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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—Smiley’s Gambling Habit:
When trying to explain to the narrator the extreme nature of Smiley’s gambling habit, Wheeler uses hyperbolic language, as seen in the following passage:
“If he even see a straddle-bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to—to wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road […] Why, it never made no difference to him—he’d bet on any thing—the dangdest feller.”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Andrew Jackson’s Grip:
When Wheeler is describing the fighting tactics of Smiley’s bulldog (named after the United States president Andrew Jackson), he uses a hyperbole, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“And a dog might tackle him and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson […] would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn’t expected nothing else […] and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog jest by the j’int of his hind leg and freeze to it—not chaw, you understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year.”
Related Themes:
