Cesar Rivera

Ela
Mr.Cook
11/19/14
Imagery and pathos go together better than peanut butter and jelly! The short
stories The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charolette Perkin and Harrison Bergeron by
Vonnegut, Jr. use a lot of imagery to appeal to ones pathos.These stories use the
rhetorical device of imagery to affect the pathos of the audience.
In The Yellow Wall-Paper you can see a lot of imagery in the way the narrator
describes the wall paper. She makes the paper seem as if death was upon it! The
narrator says, I never saw a worse paper in my life. One of those sprawling flamboyant
patterns committing every artistic sin ( Perkin, 13). This certain event really sets the
tone of the wall paper. This paper is most definitely not a good thing! This wallpaper is
horrid. The wallpaper is so bad that it makes the narrator sick!The narrator records in
her journal, The color is repelling, almost revolting (Perkin, 13) This narrator is quick to
show us that she wants to impede this wall paper. This paper is not appealing it is rather
atrocious.
In the short story Harrison Bergeron the author uses a lot of imagery to make
people feel that equality is not always a good thing. Vonnegut, jr states in his story,
Scrap metal was hung over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military
neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking
junkyard (Vonnegut, 11). This whole quote evidently lead to the narrator saying he
looked like a walking junk yard. This event really creates an image in our head about

how strong Harrison is and how many handicaps he needs to keep him equal with
everyone else. Vonnegut, Jr.writes, Harrison tore the straps of his handicaps like wet
tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds (Vonnegut, 11).
This event just adds on to the readers understanding of Harrisons power and strength.
He tore the handicaps right off! It is like Harrison is Infallible.
How both stories use imagery to appeal to pathos. Both The Yellow Wall-Paper
and Harrison Bergeron use imagery to appeal to pathos. In The Yellow Wall-Paper
the narrator describes the wall over and over again to make us feel sorry for her. We
start to feel bad when she starts to talk about how ugly and atrocious the wallpaper is.
The paper stains everything it touches! In Harrison Bergeron they describe Harrison
as this massive guy who is so strong, really winsome, and intellectual.
Both of these short stories use imagery to appeal to one's emotions. Vonnegut
Jr. does a really good job of describing how the weights somehow make everyone
equal. He creates a dark tone to show that equality is not a good thing. Charolette
Perkin also does a very good job in describing the Wall-Paper and how atrocious it
looks. This makes the audience feel some sympathy for the narrator. Evidently she
turns crazy and the author uses such good imagery that we side with the narrator and
feel bad for her.