Exclamation

Linguists have distinguished between eleven and fifteen dialects. Most of the variations are clustered in geographical areas: Northern, North-Central, Central and Southeastern. The American enunciation of the !Kung would simply be “Kung”, but the exclamation point at the beginning of the word indicates a click. Most non-native and non-scholars leave out the…

In this selection from Frederick Douglass' 1845 autobiography, the third paragraph stands out from the rest of the passage due to differences in its construction. Douglass' use of syntax and figurative language set this paragraph apart and reinforce Douglass' demonstration that although slavery would leave the reader to "behold a man transformed into a brute" (16-17), slaves were not animals but men, with thoughts and desires of their own. The third paragraph is distinguished from the rest of…

In Act two, scene one of Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, audience can see contrasting use of the elements of lightness and darkness. It is obviously apparent in words, as well as rooted in the deeper meanings of metaphors and connotations. The use of these contrasting elements help the audience better understand Barabas’ relationship with his daughter in the sense that she is often represented with descriptions of light. As the passage continues however, it becomes more and more obvious that the…

‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is an American classic of the Gothic fiction, first published in 1843 by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe combines his own lifetime experience of bereavement, human despair and troubled human relationships into one disturbing, yet engaging first-person narrative told by an unreliable narrator. Poe’s use of first-person narration is essential to enlightening the audience as the narrative exemplifies an internal monologue of the disturbing mentality of a man who claims to be “sane.”…

Silver Wands I was lost at sea. I was swimming in my own thoughts and emotions without a shoreline in sight. My path, usually bathed in warm sunlight, was now washed with deep grays and blacks. The ticking of the clock, pens clicking, feet tapping, desks squeaking; everything was amplified. I tried to calm myself, to slow down my breathing. My sweaty palms could barely grip the pencil. My mind could not comprehend anything I read. My ears were met with the shrill sound of the bell just as my…

Individuals who have transitioned and experienced growth have undergone changes and been confronted with obstacles which they must overcome and in doing so, provides them with new insights and new knowledge regarding growth and development. Successful transitions are evident in Stephen Daldry’s film ‘Billy Elliot’, Hans Christian Andersen’s story ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and Anthony Browne’s picture book ‘The Piggybook’, where the themes of support and finding of one’s identity, societal values and…

modernity that he lived throughout his life which he found dehumanizing. In chapter 2 of Studies of Classic American Literature, D. H. Lawrence spends 13 pages criticizing the aspirations of Franklin’s self-perfection. Lawrence starts with the exclamation “The Perfectibility of Man!” (Lawrence, pg. 9). Lawrence sees the idea of being perfect as an unreachable goal. Which man inside us are supposed to perfect? What forms of education are we supposed to engage in? Who is the ideal man that we…

Reading it this way forced the question, “Are you—Nobody—Too?” to sound inquisitive and have a tone of disbelief, leaving the line open-ended in order to ponder the shocking existence of another “Nobody”. Immediately following this, the use of exclamation points encourages the reader to speed up their pace, pushing the remaining two lines of the stanza together due to the tone of excitement. I read the first line of the second stanza in a similar fashion to the second line of the first stanza,…

During the early years of the twentieth century, the United States propelled itself into The Great War after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. Approximately thirty-seven million people became casualties of the war whether wounded or killed in support of their nations marking The War to End All Wars a traumatic event for a majority of the world. For some, this experience was far worse than for others, and this war introduced the global populace to what is known as shell shock.…

Another major factor in how my voice was shaped is my family. Both my mom and my brother put together the initial impetus for my voice’s journey. During my high school years my brother was in university and was not often present within my home. He’s always been very outspoken and loud. A common joke my family likes to make about him is that he’s “sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but never in doubt.” I think that is what first squished my voice down into the land of the hesitator. Since my…