Literary+Devices


 * Symbolism:** The deliberate and artful use of symbols, objects actions or characters meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher more complex meaning. For example, the white suit of Santiago as representing his role as a sacrifice.


 * Plot:** The careful arrangement of incidents by an author in a narrative to achieve the desired effect.


 * Imagery (Mickey):** Language that causes the arousal of a visual inpression in the reader to further pronounce a point or theme made by the author. An example of imagery is in __Chronicle__ of the steamboat which is visually shown to be old and have less grandeur than it was years ago. This image is created by Marquez to illustrate his point that Christianity is a ritual in his created society and that no one follows it for a reason anymore, just because they followed it before.


 * Tone (Mickey):** The attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character. For example, in __The Stranger__, Mersault is represented as a serious, but ironic character, as his death is a result of his murder, or he is killed because he kills someone else.


 * Short sentences (Female Sam):** The structure of sentences which give the tone of the novel. For example, in __The Stranger__, Camus uses short sentences to minimize the feeling and emotion from Meursault to emphaisis the meaningless of life.


 * Theme (Female Sam):** The theme is the message the author wants the readers to know about the novel. For example, in __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__, Marquez shows the theme that the society was hypocritical through its religion, family relationships, and religion.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold__: //“the boat was lost from view and all that remained was the uproar of roosters”// (page 19) alludes to the Holy Bible, when Peter denied Jesus 3 times, the roosters uproar could be heard all over town.
 * Allusion (Brian):** is a indirect brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or from fiction, or to a work of art. It may be drawn from history, geography, literature, or religion.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold__ //"the boat let off a shower of compressed steam as it passed by the docks//" (pages 18-19)
 * Consonance (Brian):** the repetition of the same consonant sounds

Example: __Metamorphosis__ Kafka’s use of metaphor can be seen through Gregor changing into a giant insect in order to cast him as vermin, representing societies views on the lower classes of society.
 * Metaphor** **(Sean):** a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.

Example: __The Stranger__ (pg 68) "But in order for that to happen a man must repent and in doing so become like a child whose heart is open and ready to embrace all." Camus is comparing a sinful man to an innocent child in order to convey Mersaults need to receive the grace of religion.
 * Simile (Sean):** a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold__: The characterization of Pura Vicario is somewhat two-sided because the reader can see her personality as different to that of some of the characters within the novel. //(p46) Then [Bayardo San Roman] kissed Pura Vicario on the cheek and spoke to her in a very deep, dejected voice, but with great tenderness. "Thank you for everything, Mother," he told her. "You're a saint." Only Pura Vicario knew what she did during the next two hours...etc. etc..."...with such rage that I thought she was going to kill me," Angela Vicario told me.// - Bayardo San Roman calls Pura a saint and treats her like one, showing her the deepest respect and referring to her with the title of "Mother" to portray her as a kind, loving figure. However, the next lines describing Pura's actions show the reader that she is not at all a saint, but is vicious and brutal, even beating her own daughter behind the backs of the rest of the family.
 * Characterization** **(Mel):** The development of the personality of a character. Methods of characterization include what the character reveals about him/herself, what others reveal about him/her, and the character's own actions.

__The Stranger__: The story is told through the first-person perspective of Meursault, which gives the reader the deepest possible insight into the character's mind and this can convey Camus' meaning very effectively. //(p41) ...I couldn't see any reason to change my life. Looking back on it, I wasn't unhappy. When I was a student, I had lots of ambitions like that. But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered. That evening Marie...asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn't make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't love her. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn't really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married.// - Seeing from Meursault's perspective, the reader can understand Camus' suggestion that human social constructs like careers and marriage are pointless in the end. Meursault's indifference to Marie's proposal opens up the idea that there really is no point to getting married because marriage is only a social construct imposed by other people. From Meursault/Camus' perspective, we can ask, "Why get married? Is it going to help me in any way? Does it really matter at all?" One can accept the view that it might just be a waste of time for humans to bother with a mechanical lifelong career and marriage, because in the end we die and will have wasted our lives on what matters only in the eyes of other people as opposed to what we as individuals want to do.
 * Perspective/Point of view (Mel):** The position from which events are being viewed/told in the text.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold__: Prostitution is a motif in Marquez's novel. This of course means that there are more than one passages to use as examples for this motif; two of them can be found on pages 74 and 88. Marquez uses prostitution to highlight the hypocrisy of his fictional society. Though men constantly seek prostitutes' services, Santiago Nasar is condemned for allegedly having sex with Angela Vicario before her marriage. The prostitutes are even glorified, as seen by the description of Maria Alejandrina Cervantes on page 88 (ironically comparing her to a "houri," a Muslim term that means a "holy virgin"). The prostitutes may in fact be the "purest" of the people in society, since they generally exist outside of society's apparent expectations and simply obey carnal desires.
 * Motif (James)**: a recurring thematic element in a literary work

