“He was an old man. His black, heavily wrinkled face was surrounded by a halo of crinkly white hair and whiskers that seemed to
separate his head from the layers of dirty coats piled on his smallish frame. His pants were bagged to the knee, where they were met with rags that went down to the old shoes. The rags were held on with strings, and there was a rope around his middle.” There are several contrasting details in the passage, details that give two completely different pictures of the man. For example, the passage says the man is wearing layers of dirty coats, which makes him sound padded and heavy; but he is also described as having a smallish frame, which makes him seem small, or frail. Identify one more contrasting detail in the paragraph.
have a predominantlywhitecolor, while the description of clothes suggests these are mainly dark.
<h3>What are contrasting details?</h3>
These are details that show opposite or different features. The most common contrasting concepts used in literature are:
Love vs hate
Death vs life
Good vs evil
Beauty vs ugliness
<h3>What are the contrasting details in the excerpt presented?</h3>
The description of this main character and his clothes convey a black vs white contrast.
White: The hair is predominantly white as explained in "surrounded by a halo of crinkly white hair ".
Black: The author conveys the idea the clothes are dirty and this will lead to a black or brownish color "where they were met with rags that went down to the old shoes".
