TKAM Literary Devices ch. 1-23

"It was a time of vague optimism for some people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself" (Ch. 1).

• foreshadowing

• allusion

• understatement

• personification

“Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained . . . ” (Ch. 1)

• hyperbole

• symbolism

• simile

• metaphor

“I never knew how old Mr. Radley made his living- Jem said he ‘bought cotton’” (Ch. 1).

• hyperbole

• foreshadowing

• allusion

• metaphor

[Describing Calpurnia] “Her hand was as wide as a bed slat and twice as hard” (Ch. 1).

• hyperbole

• allusion

• personification

• simile

“Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere with my reading" (Ch. 2)

• understatement

• irony

• conflict

• metaphor

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing” (Ch. 2).

• verbal irony

• allusion

• metaphor

• personification

"Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the Crash hit them the hardest …” (Ch. 3).

• foreshadowing

• allusion

• personification

• symbolism

[Little Chuck Little, addressing Miss Caroline] “Now don't you be afraid, you just go back to your desk and teach us some more'” (Ch. 3).

• verbal irony

• dramatic irony

• situational irony

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Ch. 3).

• allusion

• hyperbole

• theme

• metaphor

“Our first days of freedom and we were tired. I wondered what summer would bring” (Ch. 4)

• hyperbole

• flashback

• dramatic irony

• foreshadowing