Monday, November 5, 2012

Looking for literary terms found Amy Tan's "A Pair of Tickets" within the last four paragraphs

The most prominent literary term in the last four paragraphs is anaphora. Anaphora refers to the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, lines, or sentences. Here are two examples from the paragraphs:

And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.
Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish.

The repetitive words and phrases emphasize the depth of emotion shared between the narrator and her two half-sisters; they highlight the significance of the long-awaited reunion. The young ladies are the babies Jing-mei's mother was forced to leave behind when Japan invaded China during WWII. Jing-mei's mother, Suyuan Woo, had never given up hope of seeing her daughters again. When she was alive, she and her husband, Canning Woo, made numerous attempts to locate the girls in China.
In one propitious meeting, Jing-Mei realizes her mother's dream and also solidifies her connection to her Chinese heritage. So, the use of anaphora emphasizes the significance of the narrator's meeting with her half-sisters.
Another literary element in the last four paragraphs is visual imagery:

The gray-green surface changes to the bright colors of our three images, sharpening and deepening all at once.

Here, we can almost see the images take shape before our eyes. The visual imagery of undefined "gray-green" changing to sharper bright colors is significant. Just as the Polaroid photos develop in short order, Jing-mei's life undergoes an important metamorphosis in a matter of moments. Prior to her meeting with her sisters, she is unsure of how relevant her Chinese heritage is to her life. After she meets her sisters, Jing-mei realizes that, together, the three share important commonalities that will forever affect their perspective about life.
Yet still another literary element is metonymy. Here, "Polaroid" stands in for a camera or instant photographs.

The flash of the Polaroid goes off, and my father hands me the snapshot.
And now I see her again, two of her, waving, and in one hand, there is a photo, the Polaroid I sent them.

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