Annie Proulxs The Shipping News Characterization, Figurative Language and Imagery free essay sample

In The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, readers can imply that the protagonist has lived a treacherous life onto which he wishes to set change upon, but cannot see the dear light of opportunity. Quoyle is an aging man, who is still learning to separate his feelings from his personal life. He wallows in misery, as day by day passes; however, he cannot help but wonder why nothing can seem to make sense to him. Annie Proulx uses characterization, figurative language and imagery to contribute to the overall meaning of the story. In the opening of the story, Quoyle is shown to be a cowardly, gutless, lump of a man, who is a failure at everything that is thrown in his life’s path. The story shows that the protagonist cannot do anything to bring his horrible life up to a decent stand point. His life has been in the deep end ever since he was a young boy. We will write a custom essay sample on Annie Proulxs The Shipping News: Characterization, Figurative Language and Imagery or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In paragraph 6, it gives a description of what he looks like. â€Å"A damp loaf of a body. At six he weighed eighty pounds†¦. The monstrous chin, a freakish shelf jutting from the lower face. † His description shows that he was always big and hulky. He is appalled by his own appearance, especially his massive chin that is ever so prominent on his face. Because of his imperfections, he became very self-conscious of himself. Quoyle just wants to hide himself from others because he is too afraid of that others think of him. He gives up on life, since he feels as if he does not deserve anything and cannot accomplish anything. Nothing was possible to him; nothing would help him become better. No matter what, he seemed to be very shy, embarrassed and ashamed of his body and entire life. Quoyle is just trying to go with what is thrown at him, no matter the consequence. Figurative language is used in the story to exemplify the meaning of the author’s purpose. As the story progresses, figurative language is constantly added upon. In paragraph 2, the author uses food to compare to his eating habits. â€Å"He ate prodigiously, liked a ham knuckle buttered spuds. † Quoyle’s eating habits are not just stupendous, it is particularize and detailed as what he eats is extremely specified. Quoyle was a progressive eater, as more disasters enter his life, the more ways he has to find to cope with his surroundings. One of those methods is eating and eating helps him escape from the superficial theories of the world. Although he gains nothing from indulging in his misery of cramming food into his systems, he happens to gain more ease with himself. He knows that he will no longer be thin again, which is why he ends up giving up in life. Another piece of figurative language used in paragraph 6 is, â€Å"Features as bunched as kissed fingertips. † That phrase means that Quoyle is extremely large to where his body has plenty of extra skin and fat. It is an exaggeration of how obese the protagonist is. Imagery is expressed in this story by giving vivid mental photographs of the situation and details of whom and what Quoyle was. It is very easy to picture what Quoyle looks like as the Proulx uses plenty of figurative language and literary devices. In paragraph 3 where he is constantly thrown into the water by his father, â€Å"And Quoyle feared water, could not swim. Again and again the father had broken his clenched grip and thrown him into pools, brooks, lakes and surf. Quoyle knew the flavor of brack and waterweed. † In this phrase, it is simple to see how Quoyle was being shoved, pushed and harassed into the water by his father. It is a straightforward image where Quoyle is scared and terrified of water because his body would not allow for him to be buoyant. He was abused and forced to go against his easy-going ways of life. He was changed and scarred as a young boy. Since then, all he wanted to do was â€Å"cherished the idea that he had been given to the wrong family† in paragraph 8. Quoyle was seen as a failure in ambition and ability because his failure superseded everything he has have ever known. He was a prodigy at what always went wrong. In paragraph 5 where he is taunted by his brother, â€Å"Snotface. Ugly pig. Warthog. Stupid. Stinkbomb. Greasebag. † There you can imagine him cowering from his brother. Hiding from the rest of the world because he could not stand the taunts and mocking from others. Quoyle can be described and seen in vivid detail as Annie Proulx used characterization, figurative langue and imagery in the story The Shipping News. Our protagonist has been criticized, taunted and forced against his wills to conform to others. He does not understand that he is unique, different in many ways. Failure is not an option and Quoyle needs to understand that no matter how hard times may be, he can always change it. Nobody should follow success because success should follow your path.