Question

Read the excerpt from “First Generation” of Dreaming in Cuban. He stops at the ocean’s edge, smiles almost shyly, as if he fears disturbing her, and stretches out a colossal hand. His blue eyes are like lasers in the night. The beams bounce off his fingernails, five hard blue shields. They scan the beach, illuminating shells and sleeping gulls, then focus on her. The porch turns blue, ultraviolet. Her hands, too, are blue. Celia squints through the light, which dulls her eyesight and blurs the palms on the shore. Which of the following is an example of a hyperbole? “smiles almost shyly, as if he fears disturbing her” “and stretches out a colossal hand” “His blue eyes are like lasers in the night.” “The porch turns blue, ultraviolet.”

Answer 1

"and stretches out a colossal hand" would most likely be your answer. Hyperbole means it is an exaggerated statement not to be taken literally. Colossal mean huge and do his hand is huge but of course not that big.

Answer 2

A hyperbole is a figure of speech that is used to exaggerate something because the author wants to point out something important or give it more emphasis. In this case the sentence that contains an example of a hyperbole is "and stretches out a colossal hand"; the hand is not actually colossal, but the author wants to express that it is bigger than regular hands.