Purpose:
An author can use hyperbole to draw attention to a specific characteristic or feeling making this feeling more important than it is. When writing exaggeration and overstatement are intentionally used to emphasize what the author is writing about. It dramatizes text and can highlight the images or ideas that are being written about. It can also be used to present a common idea and make it more intense. Although hyperbole can be used to drive or emphasize a point to the reader, it can also be used to evoke humor in writing or speeches.
When using hyperbole in writing it is important to make sure your hyperbole will not be taken literally. Hyperbole is meant to be an exaggeration and is not meant to be taken at face value. The goal of hyperbole is to bring attention to an idea that usually is not very important. So an insignificant moment is emphasized making the reader pay attention to that specific moment. Hyperbole is not used to describe something literally, but rather to exaggerate a smaller idea.
Steps for Analysis
Read and identify anything in the text that seems exaggerated
Evaluate the subject of the exaggerated text
Evaluate the effect the hyperbole has on the subject and in the sentence
Analyze the significance of the hyperbole in the sentence and in the overall text
Example from President Trump Rally in Dallas, Texas on October 17, 2019:
"The radical democrats want to destroy America as we know it"
Analysis of Passage:
The exaggeration of the radical democrats shows us that this is hyperbole. Obviously, democrats in America are not trying to destroy America but Donald Trump is exaggerating how he thinks the democratic ideals are bad. Donald Trump is emphasizing how he does not agree with the democratic ideals and thinks that the democrats should not be elected. He specifically uses hyperbole on the radical democrats because they are his opponents and he is trying to emphasize to his supporters that he is the person they should vote for and that if the democrats are elected into office they will do a bad job at governing America. He is making the idea that democrats are bad and emphasizing it and making it super important in his speech by saying they will destroy America. He dramatizes the democrats and says if you do not vote for him, a republican, then a democrat will be president and ruin America.
The idea and emphasis in the speech about how the democrats are bad continue. Since this is a rally where Donald Trump is trying to gain supporters he does so by driving the point that the democrats will ruin the country and how he will make America great again. He promotes the idea that democrats are bad by emphasizing the idea. He exaggerates the radical democrats to make sure none of his supporters will be voting for the democrats who are going to destroy America as we know it.
Campaign 2020, President Trump Rally in Dallas, Texas. 2019. C-Span, www.c-span.org/video/?465272-1/president-trump-holds-rally-dallas-texas. Accessed 6 Sept. 2022.