Definitions
Compares one thing to another using the words “like” or “as”.
What is a simile?
Steve and Soda worked at the same gas station…and their station got more customers than any other in town. Whether that was because Steve was so good with cars or because Soda attracted girls like honey draws flies, I couldn't tell you.
What is a simile?
attracted girls like honey draws flies
[Johnny] had big black eyes in a dark tanned face…He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes, and that beating he got from the Socs didn't help matters. He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother. His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him… I think he hated that worse than getting whipped. He would have run away a million times if we hadn't been there. If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.
What is metaphor?
"He was the gang's pet"
[Soda] flipped up to walk on his hands and then did a no-hands cartwheel across the yard to beat Darry's performance. The excitement was catching. Screeching like an Indian, Steve went running across the lawn in flying leaps, stopped suddenly, and flipped backward.
What is a simile?
"Screeching like an Indian"
I still didn't want to do my homework that night, though. I hunted around for a book to read, but I'd read everything in the house about fifty million times
What is a hyperbole?
"I'd read everything in the house about fifty million times"
Gives human characteristics or abilities to something that is not human,
What is personificiation?
There are lots of drive-ins in town--- the Socs go to The Way Out and to Rusty's, and the greasers go to The Dingo and to Jay's. The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot. We walked around talking to all the greasers and hoods we knew.
What is an oxymoron?
"The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout"
"Here!" Dally handed me a shirt about sixty-million sizes too big. I started buttoning up the shirt. It about swallowed me.
What is a hyperbole?
"Dally handed me a shirt about sixty-million sizes too big."
I was reminded of Jack London's books—you know, where the wolf pack waits in silence for one of two members to go down in a fight
What is an allusion?
"I was reminded of Jack London's books"
My stomach gave a violent start and turned into a hunk of ice. The world was spinning around me, and blobs of faces and visions of things past were dancing in the red mist that covered the lot. It swirled into a mass of colors and I felt myself swaying on my feet.
What is a metaphor?
"turned into a hunk of ice."
Refers or alludes to an event in history, literature, or art
What is an allusion?
I was sweating something fierce, although I was cold. I get like that when I’m real scared. I glanced around for a pop bottle or a stick or something…but there was nothing. So I stood there like a bump on a log while they surrounded me.
What is a simile?
"So I stood there like a bump on a log while they surrounded me"
To my surprise, the ground blurred and I felt tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them off hurriedly. Johnny looked as miserable as I felt.
What is personification?
"I felt tears running down my cheeks"
"Hmmmmm," I said sleepily, and lay down in the seat. I couldn't have gotten up to save my life. I could hear Soda and Darry, but as if from a great distance.
"Oh, come on, Ponyboy," Soda pleaded, shaking me a little harder, "we're sleepy, too."
I guess Darry was tired of fooling around, because he picked me up and carried me in.
What is a hyperbole?
I couldn't have gotten up to save my life.
I have quite a few friends at school even if I am younger than most of them and don't talk much…Most of my friends at school come from good homes, not filthy rich like the Socs, but middle class, anyway.
What is an oxymoron?
filthy rich like the Socs
A literary device that seems to contradict itself because it expresses opposite concepts. It usually makes sense if you think about it.
What is an oxymoron?
"Please leave us alone," she said. "Why don't you be nice and leave us alone?"
Dally grinned roguishly. "I'm never nice. Want a Coke?"
She was mad by then. "I wouldn't drink it if I was starving in the desert. Get lost, hood!"
Dally merely shrugged and strolled off.
The girl looked at me. I was half-scared of her. I'm half-scared of all nice girls, especially Socs
What is hyperbole?
"I wouldn't drink it if I was starving in the desert"
I sighed, and went to the pump to get a drink. The water from it was like liquid ice and it tasted funny, but it was water. I splashed some on my face and that woke me up pretty quick. I wiped my face off on Johnny's jacket and sat down on the back steps.
What is an oxymoron?
"The water from it was like liquid ice"
Curly, who was a tough, cool, hard-as-nails Tim in miniature, and I had once played chicken by holding our cigarette ends against each other's fingers
What is a metaphor?
"hard-as-nails"
The hearing wasn't anything like I thought it would be. Besides Darry and Soda and me, nobody was there except Randy and his parents and Cherry Valance and her parents and a couple of the other guys that had jumped Johnny and me that night. I don't know what I expected the whole thing to be like--- I guess I've been watching too many Perry Mason shows.
What is an allusion?
"I've been watching too many Perry Mason shows."
Compares two things without using the words like or as
Who is a metaphor?
Darry didn't deserve to work like an old man when he was only twenty. He had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the Year. But we just didn't have the money for him to go to college, even with the athletic scholarship he won
What is a simile?
"Darry didn't deserve to work like an old man when he was only twenty."
That was the first time I realized the extent of Johnny's hero-worship for Dally Winston. Of all of us, Dally was the one I liked least. He didn't have Soda's understanding or dash, or Two-Bit's humor, or even Darry’s superman qualities. But I realized that these three appealed to me because they were like the heroes in the novels I read. Dally was real. I liked my books and clouds and sunsets. Dally was so real he scared me.
What is an allusion?
"Darry’s superman qualities." & "they were like the heroes in the novels I read."
"You'll be okay," I said with fake cheerfulness. "You gotta be. We couldn't get along without you."
The truth of that last statement hit me. We couldn't get along without him. We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason.
What is personification?
"The truth of that last statement hit me."
"Ponyboy," Soda said softly, like he was talking to an injured animal, "you look sick. Sit down."
I backed up, just like a frightened animal, shaking my head. "I'm okay." I felt sick. I felt as if any minute I was going to fall flat on my face, but I shook my head. "I don't want to sit down."
What is a simile?
"like he was talking to an injured animal" & "just like a frightened animal"