Question

Read the passage below and answer the question

"Here, brother Sancho Panza," said Don Quixote when he saw it, "we may plunge our hands up to the elbows in what they call adventures; but observe, even shouldst thou see me in the greatest danger in the world, thou must not put a hand to thy sword in my defense, unless indeed thou perceives that those who assail me are rabble or base folk; for in that case thou mayest very properly aid me; but if they be knights it is on no account permitted or allowed thee by the laws of knighthood to help me until thou hast been dubbed a knight."

"No soft words with me, for I know you, lying rabble," said Don Quixote, and without waiting for a reply he spurred Rocinante and with leveled lance charged the first friar with such fury and determination, that, if the friar had not flung himself off the mule, he would have brought him to the ground against his will, and sore wounded, if not killed outright. The second brother, seeing how his comrade was treated, drove his heels into his castle of a mule and made off across the country faster than the wind. from Don Quixote

Then she told me that she had just passed the road test, bribing the officer with five hundred yuan in addition to the three thousand paid as the application and test fees. She e-mailed: “Sister, I must have a car. Yesterday Minmin, our little niece, came to town driving a brand-new Volkswagen. At the sight of that gorgeous machine, I felt as if a dozen awls were stabbing my heart. Everybody is doing better than me, and I don’t want to live anymore!”

I realized she didn’t simply want to impress her ex. She too had caught the national auto mania. I told her that was ridiculous, nuts. I knew she had some savings. She got a big bonus at the end of each year and freelanced at night. How had she become so vain and so unreasonable? I urged her to be rational. That was impossible, she claimed, because “everybody” drove a car in our hometown. I said she was not everybody and mustn’t follow the trend. She wouldn’t listen and asked me to remit her money as a loan. She already had a tidy sum in the bank, about eighty thousand yuan, she confessed. from “The Bane of the Internet”

In a short paragraph of at least two hundred words, compare and contrast how Miguel de Cervantes’s use of figurative language differs from language use by Ha Jin. Use at least two examples of textual evidence to support your answer.

Answer 1

Explanation: Miguel de Cervantes and Ha Jin both use figurative language in their writing, but they differ in the way they use it.

In Cervantes' passage from "Don Quixote," he uses figurative language to create vivid and dramatic scenes. For example, when Don Quixote charges at the friar with his lance, Cervantes writes that "if the friar had not flung himself off the mule, he would have brought him to the ground against his will, and sore wounded, if not killed outright." This metaphor compares the friar's potential injury to being wounded or killed, adding drama and intensity to the scene. Cervantes also uses the metaphor of "a dozen awls" stabbing the protagonist's heart to describe her jealousy and frustration when she sees her niece driving a new car.

In contrast, Ha Jin's use of figurative language in "The Bane of the Internet" is more subtle and understated. Ha Jin uses similes to compare the protagonist's feeling of jealousy to the sensation of awls stabbing her heart, and to describe the trend of owning a car as "nuts." Ha Jin's figurative language serves to convey the protagonist's emotions and thoughts rather than creating dramatic scenes.

Overall, Cervantes and Ha Jin both use figurative language to add depth and emotion to their writing, but they differ in the way they use it. Cervantes' figurative language is more dramatic and intense, while Ha Jin's is more subtle and understated.