Blog#6

    I have found a simile in my novel, this poetic device gives the reader an idea of what something looks like. "The dentist, a Jew from Czechoslovakia, had a face like a death mask." (Wiesel,49) This quote is giving me an idea of what the dentist's face looks like, from the text I can guess that the dentist was not a very handsome man and probably scary and intimidating. Poetic devices like similes are very useful to readers to help us understand what a character or surroundings look like. for example, if the author wanted to make the dentist look nice, he might have wrote "The dentist, a Jew from Czechoslovakia, had a face like a puppy." Writing this would make the reader think of the dentist differently. It makes me think the dentist look friendly, not scary, easily approachable. I think the "death mask" the author talks about may have a double meaning. Jews would be examined thoroughly, including a face print into clay, Jews slang for this was the "death mask" because it was very difficult to breathe.