Dunmore uses several effective methods to dramatize the power of cold and starvation. Some of them are more effective than others. In my opinion the most effective method she uses is the personification of cold and hunger into people.
She personifies cold and hunger and makes them generals. She gives them these high titles in the military hierarchy to emphasize the effect they can have on the people. This personification forces the reader to imagine what would happen if literally, two generals decided to kill everyone by starving and freezing them to death.
In the first paragraph, she describes General Winter using cold words and harsh sounds to dramatize their effect. "Daggers of ice", "struck" and "scorched" all add to the harshness of the cold. Also, alliteration using the "S" sound coming from these words reminds us of the sound of the cold wind which was awful for the people in the siege.
Dunmore, Pennsylvania
Dunmore, PennsylvaniaDunmore presents General Hunger as a well fed general with rosy cheeks to show the contrast between generals and people in the siege. While the people were starving, generals and other officials were well fed.
Dunmore has the two generals boasting of what they could do to the people. This is a very tragic way of describing the terrible effects of cold and starvation because the two generals are competing on who is the most evil and who can torture the people better. Dunmore emphasizes the importance of the age in a war by mentioning what effect hunger can have on fit young men. These men were the soldiers who were going to fight for their country, but under the siege they were starving and "eating themselves up". There is a lot of contrast between young and old, how hunger can turn fit young men to...