As the story begins aboard the yacht headed for the Amazon, Richard Connell makes use of hyperbole to set the mood, establish his style, and whisk the reader away to the dark Caribbean night.
In all cases, hyperbole is used to introduce important environmental details that are relevant to the story. When introducing Ship-Trap Island, Whitney emphasizes the sinister character of the place and observes that even their captain—“who’d go up to the devil himself and ask him for a light”—expressed considerable fear of the place. Approaching the devil for a light is obviously not meant as a literal statement, but it nonetheless emphasizes Captain Neilsen's courage and, in turn, the extent to which Ship-Trap Island is shrouded in fear and mystery.
Later in the same conversation, Whitney once again uses hyperbole to describe the ocean's stillness as they sail past the island: “there was no breeze. The sea was as flat as a plate-glass window.” By using a hyperbolic simile to compare the still sea to smooth glass, Connell is able to articulate the specific feel of the ocean. When Rainsford is shortly thereafter flung overboard, it is this very stillness that saves him from being dashed onto the sharp rocks of Ship Trap Island’s shore.
Rainsford’s fall comes after he loses balance while straining to see the Island through the peculiar darkness of the Caribbean night. Sure enough, Connell again employs hyperbole to convey just how dark the night feels to Rainsford. “It’s so dark,” Rainsford remarks, “that I could sleep without closing my eyes; the night would be my eyelids—”. Here, hyperbole strengthens the visual imagery of darkness—darkness so dark that it feel like nothingness.
