Learn2Write

“Little pig! Little pig! Let me in! Let me in!”  (Wolf)

 “No! No! No!  Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!” (Little pig)

“Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.” (Wolf)  

                                                                                                       — The Three Little Pigs (Fairy Tale)

True to his world, the unfortunate thing happened – the wolf blew the little pig’s house down and gobbled him up like a piece of candy. The fairy tale ‘The Three Little Pigs’, to this day, makes us despise the untrustworthy wolf. The narrator did an exceptional job by framing the wolf as the ultimate villain just by the magic of his narration. But it is unfair to jump to conclusions without knowing the real story, right? So let’s hear the wolf’s version of the story. 

 “I rang the bell on the stick house. Nobody answered. I called, “Mr Pig, Mr Pig, are you in?” He yelled back, “Go away wolf. You can’t come in. I’m shaving the hairs on my chinny chin chin.” I had just grabbed the doorknob when I felt another sneeze coming on. I huffed. And I snuffed. And I tried to cover my mouth, but I sneezed a great sneeze. And you’re not going to believe it, but this guy’s house fell down just like his brother’s.”  — The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! By Jon Scieszka

Now that you have the story from the wolf’s point of view, it is really up to you to decide whether you should still hold him accountable or not. Powerful narration can influence the way we sympathise with different characters. It can make or break a hero and make us question our loyalty towards the protagonist. In case you haven’t noticed, this account of the wolf is more humorous and engaging. Who knew a change in perspective would bring about such a tremendous difference?  

CINDERELLA

Cinderella — the poor orphaned girl with a wicked stepmother and cunning step-sisters. Cindy toiled day and night, and by the time she finished all her chores, she was covered in cinders (hence the name Cinderella). We know all about the glass slipper, the stroke of midnight and the happily ever after. 

Well, brace yourself for some shocking revelations. The infamous stepmother is here to share her experience of living with Cindy, “OF COURSE you think Cinderella was the sweetest belle of the ball. You don't know the other side of the story. Well, let me tell you...”

“One day, a letter arrived, it was an invitation to the king's ball, and the prince would surely fall in love with one of my darlings. Then they would marry, live in a beautiful castle, and one day be king and queen of all the land! "Oh, Stepmother, I want to go too!" said Cindy. "Once upon a time, a girl and a Prince …” Then - just like that - Cindy lost her voice. Imagine it had to be from all that storytelling.    

Well, what could I do? I told Cindy she had to stay at home for her health. She cried, of course. Still, a ball was no place for a poorly girl. She needed rest.  Sometimes, it’s hard being a stepmother.”     

— An excerpt from Seriously, Cinderella Is SO Annoying! The Story of Cinderella As Told by the Wicked Stepmother by Trisha Speed Shaskan

See how a change in perspective can plant seeds of doubt in the reader’s mind and influence our thought process? How would other stories change if they were told from another perspective?  

Story from the point of view of an inanimate object:

 “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” ― George Eliot.

If asked to write a story based on the given topic — Going to the dentist— we are inclined to choose the dentist or the child visiting the dentist to recount the story. This time, we are going to do it differently. The dental chair is our narrator:

If you think that being a dental chair is boring, I hate to break it to you; it is the best job ever!  Who else has the luxury of having hundreds of hapless children holding on to them for their dear lives? I do! Out of all the little brats who visit me regularly, Tommy is my favourite because he is hilarious. Last week, as usual, little Tommy had an appointment with Mr John, the dentist. Halfway through the tooth extraction, Mr John went to use the restroom. “Don’t close your mouth Tommy; I will be right back,” said Mr John. Tommy, who was already traumatised by this whole experience, wasted no time and fled the scene. It took an entourage of nurses, doctors and Tommy’s parents to bring him back. I couldn’t control myself; I laughed my lungs out.

Oh, poor Tommy! It seems like Mr Dental Chair is enjoying himself. 

Are you tempted to write your version of a classic story, or any other story for that matter, from a unique point of view? Well, do it! It would be fun. We hope that we opened up a whole new world for you. How was the magic carpet ride?  

Welcome back to the final chapter of figures of speech in Harry Potter edition. In our previous post, we discussed how Rowling uses similes and metaphors throughout the Harry Potter series to enrich the readers’ experience and help them teleport to the magical world of Hogwarts. If you haven’t checked the first part of the series, we highly recommend you do that now! Others, please continue to read.

