Identifying My Own (UN)Intentional Exaggeration (Entry 3+1)

I had given some thought to the idea that other than understanding and identifying hyperbole in other people's writing, I should be able to comment or analyze my own, and detect that which had been done purposelessly and without intention. Scamming through a folder with my files, I came upon a short story I wrote as an assignment last year. It was about a workaholic promising his wife that he wouldn't be so work-obsessed, but he fails to hold on to his words and ends up alone. 

Somewhere on page one, where things are still being introduced, there is a part that goes like this: “All he did, all he ever cared about was his job. His projects. His endless calculations of stuff she couldn't care less about.”

So, word by word, here's how it would have been if it was to be portrayed simply and objectively: Most of the time he was occupied with his job, his projects, and the long calculations of stuff that the female character was not interested in.

Why did I switch them? “MOST” became “ALL” because I must have wanted to emphasize how time-consuming those actions were. “LONG” became ”ENDLESS” for the same reason, i.e. to show the time spent doing them. And finally, “was not interested in” became “She couldn't care less about”, to show the female character's opinion on the previously mentioned subject, in a clearer, concise and terse way.

Later in the story, when Ian (the male character) hands the wife a remote control for the just finished and newly designed robot, Holly, (the female character) who is unaware of the existence of the new robot, asks: “What's gonna happen?” (meaning, when she presses the button). To this, Ian responds with “Miracles”.

World hunger is not to disappear, and world peace is not to be magically established. No death will be reversed and no water will be turned to wine. A new housekeeping robot may slightly affect typical households, but it is not God descending from heaven to judge us. To sum it up, no miracle is to be induced by pressing the button on the remote. 

And yet, this specific word is used to present the level of importance that the effect of the remote control button being pressed has on the character that exclaims "Miracles".

It is interesting to pinpoint that this is not the narrator using hyperbole to emphasize or pinpoint, but it is the character himself that makes an overstatement regarding the outcomes of the pressing of the button. 

And now since my eyelids are closing on their own, not accepting my request to stay open, I will leave the rest of the analysis for some other time. However, I did notice that, consciously or not, I do not exaggerate a lot. And the lack of it in my writing is balanced by its excess of it in my speaking.

When I speak, I always exaggerate...if you get my point!