The Use of Literary Devices in “We Are All Made of Molecules” by Susin Nielsen

A captivating novel is one that uses multiple literary devices to grip the reader’s attention while reading. Susin Nielsen, the author of We Are All Made of Molecules uses a large selection of figurative language. She uses a variety of foreshadowing, similes, and imagery to express her writing in a creative way. She also has various important reasons as to why she chooses these elements in her writing. Therefore, the author’s use of figurative language impacts the mood of the story.

To start, she uses numerous examples of foreshadowing in the novel which heavily impacts the mood of the story. One example shown in the novel could be when Stewart; the main character was talking about his “Christmas holiday” and how amazing it was going; he was feeling as if his step-family and real family were getting along nicely. Nielsen ends off the chapter with a suspenseful line: “It was a great Christmas holiday, until it wasn’t”. This is foreshadowing the disastrous party that’s held in their house later in the story. The author is using foreshadowing here because she wants to grip the attention of the reader, and she wants to add a suspenseful spin to the story. This line impacted the mood of the story; it went from happy and cheerful with Stewart talking about his exceptional “Christmas holiday” to suspenseful and dark when Neilsen brought up the spooky foreshadowing line. Another example of foreshadowing could be when Ashley; the antagonist and Jared; her boyfriend were planning a New Year’s Eve “get-together” with their friends. Ashley then says to her dad “Dad, its fine. We’re just having a few people over. What can possibly go wrong? Famous last words.” This also foreshadows the ruinous events that happen in the “get-together”. The “get-together” turned into a large party, with people calling others to come join and bring in their own alcohol bottle. Everyone got drunk and many others vandalized and sole expensive items from the house. The author decided to place a line of foreshadowing specifically there because she wanted the reader to infer and be concerned about what’s going to happen later on in the story. This is when the plot thickens and changes the mood from casual and content to concerning and tense. This is how foreshadowing impacts the mood of the story.

Secondly, the use of similes in the story impacts the mood of the story as well. An example would be when Ashley was kissing Jared, passionately when something truly unexpected happens: “he leaned in and kissed me with his beautiful, soft mouth, which I liked. He’s a good kisser. Then he pushed me down on the bed and climbed on top of me like a monkey would.” Ashley compared Jared to a monkey because of the way he was “climbing” her. The author decided to put a simile there to make the reader have a better visualization of how he was climbing her and how lustful Jared is towards her. This line is important because it contributes to the rising action, the story starts to get more exciting within every line the reader reads. This line drastically altered the mood from romantic and pleasant with their kissing, to dangerous, scary and stressful, since Ashley did not have a desire for sex and was frightened by what Jared would do next, to her. Another example of a simile that changes the mood of the story is when Stewart was talking about the time when he got abruptly bullied by Jared in the change room. “Without warning, he grabbed my gym shorts and yanked them down as fast as a cheetah would around my ankles”. Neilsen is comparing Jared to a cheetah because of how fast he “yanked” down his shorts. This line is also important because it contributes to the rising action, and also because the reader is introduced to one of the main characters; Jared. He has a large impact on the story. She placed that simile there to make the reader comprehend his character more. The author wanted to emphasize him pulling down Stewart’s pants also for the reason of better visualization of this bullying scene. This line changed the mood of the story from ordinary and pleasant (because Jared was being nice, and he was casually talking to Stewart just before he quickly pulled down his shorts) to alarming and madness because he “yanked” his shorts down speedily and out of nowhere. These are some of the many similes that transform the mood of this story.

Thirdly, the author places countless passages and sentences of imagery in this novel that differ the mood of the story. An example of this could be when Stewart was talking about Violet’s (his crush) beauty: ” She has a beautiful smile. Her teeth are straight and white. The rest of her face is pretty too. It is a very symmetrical face, which I find aesthetically pleasing”. He is thoroughly describing her facial features and his opinion on them. The author decided to put in a passage of imagery here, so the reader can see things from how Stewart sees is. This can contribute to character development as well, since he starts to have feelings for another person. Also, she used imagery to show how “beautiful” Stewart thinks she is. This line will make the reader more intrigued and want to read the story further on to see how Stewart and Violet turn out later. This passage of imagery changes the mood of the narrative from calm and normal, (since just before Stewart met Violet, him and his best friend were doing some general shopping) to dreamy and lovely, when Stewart speaks about her pleasing looks. Another example of this would be when Stewart was talking about the aftermath of the party; how the physical damage has been fixed: “Life has returned to almost normal. The gigantic hole in the foyer has been fixed. The carpets have been professionally cleaned. Phil’s house has been painted a whole new colour, a very attractive blue”. The author uses rich adjectives to describe how their house looks as good as new. This line is significant because this is the resolution, one of the most important parts in a story. This talks about how his “life has returned to almost normal”. The author used imagery here because she probably wanted to let the reader calm down from the bizarre party earlier. This changed the mood from crazy and stressful, (since the party happened) to calming and peaceful, since the conflict of the party has been resolved. These examples represent how imagery changes the mood of the novel.

This is how figurative language impacts the mood of the story, specifically foreshadowing, similes and imagery. Figurative language is key to a great, exciting, and intriguing novel.