Dec 19, 2009

A Voice from the Border | Literary Qualities

Hill uses a number of literary techniques in the novel: foreshadowing, flashback, similes, and dialect to add flavor to this story. Telling the story through the voice of the main character, Margaret Reeves O'Neill, enriches the reader's enjoyment of the novel.

Hill incorporated similes to aid readers in visualizing characters and their emotions and actions. For instance when Mr. Phelps informs the slaves that Gaylan's will does not free them until the war's end, "Their faces were as blank as pages in an empty ledger." More examples are when Mrs. Campbell declares that...