Is trying to convey. The theme may be the author's thoughts about a

topic or view of human nature. The title of the short story usually

points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of

speech to emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile,

metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.

Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV,

and film are:

- things are not always as they appear to be

- Love is blind

- Believe in yourself

- People are afraid of change

- Don't judge a book by its cover 60

Simile

A simile is an explicit comparison based on the likeness of two

objects or ideas belonging to different classes, formally expressed by

constructions introduced by such connective words as: “as”,

“as…as”, “like”, “as if”, “such as”, “seem”. e.g. He woke up… feeling like a bottle of champagne.. The simile suggests that the person’s

mood is as bright and lively as the famous drink.

Epithet

An epithet is an attributive word or phrase that characterizes a

person, thing or phenomenon, by emphasizing a certain property or

feature. Epithets show purely individual emotional attitude of the

speaker towards the object spoken of, they describe the object as it

appears to the speaker. E.g. “metals blurred before his eyes into a

sweet mist.”

Metaphor

A metaphor is an implied comparison in which one element is

described in terms of another to create a connection. Metaphors may

be genuine and trite. Genuine metaphors are absolutely unexpected.

Trite (dead) metaphors are commonly used in speech and may be

even fixed in dictionaries. The example that illustrates a case of

genuine metaphor: “the sunrise of her smile”. Here are some examples of trite metaphors: “a shadow of a smile”, “floods of tears”.

Hypebole

A hyperbole is a form of exaggeration in extreme language usually used to emphasize something and/or achieve intensity.

Litotes

Litotes is a figure of speech in which a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite. For example, rather than merely saying that a person is rather attractive (or even very attractive), one

might say that he or she is "not unattractive." Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. 61

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective

and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) the meanings of which

clash. E.g. “sweet sorrow”, “nice rascal”.

Zeugma

Zeugma is based on simultaneous realization of literal and transferred meanings of a word, when it is used in the same grammatical

but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the context.

It is used to produce the humorous effect caused by the interplay of

two meanings of one word.

E.g. "You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as

you see fit." (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of

his men." (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)

"You held your breath and the door for me." (Alanis Morissette,

"Head over Feet")

Personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which animals or things

are given human characteristics. Personification heightens out imaginative response to what is being described. E.g. “Dawn was just

breaking with a guilty air”. (Dawn, a natural phenomenon, is described as displaying the behaviour of someone who has done something wrong.)

Symbol

A symbol may be a person, an object or an action that represents

something else because of an association with it. E.g. new fallen

snow is recognized as a symbol of purity; a red rose stands for romantic love; the lion is a symbol of courage and strength.

Allusion

An allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to specific places, persons, and historical events, literary or legendary

characters or to a fact of everyday life. An allusion is characterized 62

by certain semantic peculiarities: the primary meaning of the word or

phrase which is assumed to be known serves as a vessel into which a

new meaning is poured. E.g. There was a girl with a flowery face,

dressed like Titania with braided sapphires in her hair. Here there is a

reference to Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Repetition

Repetition can be a most effective way of creating atmosphere

or of pointing to a theme in a story. Repetition as an expressive

means of language is used to make a direct emotional impact. Repetition aims at logical emphasis, an emphasis necessary to fix the attention of the reader on the key-word of the utterance (or the text).

Inversion

Inversion is the displacement of the predicate (which is the case

of complete inversion) or the displacement of secondary members of

the sentence (which is the case of partial inversion) and their shift

into the front, opening position in the sentence. It aims at attaching

logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface of the

utterance. E.g. The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of

the sentence. “A tone of most extraordinary comparison Miss Fox

said it in.”

Humour

Humour takes many forms. It ranges from exaggerated situations, funny lines to comic characterization and funny plot.

Irony

Irony occurs when a person says one thing but really means

something else. For example, we often say “How clever of you!”

when a person says or does something foolish. It also exists when a

person does something that has the opposite effect from what he or

she intended. It can be used to convey both the seriousness and humour of situations. 63

Tone

The tone of a story refers to the attitude of the writer or to that of

the characters in the story. For example, the tone may be humorous,

sarcastic, ironic, cheerful, pessimistic, angry, unfeeling or satirical.