Rhetorical Devices
Read the following quotes and identify which of the following rhetorical devices each one is and explain your
choice. Write your answers on a separate piece of paper and include the names of all members of your group.
imagery
irony
symbolism
1. "... the air smelled of mold and cigarettes and unwashed laundry. We huddled around a potbellied cast-iron
stove in the middle of the living room...Erma pulled a bottle of whiskey from the pocket in her housedress,
and Dad looked happy for the first time since we'd left Phoenix" (Walls 131).
2. "Life is a bowl of cherries, with a few nuts thrown in" (Walls 98).
3. "Mom nodded at all our preparations; she'd always appreciated self-sufficiency" (Walls 287).
4. Jeanette described Welch as being "shabby and worn out, but you could tell it had once been a place on its
way up" (Walls 134).
5. "I loved the newsroom's purposeful atmosphere. Teletype machines clattered against the wall as spools of
paper carrying news from around the world piled up on the floor. Banks of fluorescent lights hung down
eighteen inches above the slanted, glass-topped desks where men wearing green eyeshades conferred over
stacks of copy and photographs" (Walls 203).
6. "Once he finished work on the Prospector and we struck it rich, he'd start work on our Glass Castle" (Walls
25). "Dad, you'll never build the Glass Castle" (Walls 238).
7. '"Why do I always have to be the one who earns the money?' Mom asked. 'You have a job. You can earn
money....I've got more important things to do'" (Walls 219).
8.
8.
" 'You're the king of your own castle, and that's the way it should be,' Dad replied. 'But it'll be a chilly
day in hell before I bow to my own son' " (Walls 254)
9. "He's the father. He's the one who's supposed to be taking care of you' " (Walls 263).
10. "I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on
your toes" (Walls 34).
11. "In the spring, the rains came, drenching the valley for days in sheets of falling water. The water ran down
the hillside gullies, pulling rocks and small trees with it, and spilled across the roads, tearing off chunks of
asphalt. It gushed into the creeks, which swelled up and turned a foaming light brown, like a chocolate milk
shake" (Walls 184).
12. "The baby was pink and wrinkly but absolutely beautiful, with big blue eyes, soft wisps of blond hair, and
the tiniest fingernails I had ever seen. She moved in confused, jerky motions, as if she couldn't understand
why Mom's belly wasn't still around her. I promised I'd always take care of her" (Walls 46).
13. "At times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn't keeping my promise that I'd protect her" (Walls 206).
14. "Mom had grown up in the desert. She loved the dry, crackling heat, the way the sky at sunset looked like a
sheet of fire, and the overwhelming emptiness and severity of all that open land that had once been a huge
ocean bed," (Walls 21).
15. "'Why do I always have to get dad?' I asked. 'Because he likes you the best,' she said. 'And he'll come home
if you tell him to'" (Walls 181).
16. " 'You kids. You make me ashamed. Do you hear me? Ashamed!' 'You're ashamed of us?' Lori called after
him," (Walls 181).
17. "Mom said we could each take one thing, like the time we left Battle Mountain. I wanted to bring my bike
but Mom said it was too big, so I brought my geode" (Walls 124).