Literary Devices from Wuthering Heights

Alliteration:
"Half-a-dozen four-footed fiends, of various...."
(p.13)

Simile:
 "...and she only remained, heaving like a sea after a high wind, when her master entered on the scene."
(p.13)

Personification:

"...and the moon looked over the high wall of the court..."
(p.93)

Metaphor:
"They were both very attentive to her comfort, certainly. It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn."
(p.92)


Repetition:
" 'Come, come,' he said, ...."
(p.13)


Verbal Irony:

"Well, yes - Oh! you would intimate that her spirit has taken the post of ministering angel, and guards the fortunes of Wuthering Heights, even when her body is gone. Is that it?"
(p.18)

Hyperbole:
"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
(p.84)

Allusion:
"I ordered the miscreants to let me out-on their peril to keep me on minute longer- with several incoherent threats of retaliation that, in their indefinite depth of virulency, smacked of King Lear."
(p.23)

Foreshadowing:
"He has been blaming our father (how dare he?) for treating [Heathcliff] too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place-"
(p.27).



Paradox:
"He'll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated again:"
(p. 11)

Black nor White. Gray.

In my opinion, morality is learned because humans cannot be born knowing what is right and what is wrong. I believe that humans are born 'gray' since they do not have the life experience to make moral decisions yet. Which is why it is important for young children to be brought up properly so that they will have a strong grasp of what is evil and what is good. Even though man is born 'gray' I believe that they have more of an evil than good nature because humans are naturally selfish and greedy; when given a choice between benefiting themselves or others most would probably choose to benefit themselves.

Parental teachings and education are major factors in molding morality. Parents help set an example for their child to how they should act; a parent's actions are reflected in their child. If their child sees their parents stealing, they will too, since they may think that  it is normal to that. Therefore it is important for the child to be corrected when they make mistakes and learn that their parents are not always correct in their actions. When a child is taught the proper ways of life it will become easier for them to make good decisions about the way they should act according to the way they were taught. For example, manners; when a child learns manners at a young age, it is easier for them to remember their manners because it is already a habit to them. Likewise learning what is good at a young age is better for children since they will not be as easily influenced by bad examples. Education is important because there may be parents who do not teach their children properly. By being educated, students can learn morals and ethics. History also acts as a tool to learning. From the Holocaust, students know that Hitler's actions were evil and immoral, murdering many people because of their religion.

Morals change as a person gains experience in life. There are many situations in life that may challenge a person's morals but they should also stay true to themselves and follow their morals so they will not regret their decision later on.

failure is forbidden

       Different people have different fears; fear of heights, water, dark and so many others that may seem common yet have a great impact on the person who fears it. For me, I have a fear of not meeting expectations of other people, a fear of failure. Ever since I was young my parents have constantly told me to do better, better than my brother and  often compares me with my older cousin, for me to do even better than her.  That single act of comparing me to others, I believe, caused me to become more self-conscious about everything in life ,especially how others judge me, since I am unable to gain approval for the work I have done, the effort I put in for school. Even when I put a lot of effort into studying and assignments if the mark is low then it is low. My parents will not, did not, sympathize with me for trying hard and getting a low mark; they will just say "why didn't you try harder?". From listening to all their lectures for not getting high enough grades when I was young have created a constant pressure in my current life where grades are  extremely important to me. Sometimes I really envy other teenagers in my life who do not really care about their grades. When my life seems to revolve mainly around school other teenagers are having fun, hanging out with each other and still have parents who are satisfied with their grades; which are not that low at all, but only low compared to my parents' standards .  Although my parents do not complain about my grades now, there is still the unspoken rule in the house: "failure is forbidden.". In a sense, I feel like I had been brainwashed  by my parents when I was young, that getting good grades is a must and anything lower than an A is unacceptable; only to face disappointment when I fail to meet their expectations.
    This fear of mine is still a positive aspect of my life because it motivates me to achieve, to set the bar higher and higher for myself. However, I am always self-conscious about how people might judge me therefore I tend to dislike public speaking. Unlike fears like a fear of spiders, I cannot run away from this fear since judgements are made by everyone, even by strangers who I never talked to.

