65 pages • 2 hours read
Lois LowryMessenger
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author gives a hint of what will occur later. Lowry foreshadows the main events of the story from the beginning. Though the story begins in a utopian place where life is simple and idyllic, there are hints of unrest and darkness. In Chapter 2, the narrator says that Leader sensed something strange in Forest that “disturbed his consciousness and made him uneasy” (26). The main conflict of the book is foreshadowed when Seer tells Matty that selfishness is creeping into Village. Lowry warns readers that not everything is as it seems—something is chipping away at the goodness of the townspeople.
In the second half of the book, the foreshadowing is more straightforward. From the moment Matty enters Forest, death is present in some form or another. The smell of rot comes from the center of Forest; berries that should be good to eat are dying; even the log that crumbles beneath Matty as he tries to sit suggests the impending death of the protagonist.
Personification
Personification is a literary device through which a non-human object is given human characteristics. In Messenger, Forest is a personification. Though Forest is an expanse of land with trees, vines, and underbrush, it acts with a will of its own. The townspeople treat it with fear and respect, almost as if it were a deity or higher power that knows more than they do. Forest uses vines and branches to entangle and strangle travelers it does not like; conversely, it parts bushes and underbrush for Matty. Though Forest has no body or voice, it communicates its feeling toward the townspeople. It can be friendly and hostile by turn, just like a human character.
Imagery
Imagery refers to the words a writer uses to give readers a clear picture of sensory objects in the story, so they can imagine the settings and characters in each situation. Writers do this by using language that appeals to the readers’ five senses. Lowry appeals to the readers’ senses from the beginning of the novel. In the opening scene, Matty and Seer are cooking. Lowry mentions the smell of the onion, the sound of food sizzling in the pan, the way the blind man used his hands to feel the food, and the simple, wooden home the characters share. The imagery in this scene creates a warm feeling and allows the readers to picture the home and the characters.
While Lowry uses imagery to create a warm feeling in the first scene, she uses different words to create a sense of fear and foreboding later in the book. When Matty enters Forest to find Kira, Lowry describes the darkness in the forest as “thick.” She describes the smell of death and decay. She highlights black spots on bitter red berries, describes the angry sounds of a chipmunk and the sharp bite on Matty’s finger, and uses visceral descriptors like “slimy,” and “foul-smelling” to cement Forest in the reader’s imagination.
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By Lois Lowry
