Juxtaposition
the placement of two or more things side by side, often in order to bring out their differences.
Imagine a man walking a well-groomed dog on a pink leash on one hand and a rough Rottweiler on a spiked collar on the other hand. The juxtaposition could be shocking, humorous, or just plain strange. Regardless, this literary term calls attention to two distinctly different things by placing them right beside one another, or juxtaposing them.
For example:
All’s fair in love and war
In this familiar adage, love and war, two opposite concepts, are placed beside one another. The juxtaposition of love and war serves to show that despite how different the two are, both are characterized by a lack of rules or guidelines.
Carl Fredricksen is old, curt, and jaded. Russell is young, full of energy, and naïve. Russell wants to connect, whereas Fredricksen wants to be left alone. The juxtaposition of these two characters is funny, a cause of conflict in the movie, and ultimately, a reason for Fredricksen to lighten up and open his heart to the youngster.
Finally, notice how this example describes a butler’s life:
A butler spends his days in a beautiful mansion dressed in a tuxedo, but returns home to a closet-sized apartment in a rundown part of town.
This example juxtaposes two settings: a wealthy person’s mansion and a poor butler’s apartment. Such juxtaposition serves to highlight just how different the butler’s quality of living is from his employer’s.
Credits:
Created with images by JeepersMedia - "Fall Disney Catalog from 1998 Featuring Pooh, Rabbit and Tigger as a Scarecrow! From Mike Mozart's Huge Toy Catalog Collection!" • Boke9a - "dandelion blossom bloom" • werner22brigitte - "rottweiler dog animal" • hile - "Heart" • DB-Foto - "cannon southern states usa" • tpsdave - "mcfadden-ward house beaumont texas"