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Motifs
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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Overgrown Drive:
Nature imagery is abundant in the novel, and du Maurier often combines it with personification. One striking example occurs in Chapter 1, in the narrator's dream about returning to Manderley:
Nature had come into her own again and, little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers. The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end. They crowded, dark and uncontrolled, to the borders of the drive. The beeches with white, naked limbs leaned close to one another, their branches intermingled in a strange embrace, making a vault above my head [...]. And there were [...] tortured elms that straggled cheek by jowl with the beeches, and had thrust themselves out of the quiet earth [...].
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Callous Countryside:
In Chapter 5, the narrator barely refrains from crying after Maxim gets angry at her for asking about his past. She uses personification and alliteration to help convey how she feels on their drive back to the hotel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Swiftly we covered the ground, far too swiftly, I thought, far too easily, and the callous countryside watched us with indifference.
Related Themes:
