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Technique?

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Nialllovespie:
Does anyone know a technique/s for the quote "mental photographs"? From the motorcycle diaries... :)
Thank you!! 

MightyBeh:
Haven't read it, but a few things come to mind:

Contrast and/or juxtaposition: When I think of a photograph, I think something physical: generally speaking something has to happen for a photo to be taken. Mental, on the other hand, implies imagination or reminiscence - more introspective. You could continue this line of reasoning and call it a metaphor; mental for the 'inside' and photograph for 'outside'. If you went that far you could call it a dichotomy, but definitely stray on the side of caution when using that as a technique because it's pretty specific.

Imagery or descriptive language: 'mental photographs' sounds like an interesting way to talk about memories. Things that the person speaking feels are very vivid; kinda the same as 'it felt like it was yesterday'.

Colloquialism, characterisation, emphasis: If it is referring to memories, then why couldn't the author just say memories? By 'dumbing it down' to suit the character, the author (un?)intentionally puts emphasis on this part becaue it sounds different to what we'd expect. Related to the last point but a little bit different.

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