Question

English help URGENT - one question!

"But what is strange about these people is their invisibility. For several weeks, always at about the same time of day, the file of old women had hobbled past the house with their firewood, and though they had registered themselves on my eyeballs I cannot truly say that I had seen them. Firewood was passing—that was how I saw it. It was only that one day I happened to be walking behind them, and the curious up-and-down motion of a load of wood drew my attention to the human being underneath it. Then for the first time I noticed the poor old earth-coloured bodies, bodies reduced to bones and leathery skin, bent double under the crushing weight."

In this excerpt from George Orwell's essay Marrakech, the author uses figurative language as a literary device. In 3-5 sentences, identify and describe one example of figurative language from the text, and explain how Orwell uses this device to support his view of the British Empire. Include evidence from the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

This passage uses metaphor.

Specifically, Orwell is using a metaphor to describe the effect of the British Empire. Wood is passing -- the speaker sees it but does not realize at first that the wood is being carried by old women. When he finally does see them, he realizes how old and crushed they are beneath the weight of the wood.

The Empire is much the same. It passes -- it moves along -- but as it does so, it crushes beneath it the oppressed, whose lives make it possible for the Empire to run smoothly.