Vivid Imagery in Inside Out and Back Again
Inside Out & Back Again
Lai, Thanhha. Within Out and Dorsum Again. New York: Harper, 2007. ISBN 9780061962790
Summary:
Imagine yourself young, comfy, and content with life when suddenly the place you know every bit home is under constant attack. Life isn't safe anymore in your homeland, so your family must make the difficult and unsafe decision to abscond your country in order to save your lives. This is Hà's journey. It is a story of life – change, anguish, dreams, sorrow, promises, happiness, and most of all, resilience.
Analysis:
In this costless poetry novel, Thanhha Lai explores the life of a immature girl and the struggles she and her family face. Lai'due south poetic style carries the reader seamlessly through Hà's journey from the outset of her life in Saigon to her eventual home in Alabama. Her words read tenderly and allow the reader to securely connect with Hà.
Thanhha Lai utilizes the costless verse poetic form in her novel Inside Out and Back Again. Lai uses frequent line breaks that emphasize natural breaks in the follow of speech or a sentence. This commonly occurs in her novel with verbs or prepositional phrases beginning a line. Most lines are less than seven (7) words long. The consistency in curt lines and the varied length of lines allows the reader to pause and completely take in Lai's language.
Lai employs a variety of figurative linguistic communication techniques in order to create a vivid picture of Hà's journey. Throughout the novel, the reader will find evidence of simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, and imagery. These techniques help identify the reader inside Hà'south Saigon school hunkered downwards in a condom identify, next to her family unit aboard the ship, outside the family tent in Guam, abreast her repeating a grade, and finally, at peace with the loss of her father. Lai's novel is a beautiful, poetic masterpiece based on a real life experience.
Below are examples of Thanhha Lai's beautiful use of figurative language:
Simile
"I vow
to rise kickoff every morning
to stare at the dew
on the green fruit
shaped like a lightbulb." (p. 9)
"The cakewalk still cool
we bounciness across the bridge
shaped like a crescent moon
where I'k non to go by myself." (p. 32)
"In the distance
bombs
explode like thunder,
slashes
lighten the sky,
gunfire
falls similar rain." (p .48)
"Black seeds spill
similar clusters of eyes
wet and crying." (p. 60)
Onomatopoeia
"I listen to
the swish, swish
of Female parent'southward handheld fan." (p. 67)
Personification
"We clap and handclapping
as the ships depict together
and kiss." (p. 92)
Metaphor
The American transport
tows ours
with a steel complect
thick as my body." (p. 92)
Imagery
"Tall and sus scrofa-bellied,
black cowboy hat,
tan cowboy boots,
cigar smoking,
teeth shining,
scarlet in face,
aureate in hair." (p. 111)
Awards and Review Excerpts:
-2011 National Volume Accolade Winner
- 2012 Newbery Honor Volume
- Publishers Weekly'south Best Children's Fiction of 2011
- Washington Post Best Children's Books of 2011
- New York Times Best Seller
From Booklist, starred review: "Based in Lai's personal experience, this first novel captures a kid–refugee's struggle with rare honesty. Written in attainable, brusk free–verse poems, Hà'due south immediate narrative describes her mistakes—both humorous and heartbreaking; and readers will be moved by Hà's sorrow equally they recognize the anguish of existence the outcast."
From The Horn Book: "Lai's spare language captures the sensory disorientation of irresolute cultures as well as a refugee'due south complex emotions and kaleidoscopic loyalties."
From Publishers Weekly: "A serial of poems about English grammar offering humor and a lens into the difficulties of adjusting to a new linguistic communication and customs ("Whoever invented English/ should be bitten/ by a snake"). An incisive portrait of homo resilience."
From School Library Periodical: "Sensory language describing the rich smells and tastes of Vietnam draws readers in and contrasts with Hà'south perceptions of bland American food, and the immediacy of the narrative will appeal to those who do not usually enjoy historical fiction." ~ Jennifer Rothschild
From Bulletin of the Heart for Children'southward Books: "In this gratuitous-verse narrative, Lai is sparing in her details, painting big pictures with few words and evoking abundant visuals."
Connections:
Locate Saigon on a map and research The Vietnam War to help provide background noesis.
Collect and share Thanhha Lai'south second novel: Listen, Slowly ISBN 9780062229182
Create a "featured poet" brandish about Thanhha Lai. Be sure to include information from the author'due south notation found at the terminate of Inside Out and Back Again.
Ask students to select a pivotal result in their lives and write a free verse verse form inspired by Lai's style.
Collect, share, make connections and compare Lai's verse novel to other novels where immature adults incur great changes or challenges in life, such as:
- Number the Stars past Lois Lowery ISBN 978054757709
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen ISBN 9781416936473
- Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardner ISBN 9780064401326
Create a collection of picture books about immigration, such as:
- Coming to America: The Story of Clearing past Betsy Maestro ISBN 9780590441513
- The Name Jar past Yangsook Choi ISBN 978075691630
- If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine ISBN 9780590438292
Enjoy the journey!
~ Mandy
Source: http://mrsschneiderreads.blogspot.com/2015/10/inside-out-back-again.html
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