What Is Juxtaposition? | Definition & Examples
Juxtaposition is a literary device that involves placing two objects, ideas, or images alongside each other (physically or in the imagination) in order to highlight their differences. In American English, it can also be used when looking at similarities. It is a common feature of literature as well as other fields of communication and public discourse.
“In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop, would go one of the six-inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing could happen.”
What is a juxtaposition?
Creating a juxtaposition is not just putting two things next to each other and saying, “Look how different they are!” It is often more subtle than that, and juxtaposition is often sustained throughout a work, especially where there might be a protagonist and antagonist who represent two very different things like good and evil.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, Dick Diver is the tragic hero whose fall provides the novel’s pathos. At his height, he is a much-admired ringmaster of the “set” that he and his wife Nicole have created in Paris and the South of France. In the following example, Dick has claimed to be the only American man with “repose,” in other words a man who does not fiddle with facial hair or his clothes in public. Fitzgerald uses others in the café as a juxtaposition to Dick’s repose:
“His hands hanging naturally at his sides, the general waited to be seated. Once his arms swung suddenly backward like a jumper’s and Dick said, ‘Ah!’ supposing he had lost control, but the general recovered and they breathed again—the agony was nearly over, the garçon was pulling out his chair…
“With a touch of fury the conqueror shot up his hand and scratched his gray immaculate head.
“’You see,’” said Dick smugly, ‘I’m the only one.’”
Why do authors use juxtaposition?
In simple terms, we often need a reference point to understand the scale or size of something, whether it’s a coin in a fossil photograph or a scale on a map. Something seen or described in isolation can be difficult to properly appraise. Juxtaposition can help to provide the necessary context.
Various effects can be achieved through juxtaposition, including:
- Emphasis: Juxtaposition can be used to create emphasis as it allows the contrasting features of your subject to be seen more clearly.
- Characterization: A character’s essential qualities can sometimes be most easily seen when juxtaposed with a contrasting character.
- Depth: The idea that “opposites attract” is often used in texts, and one aspect of this is juxtaposition—putting the shy, reserved character in a relationship with the bubbly, outgoing one, for instance.
- Persuasion: Juxtaposing an idea against something that is a strong contrast can make the idea more appealing. For example, making a difficult choice can be made more palatable if it is juxtaposed with the alternative, which is far worse.
Juxtaposition examples
In his novel Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh frequently juxtaposes the essentially good character of Paul Pennyfeather with the dissolute and amoral people who ruin his life. After a tumultuous time, a curious minor character called Otto uses a juxtaposition to explain to Paul how the events have unfolded.
“Lots of people just enjoy scrambling on and being whisked off and scrambling on again … Then there are others, like Margot, who sit as far out as they can and hold on for dear life and enjoy that. But the whole point about the wheel is that you needn’t get on it at all, if you don’t want to. Now you’re a person who was clearly meant to stay in the seats and sit still and if you get bored watch the others.”
Otto’s analysis juxtaposes the “dynamic” characters like Margot with Paul, whom he sees as “static.”
Sometimes juxtaposition can be used in surprising or unusual ways. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T. S. Eliot surprised the poetry world with this jarring juxtaposition in the opening lines:
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;”
The use of a surprising comparison in the simile heralds the surprising direction that Eliot is taking his poetry. It is a striking and unsettling juxtaposition.
Other similar literary devices
There are other literary devices that are related to juxtaposition:
- Foil: A foil is a character in a text who is used to provide a contrast with another character (very often the protagonist). For example, as well as being perceived by Othello as a love rival, Cassio provides a foil in Othello. He is urbane, suave, and white, and makes Othello feel lacking in all those aspects.
- Antithesis: An antithesis has a more concrete distinction than is found in a juxtaposition. “You either surf or fight!” is the clear antithesis offered to his men by Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now!
- Oxymoron: An oxymoron is a noun phrase that is self-contradictory, like “deafening silence.” It is used as a device to make the audience think or to capture contradictory and simultaneous emotions (e.g., “Bitter sweet”).
Frequently asked questions about juxtaposition
Cite this Scribbr article
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Marshall, T. (2025, February 03). What Is Juxtaposition? | Definition & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 24, 2025, from https://www.scribbr.com/rhetoric/juxtaposition/
