The "Shelter"

387 Words2 Pages
In the short passage from "Shelter", Gagnon constructs a dark depressing ambiance with one paragraph. She used powerful emotive words, such as "abandoned, enraged, and betrayed" to establish a feeling of hopelessness. Short sentences and plain unembellished language create a sense of urgency and give us insight that the characters are not well educated and come from a lower class. The sentence, "(s)haken by a dry cough, he advanced bent over, as if hit in the stomach."(paragraph 1 line 4-5) illustrates a written description of how the character struggles with his cough and ability to walk. Marie Gagnon uses multiple forms of sensory imagery. This includes sight, touch and auditory. "Its steeple was lost in the sky and its portal floated as if suspended"(paragraph 2 line 1-2) is a beautiful example of sight imagery. When the characters warm one another in their arms generates a warming feeling. "(She) howled in the night ..and his moans joined those of the winds" (paragraph 2 line 10-12) is a creative way of using auditory imagery to create a sense anguish and desperation. Gagnon uses inspired yet simple imagery to compose a great emotional depth to her story. Although this is a very short piece, Gagnon, creates strong emotional impact through the simplicity of the story. She introduces hope of shelter and food however all of her life's basic needs are taken away when they reach the shelter and it is closed. In the first paragraph, the police are suppose to be of service of those in need. although the characters are being chased be the police and find no security relying on their help. There is a strong conflict between hope and denial. When the steeple is spotted faith is restored in survival through the sickness, hunger, and cold winter night. However, when the church doors are locked the darkness and despair overtakes their hope and optimism. She calls

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