Passage 181 · 1998
"The Poisonwood Bible"
Main effectThrough imperative imagine/picture commands, indefinite ruin with paradoxical must-never-have-happened, declarative I-want-you, possessive its-conscience assignment, and appositive eyes-in-trees metaphor, Kingsolver creates syntax of readerly conscription—grammar that commands audience into specific position as embedded moral witness to impossible catastrophe.
Device index
Hover over a device to highlight its words. Select it to keep the explanation open.
Tropes
Direct address to reader.
Implicit comparison.
Seeming contradiction.
Syntax
"Imagine"—command verb. Syntax makes reader active participant.
"a ruin"—indefinite article with abstract noun. Syntax refuses to specify disaster.
"so strange"—degree adverb with adjective. Syntax emphasizes extremity.
"must never have happened"—epistemic modal with double negative. Syntax creates paradoxical impossibility.
"First, picture"—second command with ordinal. Syntax structures reader's visualization.
"the forest"—definite article. Syntax treats setting as known, specific.
"I want you to be"—cognitive verb with infinitive. Syntax makes narrator's desire explicit.
"its conscience"—possessive making reader into moral faculty. Syntax assigns ethical role.
"the eyes in the trees"—appositive metaphor with locative. Syntax adds second metaphor for reader's position.
Close reading
1Close Reading
Imperative Opening
"Imagine"—command verb. Syntax makes reader active participant.
Indefinite Ruin
"a ruin"—indefinite article with abstract noun. Syntax refuses to specify disaster.
Adverbial Intensity
"so strange"—degree adverb with adjective. Syntax emphasizes extremity.
Modal Negation
"must never have happened"—epistemic modal with double negative. Syntax creates paradoxical impossibility.
Imperative Sequence
"First, picture"—second command with ordinal. Syntax structures reader's visualization.
Definite Forest
"the forest"—definite article. Syntax treats setting as known, specific.
Declarative Want
"I want you to be"—cognitive verb with infinitive. Syntax makes narrator's desire explicit.
Possessive Conscience
"its conscience"—possessive making reader into moral faculty. Syntax assigns ethical role.
Appositive Specification
"the eyes in the trees"—appositive metaphor with locative. Syntax adds second metaphor for reader's position.
Stylistic Effect
Through imperative imagine/picture commands, indefinite ruin with paradoxical must-never-have-happened, declarative I-want-you, possessive its-conscience assignment, and appositive eyes-in-trees metaphor, Kingsolver creates syntax of readerly conscription—grammar that commands audience into specific position as embedded moral witness to impossible catastrophe.