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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition: Placing ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development.

An Example from Literature: In The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, a romanticised illusion of war is juxtaposed against the harsh realities of battle.

My Try: Netty sent Mary Alice and Jim out to the kitchen with AnnaBelle Mae. Hearing the swinging door rock shut, she turned to the man cocked back in the oversized armchair. "Daddy, I'm not like Mama. She and I are not the same person. It's enough with these accusations all the time. Especially in front of the children. There's no sense in dragging them into that crusty overcoat of bitterness with you."

Netty studied her father. Every time he got like this, he couldn't be reasoned with. And Netty was a persistent reminder of the terrible things her mother had done. They had the same chestnut hair and hazel eyes. Their long necks and full lips were almost identical. Sometimes, Charlie had to look away and catch his breath. "Daddy, I got a hole in my heart, too. You know I do. But I'm not fooling around with Roy. I just got mad with Lou Ellen is all." Netty placed her hand over her father's. "I'm not Mama," she whispered.

Share your thoughts on Netty's story so far. What do you think will happen next?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 13th - Kigo

5 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

A good J word, good to read.

Yvonne,

the writing pad said...

Thanks for the J word - am intrigued by the excerpt from Netty's story.
All best
karla

Unknown said...

Nice word. Not really sure what would happen next with Nelly but if she has a daughter that looks like her than maybe she would be reminded of her mother with the same tone as her father. Vicious cycle that would be..Would be interesting to see who and how it was broken.

Golden Eagle said...

I'm intrigued by Nelly's story! I don't know what will happen next . . . maybe something about this Roy? Just a wild guess.

For some reason, I always associate juxtaposition with the way it was used in Wicked by Gregory Maguire; that irony is "the juxtaposition of two incongruous things", or something on that line.

Brianna said...

All I know is that Netty's got a secret but what that secret is I still haven't a clue. I don't think it has to do with Roy because it sounds like he may still be in to her, but she doesn't seem to feel anything back, unless I missed something?