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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 1, Chapter 4: The Moon Lady
Explanation and Analysis—Trailing Shadows:
Personification and foreshadowing follow Ying-Ying throughout the Moon Festival. After nearly drowning in the lake, Ying-Ying returns to land in Part 1, Chapter 4, accompanied by her “shadow”:
On the dock, with the bright moon behind me, I once again saw my shadow. It was shorter this time, shrunken and wild-looking. We ran together over to some bushes along a walkway and hid. In this hiding place I could hear people talking as they walked by.
Ying-Ying’s shadow bridges the realms of childhood and adulthood. Almost every child marvels at their shadows, and the personification’s imaginative flourish—a “running” shadow—shows a youthful imagination still intact. Like the “snake” incense and fish-catching birds, Ying-Ying’s silhouetted companion provides another instance of innocent playfulness. But her personified shadow implicitly foretells her future fate as well. “I lost myself,” she recalls at the end of the night, prefiguring her future sorrows. Ying-Ying becomes a literal “shadow” of herself after she kills her newborn son and loses another as a stillborn. “I willingly gave up my chi, the spirit that caused me so much pain,” she explains. In America, she lingers ghostlike around the silently grieving house. Decades before this, though, her shadow has provided a fading glimmer of her childhood and a preview of what she will become.
Related Themes:
