Log in
English
7
answers
1
watching
531
views

What tool does Twain use in this excerpt from his autobiographical narrative to make it interesting?

18- I lit in the middle of the floor, shot there by the electric suddenness of the surprise.

A. Character Description

B. Imagery

C. Dialogue 

Watch
7
answers
1
watching
531
views

For unlimited access to Homework Help, a Homework+ subscription is required.

Unlock all answers

Get 1 free homework help answer.
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share
Already have an account? Log in
Share

Related questions

         from Life On the Mississippi

                by Mark Twain

 

The Boy's Ambition

1 - When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village [Hannibal, Missouri] on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboat man. We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns; the first negro minstrel show that came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of life; now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboat man always remained.

2 - I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a tablecloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me; later I thought I would rather be the deckhand who stood on the end of the stage-plank with the coil of rope in his hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But these were only day-dreams,—they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities. 

 

What tool does Twain use in this excerpt from his autobiographical narrative to make it interesting?

1 - When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns;

A. Repetition

B. Imagery 

C. Dialogue

3. Write a short phrase or sentence from page 1 that demonstrates imagery. Explain HOW it demonstrates imagery being specific as to which sense.

Excerpt From The Soloist by Steve Lopez
Preface
1     I'm on foot in downtown Los Angeles, hustling back to the office with another. deadline looming. That's when I see him. He's dressed in rags on a busy downtown street comer, playing Beethoven on a battered violin that looks like it's been pulled from a dumpster.
2     "That sounded pretty good, " 1 say when he finishes.
3     He jumps back three steps, eyeing me with suspicion. 1 see the name Stevie Wander carved into the face of the violin, along with felt-pen doodles.
4     "Oh, thank you very much," he says, obviously flattered. "Are you serious?"
5     "I'm not a musician," I answer. "But yes. It sounded good to me."
6     He is black, just beyond fifty, with butterscotch eyes that warm to the compliment. He is standing next to a shopping cart heaped over with all his belongings, and yet despite grubby, soiled clothing, there's a rumpled elegance about him. He speaks with a slight regional accent I can't place. Maybe he's from the Midwest or up near the Great? Lakes, and he seems to have been told to always stand up straight, enunciate, carry, himself with pride and respect others.
7     'I'm trying to get back in shape," he says. "But I'm going to get back in there, playing better. I just need to keep practicing."
8     "So you like Stevie Wonder?" 1 ask.
9     "Oh, yes, certainly, 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life.' 'My Cherie Amour.' I guess I shouldn't have written his name on my violin, though."
10    I write a column for the Los Angeles Times. The job is a little like fishing. You go out and drop a line, cast a net. I'm figuring this vagrant violinist is a column. Has to be.
11    "I'm in a hurry at the moment," I tell him, "but I'd like to come back and hear you play again."
12    'Oh, all right," he says, smiling appreciatively but with trepidation. He looks like....
39- By degrees, however, Tom brought him to business, and they began to haggle about the terms on which the former was to have the pirate's treasure. There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favors; but there were others about which, though of less importance, he was inflexibly obstinate. He insisted that the money found through his means should be employed in his service. He proposed, therefore, that Tom should employ it in the black traffic; that is to say, that he should fit out a slave-ship. This, however, Tom resolutely refused; he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not tempt him to turn slave-trader.
 
40 - Finding Tom so squeamish on this point, he did not insist upon it, but proposed, instead, that he should turn usurer; the devil being extremely anxious for the increase of usurers, looking upon them as his peculiar people.
 
What literary device does Washington Irving use in the following lines from "The Devil and Tom Walker"?
Paragraph 39: There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favors...
A. foreshadowing
B. imagery
C. flashback
 
 

Weekly leaderboard

Home
Homework Help 3,900,000
English 6,000
Start filling in the gaps now
Log in