Dreams and Discoveries
Onomatopoeia
Learn what onomatopoeia is, words that sound like what they mean.
Read this line from the story: "The moment the door opens, this alarm is tripped off and makes a clanging sound."
Say clanging aloud. The word itself sounds like the noise it names! Such words are onomatopoeic, and using them is called onomatopoeia (say: on-uh-mat-uh-PEE-uh): words that imitate the sounds they describe.
You know dozens already: the boom of a firework, the ding-dong of a bell, the pitter-patter of rain, the tick-tock of a clock. Also buzz, splash, sizzle, whoosh, crackle, thud, giggle, murmur.
This story is full of them, because so much happens in the dark, where sound is all you have:
| Word | Sound |
|---|---|
| crash | sudden loud sound of something breaking (Boppa bumping into the machine) |
| humming | a steady, low, soft sound (the machine afterwards) |
| hissed | whispered angrily (Anita: "Your burglar alarm!") |
| hammering, sawing, clattering | the loud building noises of the fortnight |
Now see how much work these words do. Anita and Anand are locked in their room and can't see anything. Everything we learn about Boppa arrives as sound: a crash, a scream, muffled thumps, an eerie whine, a low hum, a fainter howl, clattering.
The mystery is built entirely out of sounds, and that's why the story can end without ever telling us what happened to Boppa!
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