Diction And Imagery In 'Monster'

Words: 1116
Pages: 5

Andieni Wahyudi
RAGOS
AP Language
Quote 1:
“The driver’s hands could not twitch because the monster that built the tractor, the monster that sent the tractor out, had somehow got into the driver’s hands, into his brain and muscle, had goggled him and muzzled him-goggled his mind, muzzled his speech, goggled his perception, muzzled his protest.” (35)

Identification:
Diction and imagery.

Explanation:
“Monster” is an intense noun, that denotes a typically large and fearful imaginary creature. In the passage, anything or anyone that is associated with tractors is called a monster. This reveals the farmers’ hate and fear for tractors and its affiliates. Muzzles is a guard to put over an animal to force them to stop biting and to protect human beings. Goggles are close-fitted eye glasses, used typically to protect the eyes. Though the two items can be used to protect, they can also be crippling in some ways. “Muzzled him” creates a picture of the driver actually having a muzzle on his mouth, forcing him to not cry out. “Goggled him” paints an image of the driver wearing goggles, distorting his vision and perception. Having both of these items put on the driver leaves him helpless for the goggles leave his “perception” impaired and the muzzle leave him unable to “protest”.
…show more content…
Failure denotes a lack of success, wrath denotes extreme anger, and heavy denotes great weight or density. Steinbeck utilizes these words to emphasize that the people are angry that at the their constant failure to get work or food from their greedy capitalist counterparts. Anger typically starts out small; it grows until one cannot contain it anymore and violence might erupt as a result. Grapes are similar in the sense that it starts off little and it grows until it is ready to be picked or to be made into wine. Steinbeck compares anger to grapes because it demonstrates how similar they