Witness Figurative Language Analysis
In the novel in verse Witness, by Karen Hesse, the author demonstrates that minor qualities do not determine a person's quality through the use of a metaphor. Hesse shows that minor qualities do not determine a person's quality through Leanora Sutter when she quotes Willie Pettibone, "you'd be cheap fuel, they said" (Hesse 10). When she quotes Willie Pettibone, she feels insecure and angry because him and his friends offended her and her family by calling them cheap and fuel. The metaphor compares her to being cheap fuel because she is African American. A minor quality of Leanora, her skin color, has no effect on her overall quality so when they tell her she is not worthy and an item, she gets offended.…show more content… It is rude and arrogant to call someone an item, it means that they only have one purpose and it's to further help human life. In this part of the metaphor, when he calls her fuel, he is comparing the dirty dark fuel to Leanora’s dark skin. Willie is saying that she is dirty and gross, like fuel, when she cannot change herself. So when Willie calls her a dirty daily item, it compares her as being an item that only helps human life and dirty like fuel because of her skin color. In the novel in verse Witness, Karen Hesse uses a metaphor to demonstrate that a person's minor qualities determine their quality through Leanora Sutter and the quote, "you'd be cheap fuel, they said" (Hesse 10). The metaphor, demonstrates inequality because Willie Pettibone calls her not worthy and a daily item. Karen Hesse, author of Witness, shows inequality throughout the novel by using figurative language, a metaphor, and she shows how minor qualities affect how people judge others. That judgement, no matter what kind, has a big impact on actions and thoughts that are usually negative and allow for a difference in the way people of color, or different minor qualities, are treated against the way people of caucasian
