Question

Which two parts of this excerpt from Mark Twain's "The £1,000,000 Bank-Note" use hyperbole? "I may use your name! Your name--think of it! Man, they'll flock in droves, these rich Londoners; they'll fight for that stock! I'm a made man, I'm a made man forever, and I'll never forget you as long as I live!" In less than twenty-four hours London was abuzz! I hadn't anything to do, day after day, but sit at home, and say to all comers: "Yes; I told him to refer to me. I know the man, and I know the mine. His character is above reproach, and the mine is worth far more than he asks for it." Meantime I spent all my evenings at the minister's with Portia. I didn't say a word to her about the mine; I saved it for a surprise.

Answer 1

A hyperbole is either a word or a sentence in a text that shows an overstatement (an exaggeration), it does not have to be literal; it is just a way to express your ideas in order to generate a contrast or to get the reader's attention.

In the excerpt the hyperboles (exaggerations) are:

• Your name--think of it! Man, they'll flock in droves, these rich Londoners; they'll fight for that stock!

When the writer says "they'll flock in droves", he refers to a very big amount of people together.

• In less than twenty-four hours London was abuzz!

When the writer uses the word "abuzz", it does not mean the city was on fire; it means the city was lively busy.

Answer 2

First, you should know that a hyperbole is a resource used in literature to intentionally intensify what is been saying, in other words, overreact. In this excerpt "Man, they'll flock in droves” you can notice the resource being used cause it clearly shows an overreaction to explain that the man’s name calls the attention of lots of people, they surely trust on him. But you also see that “flock in droves” is like a metaphor, it isn’t that literally. The other one that use a hyperbole is “…I made man forever, and I'll never forget you as long as I live!”. It is being shown that forever is an extreme lapse of time, right? When you use it you obviously want to accentuate how long something will last. And for sure say as long as I live is another way to remark on the time.