response writing of david swan

Yan Ding 23 October 2013

Response Writing of David Swan

"David Swan" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorn which was written for teenagers and young. The short story is generally talking about the fantastic events passed by David Swan while he's asleep/ He met with the enticement of wealth, the beauty of love and the threat of death; but since he was asleep, he didn't notice anything.

The theme is the central idea of the whole story. The theme of this short story is about opportunity and risk. In the short story, David was not anybody but a normal young man; but he ceaselessly met wealth, love and the threat of death while he's asleep! From here we can see that our life is surrounded by numerous events which may completely change our future. The theme was actually already given by the author in the first paragraph.

David Berkowitz branded with Dr Pepper

David May

Short story collection

The theme is also about the foolishness of the people became the opportunity in just beside them but they see nothing. These people have their eyes closed as which of David Swan.

The author also used a lot of literal techniques such as simile, hyperbol and personification in the short story. Simile is a technic, by using the word "like" or "as", to make explicit comparison between unlike thing. Such as the statement "Blushing as red as any rose…", the author is comparing between the bashful face of the young lady and the rose. Hyperbole is a technic which is similar to an exaggeration. In the short story, author has described the flying bee as a "dragon in the air", it's clear that he has exaggerated. The personification is a technic to describe something which is not human by giving it a human's ability. By example, at the...