In this particular segment, we shall learn about some other kinds of literary tools evident throughout the Harry Potter sequence, while simultaneously ensuring it’s all fun and games and nothing too taxing. The literary devices covered in this section are personification, alliteration and onomatopoeia. So, what’s the wait for? Let’s dive right into it!

1. Personification 

— The Hat tells them, "Try me on and I will tell you / Where you ought to be." 

Making a grand appearance at #1 on our list is personification—the heartbeat of every children’s fiction ever.  When defined literally, personification is giving human-like qualities to something abstract or a non-living entity. 

Since personification majorly thrives on the reader’s imagination, Rowling has used this figure of speech in the best possible way to bring the world of Harry Potter to life. Be it through the “wand [that] chooses the wizard” or “Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once,” the book is full of endless illustrations of this literary tool. 

However, nothing beats the anticipation and excitement in the scene where Harry is about to be sorted into his house and the entire hall is brimming with impatience, until the sorting hat, at last, declares, “Well if you're sure, better be... GRYFFINDOR!”

2. Alliteration 

Next up on our list is the easiest and every child’s preferred figure of speech, alliteration. Remember that tongue twister you challenged your best friend and classmates to take? Fun fact! That’s one of the perfect examples of alliteration. So, in the simplest of terms, alliteration is nothing but a bunch of words placed together that begin with the same consonant sounds.

To look for instances of alliteration through Rowling’s Harry Potter, you won’t have to hustle hard because they are literally everywhere. For instance, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, Moaning Myrtle, among others, are all examples of alliterative names in the series.

Dig a little deeper and you will find alliteration through Lockhart’s "Fame is a fickle friend, Harry" to Professor McGonagall’s angry speech of “I will not have you…besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons!”

Professor McGonagall, in fact, is the flag bearer of alliteration in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where she treats dancing as both feminine (inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers) and masculine (inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance) through impressive use of alliteration.

3. Onomatopoeia 

— There was a bang, and Harry felt his hands fly off Mundungus's throat.
Gasping and spluttering, Mundungus seized his fallen case, then—CRACK—he disapparated.

Think of alliteration, and onomatopoeia isn’t far away. In layman terms, onomatopoeia refers to words that evoke or imitate the sound they refer to. They are the part of auditory images that are used to make writing livelier and more appealing to the audience. 

Rowling, being the genius mind she is, uses onomatopoeia to the best of its capability through various instances across the Harry Potter series. Be it the dramatic entry of Hagrid in Potter’s life on the midnight of his birthday with “SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor,” Uncle Vernon’s “Barking, howling mad, the lot of them” or Neville’s trademark ability to smash things in “There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup,” sounds govern the magical world of Harry Potter as much as visuals do.

Well, here we end our figures of speech series in a Harry Potter edition with the hope that you have all successfully befriended literary devices and they don’t seem that daunting anymore. Hence, our fellow wizards and witches, we proudly conclude that you are all set to take the world of exams by storm. Just remember, ‘Avada Kedavra!’ aka let’s go, kill it! 

Image Source:

Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat [https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Harry-Potter-Sorting-Hat-Biased-Theory-44705042]

Harry, Ron and Lockhart [https://screenrant.com/harry-potter-things-only-book-fans-know-about-gilderoy-lockhart/]

Harry Potter and Fletcher [https://potterwars.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/throwback-thursday-mundunguss-morals/]

Do you feel like you are being pushed to your limits when you have to write? You don’t know where to begin? Your sentences are always identical?

Before we start discussing the possible solutions for this confounding issue, let’s first take a look at the example given below.

Alex was sauntering back home from school. He heard the distant rumbling of thunder. He searched his backpack for his umbrella. He realised that he had forgotten his umbrella at school. Alex was terrified of thunderstorms. He ran towards his home as fast as he could.’

First of all, make sure that you carry an umbrella with you wherever you go. The second and the most crucial thing – please don’t start all your sentences agreeing with the subject-verb-object rule you were taught in elementary school. It is grammatically correct, but at this point, to be honest, no one really cares whether Alex has reached home safe and sound.

