Fraser Island Passage Analysis
Fraser Island Passage Analysis The author's hatred for the wilderness on the island is expressed through literary devices throughout the passage. Having been rained on and in damp and smelly jeans, the author and his friend, Craig, journey into the interior of Fraser Island, where he describes it as being a “wasteland” and the “badlands.”The author uses descriptive similes and metaphors, cacophonous vocabulary, vivid imagery, and Craig's contrasting positive outlook of just how terrible the visit to Waddy Point really was for him. Word choice was one of the devices used to express the author's tone in the passage. He used similes and metaphors to describe some situations. For example, the author compares the beach to a “lunar landscape,” describing the crater-like surface of the sand. He also said the “coarse dune forest” was a “deafening wall of white-static noise,” conveying the trees and sand to be like a wall the blocks sound. Later on he says that the wind that hung from the hammocks “slammed through the ancient forest like a horde of spoilt children.” This means that the wind was blowing so hard that the hammocks were being blown away. Cacophonous vernacular was also a big factor in the word choice of the passage. Words like “ferocious,” “greyness,” “brittle,” and “prehistoric rawness” add the the harshness of the author when describing the island. The similes and metaphors paired up with the cacophonous words have a negative annotation and clearly shows the authors disdain toward the environment on the island. Vivid Imagery and Craig's contrasting point of view also play a large role in describing the island. In one part of the passage, the author tried to light a fire, but all he ended up doing was burning off his eyebrows. He then later says that he is “reeking of scorched hair,” referring to when he burned his eyebrows. He then says that the storms for the night before “reduced the southern beach into a swamp.” When he says this, he means that it