Literary TermsThe Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Why is Jeannette’s glass castle more like a sand castle? (metaphor)

The glass castle represents the hopes of a positive future for the family. Those hopes can be represented in a sand castle because it can be built but it can easily be washed away, just like the children’s hopes are often washed away.

Figurative Language/Literary

Terms ReviewAlso known as descriptive

language, or poetic language, figurative

language helps the writer paint a picture in the

reader’s mind.

AllusionA casual reference in literature to a person,

place, event, or another passage of literature.Example: "Fluffy" -- the three headed dog

in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.In Greek Mythology, Cerberus guards the gate to

the underworld.  He is "a three-headed, dragon-tailed dog, who permits all spirits to enter, but none to return."

--  from Edith Hamilton's MythologyHunger Games names

ColloquialismA word or phrase used in everyday plain and

relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing.

Example: The opening line from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn

"You don’t know about me without you having read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter."

Colloquialism cont’dAnother example: The first

sentence of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

Hyperbole Exaggeration or overstatement for an effect.“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”“This test is going to take forever to finish.”

Now you write one:Begin with “My dog is so ugly…” and finish the sentence using hyperbole.

(example: My dog is so ugly we had to pay the fleas to live on him!)

IdiomAn expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language.

“tough nut to crack”

“piece of cake”

Now you write one.

Verbal IronyAn implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant

Example: From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Mercutio (Romeo's best friend) receives a wound which he calls “a scratch,” but he knows it is fatal.

SymbolUsing an object or action that

means something more than its literal meaning

Example: From The Glass CastleThe Joshua tree is a concrete object,

but it represents the abstract concept of family relationships and Jeannette’s life experiences.

Metaphor A comparison of two unlike things, but does NOT use the words "like" or "as".

“She was an ice cube before the heat kicked on.”“They are two peas in a pod.”

SimileA comparison of two unlike

things using the words "like" or "as".

“She is as cold as ice.”“The stars shine like

diamonds.”

Themethe general idea or insight

about life that a writer wishes to express

Example: From Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,:

“Even if one person stands up for what is right, when all others are against him or her, it can make a positive difference.”

Examples from The Glass Castle?

The AppealsAppeal to character: EthosTo make an argument that is a

persuasive appeal to someone’s moral and ethical nature.

Example: Charity commercials. “Just 5 cents a day will help end hunger in Africa.”

Makes you feel ethically/morally responsible for helping if the cost is so low

The Appeals cont’dAppeal to reason: LogosTo use rational thinking to persuade by

means of an argument “suitable to the case in question.”

Also known as rational appeal or logical proof

Example: Dr. Martin Luther King's speech

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.

The Appeals cont’dAppeal to Pity: PathosTo make an argument with emotional appeal

that targets the audience’s altruism and mercy.

Example: From Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle

“Quixote landed with a screeching meow and a thud, Dad accelerated up the road, and I burst into tears” (18).

Pathos cont.