Lord Essays - Rhetorical Techniques, English-language Films

Lord Of The Flies By William Golding Lord of the Flies William Golding uses stylistic devices such as tone, structure and pace to create drama and immediacy in this passage taken from Lord of the Flies . Through his word choice, pace changes, structure and other elements which help create the mood, Golding has produced an intense and climatic piece. At the beginning of this piece the viewpoint and tense shift. The effect of the shifting viewpoint is to allow the audience to feel the mounting tension. The tense also shifts by moving from past to present and back to past. The shifting tense helps the tension but it also has a dramatic effect on pace; "...Ralph was looking straight into the savage's eyes. Don't scream. You'll get back. Now he's seen you. He's making sure. A stick sharpened. Ralph screamed, a scream of..." The large second paragraph assists in building the tension and adds to the drama of the intense chase. Lengthy sentences also draw out the tension and help build the climax. "All at once the lights flickering ahead of him merged together, the roar of the forest rose to thunder and a tall bush directly in his path burst into a great fan-shaped flame." This piece starts with no movement. Reading on, the pace picks up with short sharp sentences containing alliteration and assonance, ?A stick sharpened.' Suspense grabs us, and once again the pace increases. ?He shot forward, burst the thicket, was in...' By the end of the second paragraph the intense climax has been reached. "He stumbled over a root, and the cry that persued him rose even higher...... crouching with arm up to ward off, try to cry for mercy." Detached language shows the audience that the pace has decreased. At the introduction of a new character the pace suddenly stops in it's tracks. "He staggared to his feet, tensed for more terrors, and looked up at a huge peaked cap..." Use of assonance, personification, metaphors, similes and alliteration successfully describe Ralph's feelings, thoughts and actions and his desperate, frustrated, exhaused and hopeless state of mind is described in detail; "...He forgot his wounds, his hunger and thirst, and fear...Spots jumped before his eyes and turned into red circles...below him someone's legs were getting tired..." The language then launches into assonance and alliteration for example ?screaming, snarling bloody' and ?series of short sharp cries.' This has a strong effect on the desperate mood that Golding is portraying. With dramatic diction Ralph's movement is described powerfully. The reader can almost see Ralph staggering, stumbling, ?...tensed for more terrors.' Startling contrasts create intensity as well as helping the mood of the frightening jungle atmosphere. From the beauty of the island to the sheer horror and terror of the chase. Dangerous chaos to the safety of order restored when the naval officer appears, the contrasts are strong are strong and dramatic. Golding uses this to structure the piece and make it dramatic. Begining in a short and breathless tempo the mood of sheer terror is presented in the opening sentences. Written in omniscient third person, Golding uses this to describe a climatic frenzy that the reader can vividly visualise. "The seconds lengthened. Ralph was looking straight into the savage's eyes." Ralph rises to see a ?saviour'. A naval officer, a symbol of order and civiliation. The mood changes to relief, safety. Ralph is utterly astonished not only by the ?hero' but the majestic aura of the ship behind the naval officer. Stylistic devices like personification, metaphors and similes make Goldings prose delightful; "...The desperate ululation advanced like a jagged fringe of menace..." Golding has written a very dramatic piece. His use of pace modulations, mood, tense and viewpoint effectively describe the chaos and disarray of boys turned savages on a picture perfect island. Ralph's intense feelings are thoroughly explored and his character well developed even in this short excerpt.