Boy!
By: Roald Dahl
Characteristics of a memoir
This book is a memoir. Like other memoirs, this book focuses on a brief period of time. This book lasted a period of 18 years. Along with that, most of the 18 years were descriptive, whether he was at school or home. Also, compared to an autobiography, this book is read like a story. All of the facts are nonfiction, but is still entertaining.
Follows a story format
The conflict starting
Boy's half sister gets a car! The family wants a ride so she takes them. While at a speed of 35 MPH, the half sister crashes the new motor vehicle.
The conflict
In the car crash, boy's nose is literally dangling off his head, and he has to be rushed to the doctor's.
The climax
The doctor rushes to boy's house and performs surgery. Boy's nose is better, but he feel's sick.
Literacy devices used in Boy
Dahl uses many literacy devices in Boy, when describing things such as a job that the pupils had to do to their guider. Boy tells about his job of warming the toilet seat for the teacher. He uses a simile, when he says " it was like I got the hypothermia" when he had to perform his duties. Dahl also used figurative language in the last few pages, when he compares the life of a writer to hell. He says the life of a businessman was a lot easier.
Thoughts and feelings used
While Dahl was in school, he tells the reader about the headmaster. Each time the pupils do something wrong that gets them sent to the headmaster's office, you get an automatic trashing from the master. The book Boy explained about how it feelings of the thin stick whipping you on your rear end, making it bleed.. Apparently, it hurt.
Quote/theme statement
In this book, it talks about corporal punishment. "This was the man who used to deliver the most viscous beatings to the boys under his care". This punishment would mean that each time a pupil did something wrong, they would result in having the headmaster give them a thrashing on the butt. This shaped his future in many ways. Later in the book, it talks about how Dahl cannot sit in one place too long, because his rear-end starts to hurt.