The Pathetic Fallacy in Fiction

Image via Wikipedia Writers have the tendency to spice up their text by attributing human feelings to nature and also to human-created objects. Creative writers impute and endow feelings, emotions, impulses, intuitions, and other traits that humans possess, to forests, rivers, lakes, oceans, animals, the wind, rain, storms, etc. Here’s an example from Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers: The evening grew more dull every moment, and a melancholy wind sounded through the deserted fields, like a distant giant whistling for his house-dog. The sadness of the scene imparted a somber tinge to the feelings of Mr. Winkle. He started as they passed the angle of the trench—it looked like a colossal grave. People grow dull or sharp, not evenings. What Dickens is doing is setting up a scene with which he intends to startle his readers, to put them in a state of suspense and terror. And if Dickens doesn’t fully intends to terrorize his readers at least he would have achieved a good scare—or at worst, get their attention. Likewise, people grow melancholy and not the wind. If you read closely you’ll see the elements (imagery) that Dickens uses to achieve that primeval fear we all carry within: dogs howling, whistling as we pass a cemetery and its graves. And by using the word ‘giant’ he magnifies, elongates, and distorts the nature and the objects to animate them and cause strangeness. Related to the pathetic fallacy are the techniques of ‘animation’ and ‘objective correlatives.’ Originally posted in Writersrepublic.com Oxymoron in Action IanFleming's Intransitive Verbs Orwell's Rules for Writing How to Use Similes What is an Allegory? StephenKing vs StephenieMeyer The Pathetic Fallacy If you are interested in seeing how I achieved personal success in the United States, you may find my book of short stories East of Tiffany's interesting. Some of the stories are based on my life as an executive, investment banker, and financial adviser to wealthy investors in the East Side of Manhattan. Close to half-million people have read East of Tiffany's so far. Order your copy from either Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Since English is my second language, Mary Duffy --a master of the English language-- aided me not only with the editing, but she also contributed her own stories. I love her writing in "When You Wish Upon a Star." This is a story based on a personal friend's life. Senada Selmani, model To write great blogs, e-mails, term papers, essays, or fiction - Get Mary Duffy's Sentence Openers Itching to Become a Writer? Visit Mary Duffy's Storefront

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