Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery it transforms these situations with an almost poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices:
• Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really is.
For example Garbage to them is gold.
• A Metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we can say that a metaphor “transfers” a quality of one thing to another. For example The road was a ribbon of light.
• A simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words “like” or “as”. For example: As white as snow.
Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary device in each example?
(a) Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.
(b) Drowned in an air of desolation.
(c) Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
(d) For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders, it is a means of survival.
(e) As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make.
(f) She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
(g) Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
(h) Web of poverty.
(i) Scrounging for gold.
(j) And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
(k) The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders.
(a) Irony
Irony represents a contrast between how it should be and the reality. Here, Saheb’s name is in contrast with his real life.
(b) Metaphor
It’s a metaphor since it uses ‘drown’ with ‘air’ which are ideas that are not very similar.
(c) Antithesis
Two contrasting ideas, i.e., the periphery of Delhi but miles away from it, is used in the same sentence.
(d) Antithesis
Here, two opposite ideas, i.e., what garbage means to the children and what is means to the elders is put together in one sentence to show the contrast. Hence, the figure of speech used is the antithesis.
(e) Simile
The word ‘like’ is used to compare two things.
(f) Pun
A pun is used here to give two meanings, the literal meaning and the inherent meaning.
(g) Pun
Here a pun is used to give a different sense of the words ‘Few airplanes fly over Firozabad’, i.e., to show the poverty of those residing here.
(h) Metaphor
Here, a metaphor is used to describe poverty in terms of a ‘web’, i.e., poverty is described in terms of a feature of the web.
(i) Metaphor
It’s a metaphor since it uses ‘scrounging’ with ‘gold’ which are ideas that are not very similar.
(j) Hyperbole
Here, rag picking is described as a fine art, i.e., it is written in a way that sounds more exciting. Hence, it’s a hyperbole.
(k) Paradox
Here, the sentence appears to contradict itself, i.e., ‘steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag’