The Dark Alley

Authors note:

This short response is showing my understanding of figurative language. I used different colors to show the figurative language and under the text I wrote a short response about how the figurative language changes the mood in this piece written by Rachel Rosencrans.

The dark alley slowly started to get smaller and smaller.  What little light remained, was dissolving faster than she could move.   She walked, forward, not a doubt in her mind.  But her mind was wrong.  Her mind had not a sliver of sense.  She continued, forward.  Down the alley she went.  One step at a time.  Thump. Thump.  Her feet carried her into the darkness.  She knew not where she was going, but had faith.  She had faith that things would be better this way,  everything would hurt less this way.  A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back, but she had to keep going, forward.  She walked until death was looking her in the eyes like the monster it was; but she was not afraid.  She walked until she could see nothing.  She walked until she could hear nothing but her own two feet and the beating of her heart.  Then, she stopped.  She stopped moving forward.  She stood still for what seemed longer than an eternity.  She stood until she saw a glimpse of light. It began to grow.  Bigger and bigger, faster and faster it came. One step, one step she took forward.  One step forward into the light. 

What little light remained, was dissolving- This is a Personification because if your standing in a room the light would not literally be dissolving it may be getting darker but not actually dissolving

Her mind had not a sliver of sense-  This is a metaphor because is talking about her mind as if it was something else this can also be seen as a personification because your mind doesn’t actually have slivers of sense

Thump. Thump. - This is an onomatopoeia because you can hear the sound in your head as you read the piece and the words sound like the action taking place.

Her feet carried her- This is a personification because it is giving feet the ability to carry you when really that's not possible. It gives a human trait, feet, an inanimate ability, carry.

A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back-  This is a personification because a cool brisk wind can’t actually try to hold you back

Death was looking her in the eyes- This is a personification because death was looking her in the eyes but death cannot really look anyone in the eyes, death doesn't even have eyes

Death was looking her in the eyes like the monster it was- this is a metaphor because it uses like to compare death and a monster. 

she stopped.  She stopped moving forward.  She stood still for what seemed longer than an eternity.  She stood until she saw a glimpse of light.- This is an Alliteration because you can feel the rhythm of the sentences as you read it because  it repeats to make rhythm, she stopped, she stopped, she stood, she stood, you can see the rhythm.

One step, one step she took forward.  One step forward into the light. – This is an anaphora because it is repeating the phrase “One Step” over and over again.

The figurative language in this piece changes the tone a lot. The use of personification and the word choice makes the readers see a dark place. As you read you don’t picture a warm happy place.  When you read the first line, “The dark alley slowly started to get smaller and smaller” it immediately gives you a grim and sad feeling. As you read on the writer uses a metaphor to give you a sense of a girl not knowing what’s going on as the light is slowly dissolving. These first few lines make you feel like there’s a place that is dirty and dark and maybe a lost girl who feels like the world is caving in on her.  The onomatopoeia followed by the personification really gives you a feeling of the girl being lost and maybe something is chasing her while she is trying to find her way in this scary dark world. “Her feet carried her” and “A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back” really make you feel like she is trying to run but something non literal is trying to stop her like an emotion or dark thing in her past.  Through the book you also read metaphor’s, alliteration and anaphoras  and without these in a short story, poem, book or even a song everything would be bland and the reader would lose interest really easily.  All the figurative language in this book add so much expression and emotion into the piece which makes it better and more interesting to read.