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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Zero (August 7, 1944): Saint-Malo
Explanation and Analysis—Germans Underground:
In Section Zero, Doerr includes his first example of hyperbolic speculation: a series of rumors spread by French people whose fear of their Nazi occupiers overcomes rational thought.
Here, people whisper, the Germans have renovated two kilometers of subterranean corridors under the medieval walls; they have built new defenses, new conduits, new escape routes, underground complexes of bewildering intricacy. Beneath the peninsular fort of La Cité, across the river from the old city, there are rooms of bandages, rooms of ammunition, even an underground hospital, or so it is believed. There is air-conditioning, a two-hundred-thousand-liter water tank, a direct line to Berlin. There are flame-throwing booby traps, a net of pillboxes with periscopic sights; they have stockpiled enough ordnance to spray shells into the sea all day, every day, for a year.
In this passage, the French residents of Saint-Malo speculate as to what German war infrastructure has been installed under their city. Such speculation is merely imaginative hyperbole, based on rumor and outsized expectations of the Nazis' wartime capabilities. Such hyperbole would not have been out of place during this time period and in such an environment. Fear often paralyzes a person's ability to reason effectively, and the French certainly feared the German war machine. Many would have viewed it as an indestructible giant, capable of any feat or atrocity, no matter how ludicrous.
Related Themes:
One (1934): Open Your Eyes
Explanation and Analysis—The Professor:
In Section One, Jutta and Werner find comfort in the Professor's radio show, using him as an escape from the ever-increasing precarity of their surroundings. As children, they are inclined to make up all sorts of stories about the man whose voice takes them out of their abject misery. Jutta even utilizes hyperbole to convey her image of the Professor to Werner:
“He sounds rich. And lonely. I bet he does these broadcasts from a huge mansion, big as this
whole colony, a house with a thousand rooms and a thousand servants.”Werner smiles. “Could be.”
Jutta speculates on what the Professor is like, using hyperbolic language to describe what she imagines to be his home. This is speculation as a form of escapism: both children desperately wish to transcend their environment. The professor provides them with a means to do so, via radio airwaves. Their overactive imaginations fill in for them what they don't know about him.
Werner and Jutta do not see the Professor and cannot, but in their own way, they see him. The young children can envision the Professor so clearly through language. When deprived of sight, their minds idealize him, struck by the power of his words.
Related Themes:
One (1934): Rumors
Explanation and Analysis—Rumors:
In Section One, Marie-Laure observes on several separate occasions the sheer number of rumors flying around Paris regarding the actions of the German army. Some of these rumors are ludicrous instances of hyperbole, as in the following passage:
Marie-Laure sits on a bench beside the mollusk display and trains her ears on passing groups. A
boy blurts, “They have a bomb called the Secret Signal. It makes a sound, and everyone who hears
it goes to the bathroom in their pants!”Laughter.
“I hear they give out poisoned chocolate.”
“I hear they lock up the cripples and morons everywhere they go.”
As rumors circulate about the German army's advance, Parisians speculate (rather hyperbolically) about the Nazi soldiers' intentions. While many of these rumors are ridiculous and unfounded, all the lies have a kernel of truth—namely, the last statement in the excerpt above about "[locking] up the cripples and morons." The Nazis did practice eugenics, which included the extermination of all people deemed "unfit" to live in society. This would have included people with congenital abnormalities along with disabled people. Marie-Laure herself, as a blind person, might have been a target for Nazi eugenic practices. The juxtaposition of truth and hyperbole in this passage only serves to emphasize the extreme cruelty of Nazi eugenics.
Related Themes:
