ENGL 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Synecdoche, Metonymy, Parataxis
14 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Story focuses on a relic: a hair of the prophet, preserved in silver pendant, enclosed in a glass and silver reliquary. Relics are the most rhetorical religious artifacts which evoke the presence of someone who has died, especially one of spiritual significance. Synecdoche: the body part of a holy person. Metonymy: an object associated with a holy person. The purpose of relics is to enhance spirituality, increase love and devotion to the god that stands behind the saint, person or object. On one hand, people find their way toward spirituality through material objects. But on the other hand, there is a danger of substitution, whereby the material object comes to stand in for spiritual worship. Hashim"s devotion increases, but he becomes a zealot. Healing miracles occur in sheikh sin"s household, but they are mostly not beneficial. Begins in medias res: raises the question why these rich people want to hire a thief.
