Question

Read the excerpt below and answer the question. A ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring, would have been a meet emblem of my mind when I accused and menaced Mrs. Reed: the same ridge, black and blasted after the flames are dead, would have represented as meetly my subsequent condition, when half-an-hour's silence and reflection had shown me the madness of my conduct, and the dreariness of my hated and hating position. To capture the tension between passion and reason within the excerpt, Brontë relies on _____. parallel sentence structure straightforward, literal language understatement and irony the use of a fire motif

Answer 1

To capture the tension between passion and reason within the excerpt, Brontë relies on the use of a fire motif.

Fire here is one thematic element which appears alive and devouring her at the moment of passion and then after the flames are dead when her mind is calm.

Parallel sentence structure uses words to show that ideas are of similar importance, normally they will show the same pattern, we don't see this here. While straightforward, literal language will not use metaphors, as she does comparing her mind with " A ridge of lighted heat". Lastly understatement and irony the writer will play down a situation, making something less important than it actually is.