__The Stranger__: "The light shot off the steel and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at my forehead. At the same instant the sweat in my eyebrows dripped down over my eyelids all at once and covered them with a warm, thick film. My eyes were blinded behind the curtains of tears and salt. All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead and, indistinctly, the dazzling spear flying up from the knife in front of me" (page 59). The diction ("flashing," "crashing," "dazzling"), similes ("it was like a long flashing blade"), and metaphors ("cymbals of sunlight") all sum up to one very intense description. The resulting hyperbole helps the reader understand the severity of Mersault's condition at that moment, and tries to help the reader understand why Mersault fired the gun at the Arab.
 * Hyperbole (James):** an extravagently exaggerated statement or description. In literature, this is usually used for emphasis or vivid descriptions.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold:__ Used throughout the book by Marquez to show how the characters downplay or cover up what is blatant and, in the process of doing so, delude themselves into thinking what they are doing is not necessarily wrong. Examples: “Barbarous work of death” - instead of “murder” “Childhood accidents”- instead of “premarital sex”
 * __Euphemism__** **(Chris)**: the substitution of a mild, indirect, vague, or favorable expression for one thought to be offensive, inauspicious, harsh, or blunt.

In __The Stranger__, Camus uses a rather slow and repetitive rhythm to illustrate Meursault’s indifferent and stoic view towards life. For example, the rhythm remains unchanged even in 2 significantly different events:- Meursault’s mother’s funeral, and when he goes to the movies. However, the rhythm quickens in scenes such as when Meursault is on the beach, about to kill the Arab. Descriptions such as “throbbing blood” provide a climatic feeling, and emphasize the //physical// aspects of that scene.
 * __Rhythm__** **(Chris)**: can be defined as the patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound, speech or imagery. In novels we cannot enumerate rhythm; we can only describe it qualitatively.

__The Stranger:__ “I was just about to tell him to go, to leave me alone, when all of a sudden, turning around he //burst// out, ‘No, I refuse to believe you! I know that at one time or another you’ve wished for another life.’” (119) The onomatopoeic word “burst” describes how the Chaplain releases all of his emotions upon Meursault, which further escalates his exasperation.
 * __Onomatopoeia (Michael Chen):__** **A word which imitates the sounds associated with the object or action. Onomatopoeia words provide both visual and auditory imagery.**

__The Stranger:__ “I am on your side. But you have no way of knowing it, because //your heart is blind//.” (120) The Chaplain condemns Meursault for Meursault’s close-mindedness and inability to accept religious values, shown through the phrase “your heart is blind.” Dramatic irony is shown by how, though the Chaplain condemns Meursault, he himself is hypocritically confined to his own religion: no other belief but his own faith is acceptable or tolerable. Though the Chaplain believes that he is reasonably trying to open Meursault’s eye’s, as readers, we understand that the Chaplain himself is close-minded and unable to tolerate other beliefs.
 * __Dramatic Irony (Michael Chen):__** **Discrepancy between the character’s knowledge and the reader’s knowledge of what is true. The truth is understood by the reader, but is not grasped by the characters.**

Well, could this have to do with the possible idea of the "alfa-male" of the family which creates a power struggle between the males of the family?


 * Religious Allusion (Erik):** Brian defined allusion somewhere up there...and anyways if you don't know what it is get out of HL. Anyways just wanted to point out how the author can convey meaning through the use of religious allusions/imagery when describing something not usually associated with church. Ex: Marquez's "apostolic" description of Maria Alejandrina Cervantes. There is definite irony in this description as she is considered extemely sinful by the church. However, all the men in the town who claim to buy into this religious ideology are all taking advantage of her trade anyways. It is also ironic that she might be considered to fit this religious description better than the townspeople because at least she is not hiding it; keeping it secret.


