Welcome back! The day’s not starting out well, more of those April showers, but the afternoon is promising. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a nice weekend even though the current long-term forecast is for rain.
Today’s letter is the letter J. In my writing, J stands for juxtaposition, a big fancy fifty cent word which means placing two things side by side so as to highlight their differences. As a rule, it’s used for rhetorical purposes. Writers juxtapose opposite elements frequently: wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness, or darkness and light.
The prize for best example of juxtaposition in literature goes to Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
I quoted the master in my contemporary romance Same Time Next Year, an All for Love novel which juxtaposes two stories, Twyla’s memoir of the summer of 1967 and her life fifty years later. Here’s the blurb.
A novel within a novel. For three short weeks, Twyla Lancaster was the fairy tale princess who’d found her prince, but just like that, reality ripped them apart. Now, fifty years later, she needs to know why the only man she ever loved broke his promises. As she writes her memoir and learns more about that summer, she realizes things were not what they seemed. Hormones raced, promises were made, but Twyla left Michael Morrison high and dry, and within weeks, married someone else. Grieving the loss of his parents and her betrayal, he turned his back on love, focusing on his military career. Now, goaded by his sister, he agrees to attend a wedding and reunion, knowing Twyla will be there. It’s time to find out why she lied to him all those years ago. The moment the star-crossed lovers see one another, love blooms between them, but when Michael discovers Twyla’s secret, he’s devastated. Is love enough to erase fifty years of pain and betrayal?
You can find buy links to this book and others on my website. https://mhsusannematthews.ca/
Other excellent examples of juxtaposition belong to President John F. Kennedy in his quotes “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” and “Let us never negotiate out of fear but let us never fear to negotiate.”
Many of the proverbs I use in my writing are also examples of juxtaposition. Here are a few I’ve used over the years.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
When it rains, it pours.
All’s fair in love and war.
Better late than never.
Beggars can’t be choosers.
Making a mountain out of a molehill.
When the cat’s away the mice will play.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Do you use juxtaposition? I’ll bet you do, and you didn’t even know it. Check out the other J posts here.
Living the Dream 