Debra Brodin

Juxtaposition is a literary device that implies comparison or contrast. Writers create juxtaposition by placing two entities side by side to create dramatic or ironic contrast. Juxtaposition is a form of implied comparison in that there is no overt comparison or inference on the part of the writer. This allows the reader to discern how the paired entities are similar or different. The effect of this literary device is a more profound understanding of contrast and creating a sense of fate or inevitability in the comparison.

For example, in the movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, filmmakers effectively juxtapose black and white film with bright technicolor to showcase the differences between Kansas and Oz. Though Oz is bright, colorful, and whimsical compared to the harsh gray of Kansas, Dorothy realizes that her home in Kansas is where she belongs and is happy. The juxtaposition of such contrasting places highlights the inevitable decision that Dorothy must make about returning to home and reality.

Writers use juxtaposition for rhetorical effect by placing two entities side by side in order to highlight their differences. These divergent elements can include people, ideas, things, places, behaviors, and characteristics. Here are some common examples of entities that are juxtaposed for artistic effect:

Many novels and stories are well-known due to their juxtaposition of ideas, settings, characters, and themes. Here are some famous examples of juxtaposition in familiar novels and stories:

It can be difficult to distinguish between juxtaposition and foil as literary devices. In fact, foil is a form of juxtaposition. Both of these devices are based o n implied comparisons created by the writer. However, foil is limited to the juxtaposition of characters.

As a literary device, foil specifically refers to contrasts between characters within the same narrative. A writer uses the juxtaposition of two characters as foils in order to emphasize their disparate qualities or character traits. For example, in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Cal and Aron are brothers and foils for each other. Their characters are juxtaposed to showcase the differences in their natures, as Cal is dark and secretive while Aron is delicate and beloved.

Juxtaposition, as a literary device, is not limited to characters. With juxtaposition, any entities such as ideas, places, and things, can be placed side by side to invite comparison and create an ironic effect.

Writers can achieve a great deal when they juxtapose two elements. By putting two entities side by side, writers invite the reader to compare and contrast, considering the relationship between the elements with closer scrutiny. Juxtaposition can have the effect of absurdity or humor, or create a link between elements and images that appear unrelated until they are paired.

Writers can also reveal truths about a character through contrasting their traits with another, to achieve a foil. Juxtaposition can demonstrate that one idea or element is better when compared to another, and often readers gain a greater understanding of nuances of traits or concepts through juxtaposition.

It’s important for writers to understand that there must be a sense of logic and intention in juxtaposing two entities within a narrative or poem. As a literary technique, juxtaposition is more than simply putting one entity beside another and inviting the reader to make a comparison between them. There must be meaning in the juxtaposition so that some aspect of the literary work becomes more significant to a reader.

Although it seems that juxtaposition and antithesis are two similar terms, they are poles apart in meanings and sense. An antithesis is a specific term, whereas a juxtaposition is a general device. Antithesis puts two ideas or concepts that often contradict each other. Contrary to the antithesis, juxtaposed concepts or ideas or things are dissimilar and do not necessarily contradict each other. Even the name suggests that juxtaposition means putting side by side while antithesis means putting against each other.

The difference between juxtaposition and oxymoron is mostly obscure. A juxtaposition is placing dissimilar ideas or objects or things together for the sake of contrast and comparison. However, an oxymoron shows the placing of two contradictory ideas, depicting a single and strong sense of the words which, though, seems opposite yet is strongly associated with the other word in showing true meanings. For example, a pretty ugly boy is an oxymoron as it is just a phrase. However, if it is twisted to become a juxtaposition it would be; a pretty boy has come across and an ugly boy has passed along.

Juxtaposition, or the technique of comparison and contrast, appears in all forms of artistic expression. In literature, juxtaposition is an effective literary device in that readers gain greater meaning through measuring the tension of similarities and differences between two paired elements.

Here are some examples of juxtaposition in literature and how this literary device adds to the value of literary works:

In Reed’s poem, the poet juxtaposes the stages of breaking down and naming parts of a military rifle with naming parts of springtime. In this stanza, the safety-catch of a gun and its release is juxtaposed with fragile blossoms. This juxtaposition allows the reader to consider any similarities and contrasts between releasing a weapon’s safety-catch and fragile blossoms. The differences are obvious, so Reed may appear to have created an incongruous juxtaposition. However, there is a logic to the implied comparison in that releasing the safety-catch on a gun allows bullets to fly from it, just as blossoms might be released and fly from a tree.

The juxtaposition of the parts of a weapon and parts of springtime creates a dramatic effect of tension between death and destruction and rebirth and renewal. By simply pairing these two entities side by side in the poem, Reed allows the reader to compare and contrast man-made technology meant to end life and nature’s capability of restoring and beginning life.

In this chapter of Tan’s novel, a daughter is trying to understand her mother’s actions towards her as a child while simultaneously coming to terms with her mother’s absence in death. The mother and daughter juxtaposition creates a foil for the narrative in many ways, particularly in that the daughter considers herself to be American and the mother considers herself Chinese. In addition, the juxtaposition of the daughter’s older, more experienced self and the memory of her childhood self encourages the reader to consider more fully how time can change someone’s perspective and understanding of people and memories.

In this passage, the daughter opens the piano book to find two musical pieces juxtaposed. As she plays each piece, the daughter explores the similarities and differences between them. This implicitly invites the reader to compare and contrast these pieces, although not musically. Instead, through the juxtaposition of the song titles, their musical descriptions, and the daughter’s reactions to playing them, the reader is able to compare and contrast the daughter’s relationship with her mother and the mother’s relationship with the daughter. This is significant in allowing the reader to explore meaning and understanding in the story, just as the daughter’s character attempts to do as well.

In his allegorical tale of the Russian Revolution and the nation’s transformation from a czarist regime to a communist state, Orwell juxtaposes many elements and themes to showcase the significance and meaning of historical events and political theory. In this passage, the animals witness the juxtaposition of the pigs and men at the end of the story.

Rather than resulting in stark contrast, the juxtaposition of the pigs and men instead brings about an inability among the “outside” animals to distinguish between them. This has a dramatic effect in terms of the narrative since the pigs were the original leaders of the revolution on the farm and intended, at the beginning of the literary work, to differentiate themselves as much as possible from the men they believed to be their oppressors.

In addition to the ironic effect of this juxtaposition of pigs and men, the “creatures outside” are juxtaposed with the pigs and men inside. This additional layer of juxtaposition is effective to use the literary device because it invites the reader not to compare and contrast the men with the pigs, but instead to compare and contrast the men and pigs (oppressors) with the outside animals (the oppressed). By utilizing juxtaposition, Orwell effectively demonstrates the link between power and its consequences, for those who possess it and those who don’t.

Although there are several other examples, this not-so-well-known example shows that two ideas black and fair have been juxtaposed in these lines. They have just been put side by side to compare two different ideas which are contradictory but do not contradict. They just accentuate the contrast.

These lines from The Jungle show that Sinclair has put two ideas tiring and sitting side by side but he does not mean to state them for the sake of contradiction. They are just showing a contrast.

These lines from the essay of Jonathan Swift show how Swift has put two different ideas or things the orphan children and innocent babes side by side to compare and contrast two opposing ideas.

Some of the words that are closer in meanings to juxtaposition are comparison, contrast, proximity, colligation, closeness, contiguity, or nearness.