 * Imagery? (Erik):** Wasn't quite sure what to call this one but I thought it was important to mention the way in which Camus describes in depth the physical sensations and reactions of Meursault (this is highly evident in the scene directly leading up to the murder). This is an important literary device used by Camus as it reinforces the idea that Meurault's actions are actually primarily reactions driven by his physical urges and sensations.


 * Flashback (Frances):** A bit in the story when the author takes the reader back in time to events that occurred before. This adds to the structural elements of plot, and is used often in Chronicle to describe events of Nasar's death while at the same time telling th e narrator's investigation of the crime years later. The effect that Marquez's choice to do this creates is of a complex story that implies an incomplete confusion, a parallel to the mystery surrounding Nasar's death and why it was not straightforwardly prevented or dealt with.


 * Jxtaposition (Frances):** To place two things close together for a contrasting effect. For example, in the Chronicle chapter dealing with the lawyer (48), when Marquez places the obvious declarations of guilt by the Vicario brothers next to the court's decision ruling them to be innocent. There is also a juxtaposition in the phrase "the court declared in good faith" because of how Marquez points out that a justice system is not supposed to be connected to faith or religion, it is supposed to rule according to logic and rights.

__Chronicle of a Death Foretold:__ Marquez illustrates hypocrisy in the society through irony in his novel. Example: "Santiago Nasar and I, with my brother Luis Enrique and Cristo Bedoya, went to María Alejandrina Cervantes' house of mercies." (page. 45, MY BOOK) The society believes that females should not sleep with anyone until marriage, yet the men go to a whorehouse to sleep with women like it is normal after a wedding. Marquez further illustrates his message of hypocrisy in the society through the mayor, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, where he encourages others that it is acceptable sleep with women. As a mayor, he is a very high rank in the hierarchy which cause people look up to him, yet he encourages the men to take the value of virginity away from the women which is against the beliefs of society.
 * __Irony (Pinky)__****: an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant**

__The Stranger:__ Camus creates Meursault as the central figure in the novel to emphasize his message that there is no point to the activities we do in life. Meursault is unlike the traditional protagonists we see in novels these days and it is questionable whether he is actually a hero or not. In some cases, Meursault can be seen as an anti-hero, which is a protagonist who lacks heroic traits. Camus creates Meursault with an unusual personality where he is detached and emotionless from the world, and takes actions without real motives. His traits in the novel may cause readers to perceive him as an outcast in a world of conformists, or simply just another slave to our society.
 * __Protagonist (Pinky)__****: The main character, who is not necessarily a hero.**

eg. __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__: The most obvious one would be the physical conflict between the Vicario brothers and Santiago Nasar where the brothers physically attack and murder Nasar. Also, it could be said there's an internal conflict within the Vicario brothers because they don't really want to kill Nasar but social expectations force them to.
 * CONFLICT (Crystal):** the struggle found in fiction. It may be internal or external and is best seen in (1) Man in conflict with another Man, (2) Man in conflict with Nature, or (3) Man in conflict with Self.

eg. __The Stranger__: "The sea gasped for air with each shallow, stifled little wave that broke on the sand." (p.57)
 * PERSONIFICATION (Crystal):** giving human qualities to animals or objects.

“Bayardo San Roman, the man who had given back his bride, had turned up for the first time in August of the year before: six months before the wedding. He arrived on the weekly boat with some saddlebags decorated with silver that matched the buckle of his belt and the rings on his boots.” (pg. 27 ,__Chronicle of a Death Foretold__) This literary device usually interrupts the text and plot of the story with an incident that occurred earlier in the story to give additional information of a character or event to the reader. Marquez uses this technique in the context of this novel in this passage to provide an image that Bayardo is wealthy and therefore has an amount of power in this village that the villagers treasure and find important.
 * Flashback (Jamie):**

“Santiago Nasar put on a shirt and pants of white linen, both items unstarched, just like the ones he’d put on the day before for the wedding. It was his attire for special occasions.” (pg. 3, __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__) This technique provides hints and clues of what will happen or parts of the novel that are usually unseen or will happen in the future. Marquez uses this in this passage to foreshadow the fact that Santiago is actually innocent—“white” clothing—so that the reader can understand that Santiago is innocent and the village is run on social rules which leads to Marquez’s theme.
 * Foreshadowing (Jamie):**