Rhetorical TermsMrs. Cole

Kascha Sanor4th hour

Climax

    We can use this word and definition on all lengths of writing, from a sentence to a novel. A climax is a intence moment created with the order of the words, or events. To Clarify, moments or ideas are arranged in order of importance.     This could also be a clash between forces, or a beginning to a resolution. It is the big bang of the story. 

Examples of a Climax - Fairy Tales! 

http://www.learner.org/interactives/story/climax.html

This website, made for a four year old, was my favorite but in mature terms examples could be ...

The rescue team finds the flood survivor. 

The war has its deadliest battle that leads to peace. (The big Bang.) 

When the orphan meets her dad for the first time after years and years of looking and waiting. 

Sentence - "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Christ

    Climax should be in every writers tool box. Absolutely. Authors use it to help define the meaning or the point of what your trying to give a reader. It's the wow factor, it's what keeps a piece moving and keeps interest. Also, it is something to build up to, and something to come down from with words and actions. Or it can be the moment when everything changes.

 

Literature! To Kill A Mockingbird - The trial of Tom Robinson. If you remember, Atticus had been defending the African American Tom Robinson even though society and the time period disagrees. When the climax hits, in the court, it's a moment of extreme tension and it's when all the loose ends and fights come to one point in one moment. Once Tom is accused guilty, the Finchs' lives and morals change for the better, the confusion between father and son is solved and soon after the resolution follows. A well rounded and tight-knit family. Peace Like A River - This novel is all about the Land family, and their trying search for runaway Reuben, who is seen as both a murderer and a hero. The climax is when Rueben is shot and sent to the 'other world'. This climax holds tension and excitement for the readers that has been built up from the very first chapter of the novel. Later comes the resolution, of Father negotiating with God for Reuben to live. 

You have climbed to the max, this is the climax. 

 Chiasmus

    Grammatical reppition to play up the diffrence in meanings of the same words. For example, the first phrase is repeated in a diffrent order. Mostly its a clash between two points. 

    Named after the greek letter X 'chi" 

EXAMPLES

"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." - Cormac McCarthy.

"I flee who chases me, and I chase who flees me." -Ovid.

"My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington." -Obama.

"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear negotiation." -John Kennedy. 

Chiasmus. 

Adds a balance to writing, between first and second half or the sentence or meaning. (Not specific to the sentence) 

Using Chiasmus stresses the repeated words and is a bold way of proving a point. It holds strength and meaning.

Although chiasmus is used in literature, it's most famous use is in speeches, mainly presidential speeches. However, I find presidential speeches really don't click with my memory, so here I have listed a few examples from the Bible. 

"But many that are first, shall be last, and the last shall be first."- (Matthew 19:30)

"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, least they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart." - (Isaiah 6:10) 

    It's the important words that are stressed, and the important words that remain in memory and thought.

Chiasmus

Criss - Cross