Laughing In The Hills Analysis

Superior Essays
In life, many individuals are faced with issues or a difficult situations that they handle by occupying ourselves or just trying to ignore them. Though no matter what we do at one point or another in our lives we have to face the truth and overcome the pain it that it may bring. The introductory paragraphs of “The Centaur” and “Laughing in the Hills” supports the theme that one day we will encounter human conditions and face universal truths. The authors use first actions/descriptions, pairings suggesting power, repeated words and ideas, and literary devices to not only intrigue readers but also to guide them into uncovering the deeper messages. The impressions from “The Centaur” and “Laughing in the Hills” relate, because in “The Centaur” …show more content…
The short paragraph of “The Centaur” had an extensive amount of repetition, highlighting certain important aspects, such as “Laughter” (lines 2,5,6,16), “Pain” (lines 2,8,9,12,13), “Privacy” (twice in line 7), and “class” (1,5, maybe 15). “The Centaur” also displays imagery through the use of a metaphor throughout the text in its explanation of laughter referring to the arrow, and the crowd against him which makes him crave privacy away from the pain. The use of repetition and imagery centers the main idea, by showing emotions and reaction to the situation that Caldwell was experiencing. Cadwell felt enclosed by pain and embarrassment from the classes laughter. This once again forced him to face the truth as he describes facing truth, as an arrow filling him with this stinging pain and embarrassment. The truth is so powerful that he leaves the room craving privacy from the students mocking him. Similarly in the short introduction of “Laughing in the Hills” it repeats “Cancer/disease” (lines 2,5,17,19), “Family/we/us/our” (lines 13,19,20) “slippage...slipping” (lines 3,13) “Take the sun” (lines 15,16). “Laughing in the Hills” projects several hints of imagery within its tone using words such as lost, failed, dead, nothing, slipping, wrong, and increasingly emphasizing that none of these words are positive at all. In addition, it refers to mountains giving way to flatlands, suggesting that the once powerful mother who was a ruler over her kids had fallen and lost her control and power because of this strong disease. They also talk about lawns brittle with frost and the feeling of her fingers. These phrases lead readers to uncover more information about the passage that directs them to the message. Throughout the introduction, there were many words and phrases with repeated ideas and imagery that gave a negative connotation. The repeated phrases emphasis on the idea of their mother

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