Quotes in Wuthering Heights

    In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte utilizes quotes to foreshadow certain events that happen in the novel. An example of this is: "This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small-Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine Linton" (24). This quote is significant because Wuthering Heights is a romance novel and the quote indicates a dilemma Catherine Earnshaw faces in Wuthering Heights; contemplating who she should marry, Linton or Heathcliff. Earnshaw represents her maiden name, Edgar Linton and Heathcliff are people she can choose to marry. By writing her name as Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton multiple times in the book, this shows her inability to choose who to marry and uncertainty of who she wants to marry. Catherine chooses to marry Linton because he is young, cheerful, rich and loves her; she also explains that she cannot marry Heathcliff because he has been degraded too much by her brother. By marrying Linton she will be one of the greatest woman in the neighbourhood. Her decision in choosing to marry Linton explains Heathcliff's bitter personality in the beginning of the novel where he is seen to be quite short-tempered and introverted to Mr. Lockwood, his tenant. 

    The next quote is significant in the way that it foreshadows Hindley Earnshaw's actions against Heathcliff: "He has been blaming our father (how dare he?) for treating [Heathcliff] too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place-" (27). This quote hints that Hindley will be deliberately cruel to Heathcliff. In Wuthering Heights, Hindley purposely degrades Heathcliff as a revenge since Heathcliff usurped his position as his father's son, stealing all the spotlight when they were still children.Eventually it reaches the point where Mr. Earnshaw rather believes Heathcliff than Hindley, his own son. Hindley is especially displeased with the way Mr. Earnshaw treated Heathcliff because Heathcliff is only an adopted child; in Hindley's mind, Heathcliff should not have been treated that well. Therefore when Hindley gains control of Wuthering Height he degrades Heathcliff to the position of a servant, what Hindley considers to be Heathcliff's rightful position. He also forbids contact between Catherine and Heathcliff, to teach Heathcliff the difference between their status.

    The last quote left the strongest impression on me: " 'For shame, Heathcliff!' said [Mrs. Dean]. 'It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive' "(64). This quote also foreshadows Heathcliff's revenge later in the novel, on Hindley, for mistreating him from his hatred, or Catherine, for choosing Linton over him and betraying him. However, this quote left the strongest impression on me because both Hindley and Heathcliff are punished by 'God' for being wicked. Hindley is punished for purposely ruining Heathcliff's life as a revenge. Hindley loses everything including his wife, the one he loved the most, and also loses himself from the loss of his wife. Heathcliff fails to be together with Catherine and ends up with Isabella. They have a son but his son dies leaving him with only his widowed daughter-in-law, as revealed in the beginning of the novel. Heathcliff ends up spending his life alone in Wuthering Heights still wishing to be with Catherine, even when she is dead.

"im LOLing so hrd im abt 2 x_x" - plz tlk pr0perli

            I believe that the usage of computer language and texting abbreviations, textism, are degrading the English language and that they represents the modern society. Perhaps, one of the reasons why computer language and texting abbreviations are so popular and common is because our current society is moving at a very fast pace; where every second counts. Everything we do seems to have a time limit and the twenty-four hours we get a day just does not seem to be enough especially when we need to sleep. By shortening our words we can save time but there needs to be a limit to how much a word should be abbreviated because something like "3v3b0di" does not make sense.

             It is not that I object to the usage of computer language and texting abbreviations but I think that users should be able to differentiate between formal and conversational language especially when it should be used. It only makes sense that we talk to our friends in a conversational style or else we would seem like strangers talking to each other. Therefore we use computer language and texting abbreviations to communicate but it is unacceptable to use textism, informal language, for school, work and resumes. It should be limited to the internet and text messages only. The reason we go to school is to be educated, therefore we ought to sound educated when we are writing papers and handing in assignments. If informational articles were to be written in computer language and texting abbreviations it would be extremely difficult for people to understand if they are not used to textism and computer language. I think that textism should only be used on resumes if people do not want to be hired since resumes need to be written in formal language in the first place. It seems disrespectful to the employer to have all sorts of abbreviations on resumes. It is unnatural to have people say " LOL, LMAO,  TTYL" as a replacement for laughter and normal speech. I believe that computer language and texting abbreviations should be allowed as long as they are not in formal writing and speech.

Wuthering Heights

       Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, is a romance novel, a classic that is read by many people. The main protagonist in Wuthering Heights is Mr. Heathcliff. My first impression of Heathcliff is that he is not affable. He is not generous, unwilling to offer a guide for his own tenant even when he knew that he "[runs] a risk of being lost in the marshes" (17) during a snowstorm. Later even when it is proven completely impossible to travel in the weather he still refuses his tenant's, Lockwood, request to sleep on a chair in the living room: "no, no! A stranger is a stranger, be he rich or poor: it will not suit me to permit anyone the range of the place while I am off guard!" (22). What is even stranger is that he looks at Mrs. Heathcliff, his daughter-in-law, with a look of hatred even when she should be the living memory of his son since his own son is dead. 
 
