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Pathos
Definition of Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition
Part II, Chapter 3: Ruth
Explanation and Analysis—Teeth-baring Island:
Personification adds life to the Island of the Dead. During one of Ruth’s chapters in Part II, A Tale for the Time Being surveys the island and gives a touch of personality to her new home:
But when the tourists and the summer people left, the blue skies clouded over and the island bared its teeth, revealing its churlish side. The days grew short and the nights grew long, and for the next ten months, it rained. The locals who lived there year-round liked it this way.
The description’s personification gives a feral, frightening quality to the island. It imagines the land as a creature that “bare[s] its teeth”—perilous and predatory—and reveals the land’s two faces. Ruth’s new home is paradisiacal in the summer and, come winter, it is anything but. It hints at nature’s frightening force in a novel that feels its presence. A Tale for the Time Being casts the natural world as a site of great danger and beauty: storms sweep across the island, knocking out power to Ruth and Oliver’s home, and wolves roam the forests. At the same time, the novel lingers over the “white glaciers glowing in the moonlight,” “dark indigo [skies],” and mountains with “jagged silhouette[s].” Beauty and death come together, each held at arm’s length from the other.
Related Themes:
