🧠 Stylistic Devices Flashcards (Q&A Format)

What is a simile?

A comparison using 'like' or 'as.' Example: 'She was as brave as a bear in battle.'

What is a metaphor?

A direct comparison saying one thing is another. Example: 'His heart was a locked door.'

What is personification?

Giving human qualities to non-human things. Example: 'The wind whispered her name.'

What is hyperbole?

Extreme exaggeration for effect. Example: 'I’m so hungry I could eat a moose.'

What is understatement?

Downplaying the seriousness of something. Example: 'Residential schools were a bit of a problem.'

What is symbolism?

Using one thing to represent a deeper idea. Example: A feather = spiritual connection.

What is foreshadowing?

Hinting at events that will happen later. Example: 'The sky darkened—something bad was coming.'

What is an allusion?

Reference to another text, event, or figure. Example: 'She carried the weight of the world, like Atlas.'

What is an anecdote?

A short personal story to support an idea. Example: 'When I was five, I saw my grandfather perform a healing ceremony.'

What is a rhetorical question?

A question asked for effect, not to be answered. Example: 'Don’t we all deserve to be heard?'

What is onomatopoeia?

A word that imitates a sound. Example: 'The drum went boom, echoing into the night.'

What is alliteration?

Repetition of beginning consonant sounds. Example: 'Silent shadows slid silently.'

What is repetition?

Repeating words or phrases for emphasis. Example: 'We remember. We resist. We rise.'

What is parallelism?

Repeating grammatical structure in phrases. Example: 'To speak, to sing, to survive.'

What is irony?

A contrast between what’s said and what’s meant or expected. Example: 'The school that promised to "civilize" only caused pain.'

What is colonization?

When one country or group takes control of another’s land, culture, and people. Example: European settlers taking Indigenous land and forcing children into residential schools.

What is decolonization?

The process of reversing colonization and reclaiming culture, language, land, and power. Example: Indigenous communities reviving traditional ceremonies and languages.

What is intersectionality?

The overlapping of different identities (race, gender, class) and how they shape people’s experiences. Example: An Indigenous woman facing both racism and sexism.

What is eurocentrism?

Viewing the world through a European/Western lens and ignoring other perspectives. Example: Teaching only Shakespeare and no Indigenous authors in English class.

What is holism?

Seeing everything as connected—people, land, animals, spirits. Example: Indigenous stories that show how harming nature harms the people too.

What is sovereignty?

The right of a group or nation to rule itself without outside interference. Example: An Indigenous nation running its own government and schools.

What is self-determination?

The power to make your own choices about how to live and govern. Example: Choosing traditional medicine instead of Western doctors.

What is classism?

Discrimination based on a person’s social or economic class. Example: Looking down on someone for living in poverty.

What is ethnocentrism?

Believing your own culture is better than others. Example: Dismissing Indigenous traditions as 'savage' or 'uncivilized.'

What is privilege?

Having unearned advantages due to race, gender, class, etc. Example: A white student being treated with more trust than a racialized peer.

What is assimilation?

Forcing a group to abandon their culture to fit into the dominant one. Example: Indigenous kids punished for speaking their language at school.

What is intergenerational trauma?

Trauma passed down from one generation to the next. Example: A grandchild of a residential school survivor experiencing fear, anxiety, or shame without knowing why.

What is reconciliation?

Repairing the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by acknowledging harm and working toward justice. Example: Supporting Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action or learning Indigenous history.