       Heathcliff is a relatable and realistic character because he is not too perfect of a character. He is lacking in many aspects because he is short-tempered, impatient and uncaring. Even in real life, there are people who are similar to him making Heathcliff easier to relate to. He seems to be a person who dislikes showy display of feelings, hiding his feelings away from others whether it is hate or love.  He is definitely relatable because many people also hide their feelings away from others and are often hard to understand because on the outside they may always be yelling at others. Yet on the inside they may just be thinking of others' well-being. He is rather unapproachable because of his personality; similar to bashful people and people who cannot express themselves in society. 

 

      I predict Mr. Heathcliff will be more welcoming to Mr. Lockwood as he learns about Mr. Heathcliff's past. I think that the time  in where Lockwood arrives as a tenant is already quite a few years after the moment when Heathcliff and Catherine were in love with each other. Lockwood finds Catherine's hand written books: "this writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small- Catherine Earnshaw... Catherine Heathcliff...Catherine Linton" (24) which can only mean that Catherine is no longer there. However, I think that Mr. Healthcliff is originally a cheerful and open gentleman that only later, after falling in love with Catherine, did he turn into the person he is now, more introverted. I anticipate that Mr. Heathcliff learns to love others and express his feelings for Catherine but along the way he will have many conflicts caused by their love for each other, involving many other characters in the novel, perhaps jeopardizing his position in his family. I believe that Heathcliff and Catherine's love did not work out in the end because of the change of Heathcliff's personality after the incident. 

Too late to regret.

    Expectedly, life is full of happiness, hard work, love and regrets and many more. Most people take their life for granted, not taking a tiniest bit of time to reflect on their various actions and then regretting their actions when it was already too late to change. I am also a person with regrets. Just almost a year ago, I came to realize that the greatest challenges we have in life are with ourselves. Whether we are too lazy, arrogant or many other negative traits. For me the challenges I have is how shy I am and how much I procrastinate. A year ago, I was preparing for my piano exam...

   It was a typical day at school, going through the classes and absorbing information from the teachers like a yellow sponge. I looked at the ticking clock behind me, hoping that it would hit three o'clock, just so I can go home. After a while, the bell rang and we were finally free from the six hour prison. As I walked into my house after school, I sat down on my comfortable gray chair, stationed in front of the computer with a determination to ignore my homework and the piano, an item so big it was seemingly impossible to ignore. However, I continued my procrastination until dinner which was three hours later. After dinner, I finally took out my homework from school and decided to work on it shooing my mom away when she nagged me about practicing piano, with the excuse " I have homework". When I have completed all of my boring algebra and social studies homework I decided to finally practice my exam songs.

    I sat down on the black glossy leather chair in front of the piano and started to play my songs that I did not put my feelings into even when I was supposed to. The only thought of practicing piano was not so that I would improve my playing skills and pass my piano exam but it was to satisfy my parents. Eventually, I grew tired of the black and white piano keys, that stared at me as if they were mocking my inability to play each song without mistakes, also of the music sheets that spoke of a foreign language that only musicians would know how to read. Unwilling to practice anymore, I went to sleep only to wake up to the same schedule the next morning, disliking the piano, and the days slowly passed by. 

   I wiped my cold sweaty hands on my jeans for what seemed like the millionth time in those five minutes, since I walked into the exam room. I adjusted the piano chair, moving it back and forth, unable to find a position that was comfortable for me, which made me even more nervous. I rubbed my hands together hoping to warm them up so that I can correctly place them on each individual key for the examiner to hear, earning myself a pass. However, as the exam went on. all i could hear were my own thoughts about "I won't pass!", getting more and more frustrated as I played each song especially worse than before; fingers slipping on the keys from the sweat. Soon it was all over and I started to count the days that the results would arrive at my house. My hands shook as I opened the mail, I let out a sigh of relief, I had just scraped by with a pass. 

   I was happy that I passed the exam, but there should have been no reason for me to be so scared in the first place if I had practiced in the first place. Therefore, the greatest challenge I face is with myself because I procrastinate a lot and I ignore my mom's advices, even if they might be ones I should listen to. Another challenge is that I am shy. During the piano exam, I had trouble answering questions the examiner asked me as a part of my ear test. Ever since I reflected on this experience I am aware of difficulties that I have and I can attempt to change my habits, by forcing myself to finish my homework and other important tasks before doing whatever I want on the computer. Also, trying to be more confident as a solution for being shy. I think that if we can always change ourselves if we put the effort into it.