What if we tell you that there are many secrets up our sleeve to avoid this awkward situation? We don’t mind spilling the beans with you. Let’s see if we can make poor Alex’s story a bit more appealing.

a) You can start your sentence with onomatopoeia (sound word). Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically resembles the sound it describes.

‘Clap! The sudden rumbling of thunder startled him.’

b) Another way to start your sentence is by using adverbs ending with ‘ly’. Don’t forget to use a comma after that.

‘Frantically, he fished around his backpack for his umbrella.’

c) Adjectives are also good sentence starters. You must always put a comma after an opening adjective.

‘Perturbed and dejected, he gave up his search realising that he had left it at school.’

d) Begin the sentence with a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting of a preposition, its object and any words that modify the object.

‘With his backpack flopping, he ran as fast as he could.’

e) Start the sentence by describing when or where the event is happening.

‘Down the Abbey Lane, he sprinted like a wild hare.’

Now let’s rewrite the entire paragraph.

‘Alex was sauntering back home from school. Clap! The sudden rumbling of thunder startled him. Frantically, he fished around his backpack for his umbrella. Perturbed and dejected, he gave up his search realising that he had left it at school. With his backpack flopping, he ran as fast as he could. Down the Abbey Lane, he sprinted like a wild hare.’

Well, what do you think? The difference is apparent, right? Next time you are asked to write a sentence, we are sure that it will be a cakewalk for you. Happy writing!

Ever wondered that while direct language is usually easier to comprehend, why we as readers often tend to lean towards the more creative wording? In literary terms, this ‘fancy language’ is called figures of speech, which are nothing but phrases or a group of words used in a non-literal sense. In layman terms, any phrase that stands for a unique and deeper meaning beyond its literal usage is defined as a figure of speech or a literary device.

Readers usually find it natural to connect with a piece rich in literary tools because it adds a poetic touch to the writing and makes the imagery more vivid to comprehend. Most common examples of literary devices in the English language comprise similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, among others.

Since understanding these literary tools isn’t always a cakewalk and can be a strenuous act for many, we decided to aid the process by slowly introducing our readers to the world of literary tools. To exactly serve the purpose, we will start this edition with some popular similes and metaphors used through everyone’s favourite, “The Harry Potter Series” by J.K. Rowling.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

Simile

“Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel ... Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.”

Similes are usually the most common and easiest to locate literary techniques that are used to directly compare two non-identical, contrasting items with the help of words ‘like’ or ‘as’. If you are an avid Harry Potter fan, chances are you've encountered similes throughout the series at every possible instance.

From “Dudley looked like a pig in a wig” to "Dumbledore's silver hair ... shone as brightly as ghosts", the similes are everywhere. If you have got an eye for it, go and explore 10 more similes right now!

Metaphor

“Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.”

Making an appearance next in the article is the confusing cousin of simile, metaphor. When defined literally, metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make an indirect comparison between two things that aren't alike but do share some property in common.

Note that, unlike similes, metaphors do not include words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’ for comparisons.

Rowling uses metaphors at various instances throughout the Harry Potter Series to breathe life into her thoughts and bring them alive for the readers. One such instance is where she combines humor (another literary device) and metaphor to contrast Mrs. Dursley to a crane. This helps readers understand Mrs. Dursley’s fierce and graceful demeanour like that of a crane in comparison to her nosy self that depicts the hidden flaws in her character.

The next ingenious and impressive occurrence of metaphor is visible in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ where Snape’s Patronus of “the silver doe” has the audience gasping in awe for his endless love for Lily (Harry’s mother).

Be it the subtle comparison of depression to dementors that “drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them”, or Dumbledore’s, “And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress adventure” to describe a formal meet and greet, metaphors are omnipresent in the world of Rowling like the vicious presence of Voldemort in Harry’s conscience.

For information on other kinds of literary devices, stay tuned to the series because we have many more treats compiled for all our Potterheads out there.

Image Source:

Cover Image by Parent Previews [https://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone]

Dursley Family Image by Hello! Magazine [https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/2017021736716/harry-potter-dudley-actor-harry-melling-weight-loss/]

Mrs. Dursley Animation by Amino Apps [https://aminoapps.com/c/harry-potter/page/blog/petunia-dursley/NKTM_ulGbE5bYazorWkJGzbLVw10Bg]