Brian Keenan uses a variety of linguistic and literary devices in An Evil Cradling to convey his experience of his time spent in solitary confinement. Some of the devices I will be looking at are; simile, metaphor, assonance, alliteration, personification and oxymoron. The two passages I will be comparing in this essay are pg. 62 -70, from the chapter entitled 'Into the Dark' from 'Come now into...' to '...explain them to myself' and pg. 73 …showed first 75 words of 1301 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1301 total…walls.' And the way Keenan finds himself 'hissing' at the birds. Keenan effectively coveys his experience of solitary confinement by the use of all the linguistic devices I have mentioned. His clever usage of similes, metaphors, repetition, assonance, alliteration, personification and oxymorons all help him to communicate clearly his feelings and experiences. These are communicated plainly in a way so that we as the reader are, at some extent, able to sympathise with Keenan.