Hyperbole and Paradox

Please work through the first three sections of the tutorial and then complete the Pop Quiz to the right.

After completion of the first three sections and the quiz, please move on to the "Applying Your Knowledge" section. Be prepared with your written work for next class period.

This link will take you to a short video that reviews Understatement and introduces you to Hyperbole and Paradox.

This link will take you to an excellent source that gives brief, simple descriptions of different figures of speech. For this assignment, please pay attention only to the following figures of speech: 

Hyperbole
Paradox

We will get to the other 18 in the future! You can use this page as a reference for the future, so bookmark it into your English folder.

Visit this link for an overview of the importance of figures of speech in writing. 

Question: What is the purpose of figures of speech in our current novel, The Great Gatsby in relation to our theme of the American Dream? In any of the chapters we have read this far, please choose one example you can find of either paradox or hyperbole, and write three paragraphs pertaining to the passage selected.

Paragraph 1: What is the figure of speech at work? How do you know it is that type of figure of speech? 

Paragraph 2: Who is being described or speaking/thinking this passage? Is this person usually described or found speaking/thinking in figures of speech? Try to find other examples that involve this character to prove this is an isolate incident of a figure of speech or that he usually does use other figures of speech (what are the other figures of speech?).

Paragraph 3: Tie this figure of speech to what we have been discussing about the novel. What does this passage say about this character's American Dream?