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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—Bill’s Running Pace:
At the end of the story, once Sam and Bill have successfully passed Johnny off to his father Ebenezer (despite Johnny’s resistance), the men discuss how quickly they can escape from the boy, with Bill using hyperbolic language in the process:
“How long can you hold him?” asks Bill.
“I’m not as strong as I used to be,” says old Dorset, “but I think I can promise you ten minutes.”
“Enough,” says Bill. “In ten minutes I shall cross the Central, Southern and Middle Western States, and be legging it trippingly for the Canadian border.”
Bill’s hyperbolic assertion here—that he can “cross the Central, Southern and Middle Western States, and be legging it trippingly for the Canadian border” in just ten minutes time—is clearly an exaggeration. He knows that this is not true, but he says it in order to emphasize just how desperate he is to get away from Johnny, the 10-year-old boy who has been physically attacking him for days.
This moment highlights how, like Johnny, Bill, too, has an active imagination. While Johnny pretends to be “Red Chief” and imagines other make-believe scenarios while in the woods with his kidnappers, Bill’s form of imagination is best seen in hyperbolic exaggerations like this one (as well as in his and Sam's comically delusional belief that they are effective kidnappers).
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