Descriptive Language

Research Paper

Descriptive language is a literary tool used by many great writers. We clearly see this in the stories “Boys & Girls”, “Cat in the Rain”, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and the poem “A Far Cry from Africa”. Through the use of metaphors, imagery, similes and symbolism, the authors present their issues more effectively. We see that in all these stories, descriptive language is used to demonstrate how a characters identity predicament can lead to overall crisis.

“Boys & Girls” by Alice Munro is about a girl that struggles against societies ideas of how a girl should be. She tries to become the opposite of the conventional role that society has set in place for women but is in many ways restricted. Critic Marlene Goldman writes, “This image of the enclosure and the concomitant distinction between inside and outside (indoor and outdoor) recur throughout the text.” I would agree with this quote. We see in the story that women are kept on the inside where they are restricted as oppose to the outdoors, which in many ways represent freedom. While the girl loved the work outside she hated to do the �woman’s work’ inside. She disliked her mother for making her do it, and believed that her mother only made her do it because she didn’t like it. She didn’t like anything about this work. “She hated the hot dark kitchen, and thought that work was endless, depressing and unimportant.” Her yearning for the outside represents her need for freedom. She is trying to escape the world that society has set in place for her.

“A Cat in the Rain” is, on the surface, a simple tale of an American couple in Italy. However, the reader soon realizes that this uncomplicated story illuminates much deeper meanings. This seemingly mundane plot becomes symbolic and purposeful under the reader’s eyes. We see that it is about a woman trying to find her identity in terms of a problematic relationship. Clarence Lindsay, a critic, says, “Cat in the Rain is Ernest Hemingway's subtle exploration of this American romantic quest for identity.” This is true, as we see many times throughout the story. Hemingway with his use of descriptive language shows the way the American women long for her identity. When Hemingway writes, “The American wife stood at the window looking out. Outside right under their window a cat was crouched under one of the dripping green tables. The cat was trying to make itself so compact that it would not be dripped on. "I'm going down and get that kitty," the American wife said.” Here we see that the cat represents the women and her relationship with her husband. As we all know cats detest water. Here the water represents everything that was destroying her and her relationship. Her trying to save the cat was her trying to save herself and her relationship.

“A Far Cry from Africa” was written by Derek Wolcott. Walcott discusses the conflict between his loyalties to Africa and to Britain in his poem. The title of the poem emphasizes Walcott's cultural instability as it implies a type of alienation from Africa, despite its concentration on African themes. We see in the poem the many tribulations gained due to a lack of self identity. Critic Paul Breslin writes, “Walcott, divided to the vein, cannot bring himself to condone the terrorism of the Kikuyu during the Mau Mau rebellion, even though he condemns the British colonialism against which the Kikuyu fight. We see here how a person is divided and unable to choose sides. Walcott writes "I who am poisoned with the blood of both, /where shall I turn, divided to the vein?" We see here that Walcott is unable to identify with one particular background, thus creating dilemmas and sense of isolation.

In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, he tells of an old man who is daydreaming while he is driving his wife to get her hair done. The theme, although it may seem hidden, is of Walter Mitty's quest to be in control of his life and to gain his own identity. By day dreaming of situations in which he feels