Purpose:
Authors generally use cliches in their writing in order to express ideas or thoughts that are widespread to the audience of what is being written. The impact of the use would be that the reader would be able to get a better understanding of what the author is trying to express to the audience. In some situations, authors shouldn’t use cliches, because of the number of times the idea has been overused, as it shows a lack of originality. Authors may use cliches in a character's dialogue to illustrate the character's personality as well as to add an aspect of humor to situations put in place in the piece of writing. While cliches are older ideas that have somewhat lost their deeper meaning, some authors use them in different contexts to change or update the meaning, such as using cliches to demonstrate the opposite, like in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) by Oscar Wilde, “Divorces are made in heaven”(Act 1, Scene 1), the commonly associated. They “create a sense of camaraderie” between the readers so they can all commonly understand what is being said based on the commonness of the term.
Headlee, Celeste, and Hephzibah Anderson. "At The End Of The Day, Cliches Can Be As Good As Gold." National Public Radio, 27 Dec. 2012, www.npr.org/2012/12/27/168149099/at-the-end-of-the-day-cliches-can-be-as-good-as-gold. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
Steps for analysis
Identify the Cliche by recognizing commonly said descriptions, ideas, or thoughts
Look at the situation surrounding the Author introducing the Cliche
Think about how it helps or makes the situation better
Does it connect to the characters? If so, how does it serve the character?
Is the Cliche being used in the traditional, overused definition or is the author trying to redefine the cliche in modern terms?
How does the author add a new meaning to the phrase?
Does the use of the cliche increase the understanding of the cliche in its original use?
Example and Analysis
“So, I’m left with the last thing that I sort of ignored as a topic. Happiness. I’m sure you have been told that this is the best time of your life. It may be. But if it’s true that this is the best time of your life, if you have already lived or are now living at this age the best years, or if the next few turn out to be the best, then you have my condolences. Because you'll want to remain here, stuck in these so-called best years, never maturing, wanting only to look, to feel and be the adolescent that whole industries are devoted to forcing you to remain”(Morrison).
Morrison, Toni. "Toni Morrison's Commencement Address to the Wellesley College Class of 2004." 28 May 2004. Wellesley College, 28 May 2004, www.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/2004commencement/commencementaddress. Accessed 6 Sept. 2022. Speech.
The Cliche being used in the speech is the idea that college is the best time of your life. The speech is being presented by Toni Morrison for the Commencement of the class of 2004, the speeches that are given, offer advice for the future for the students. While generally the term is used to highlight their experience in college and cause excitement for their college experience, Morrison challenges the overused phrase. She uses it to change the students' ideas that college was the best years of their life. She does so by saying that, if their mentality remains that those were their best years, they’ll remain in that mindset and not want to mature in order to experience better years that are to come in the future. Further, in the speech, she talks about the student's happiness. She talks of the yearning for childhood when a person is older, and the yearning for adulthood when a child, she advises that the students not solely have their career as the source of their future happiness, but focus on other aspects of their lives as well. She changes the meaning of the cliche, making the accepted, worn-off phrase to have them look forward to the future of their adulthood in making more exciting journeys.
On a grander scale of the piece in the speech, the use of the cliche and what she also brings up in the next paragraph is that in modern society, corporations and the believed to be ideal lives cause people to close off their independent thinking. The use of the cliche compares it with the use of cliches, which are used as phrases with one sole meaning that is accepted by a wide majority. The use and comparison of the cliche allow her to get across the message that the students shouldn’t just accept the widely conceived definition, instead they should use their independent thinking.