled above him. His shadow followed him, it aped his walk and thoughts and very being.
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Part 4, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Moon:
In Chapter 4 of Part 4, Sal describes another road trip with Dean and Stan. The three men are headed to Mexico, which means they must drive through Texas. Sal describes the sights of their drive with imagery and personification.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Across the immense plain of night lay the first Texas town, Dallhart, which I'd crossed in 1947. It lay glimmering on the dark floor of the earth, fifty miles away. The land by moonlight was all mesquite and wastes. On the horizon was the moon. She fattened, she grew huge and rusty, she mellowed and rolled, till the morning star contended and dews began to blow in our windows—and still we rolled.
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