Figurative Language In The Yellow Wall

As mentioned, the stream of consciousness continues throughout this story. Sometimes the protagonist inserts her deep, sharp thoughts in the middle of a paragraph that has little to do with the original conversation. And sometimes she inserts a word that is off-putting, a word that does not match the rest. Although some may argue that this takes readers away from the fictional dream, the case, it seems, is that it corresponds just as well with her random outbursts of thought. The word is often placed in the center of her normal, regular speech. This makes the word choice seem authentic. It does not beg readers to focus on it, but accept the brief change in diction. On page 27, the text reads, “Cleaning women do steal. Not the things the people
But they are overused for good reason— this is how the narrator speaks. It is almost like dialogue here—unedited. Take note of the other repeated words that Berlin uses playfully. For example, ‘Some lady at a bridge party somewhere’ has an unavoidable assonance. The sounds mix, blend, and this only has us appreciating the narrator more. Berlin may be paying close attention to the sounds, but the narrator is only telling us how it is as she thinks it. The same could be said about the word ‘little’. The narrator uses it twice to describe the ashtrays. Surely Berlin could think of different, perhaps more delicate and romantic adjectives, but this would only lead us to question who the narrator is: someone who dwells on details or the more authentic woman we now know, someone who tells it as she thinks it, no matter what it sounds like. This example is packed with many words we can analyze, but the essential word, as mentioned in the beginning, that is out of place is ‘superfluity’. A simple word could take its place. However, this choice gives readers the idea that the narrator uses smaller words, many articles, repeats herself, but has some deeper wits and vocabulary that she can throw in every now and