Write a diary entry overcoming a fear/phobia

--

Explanation:

    Today, I found a spider hidden behind my chair. The chair I sit in everyday of the week, for an hour a day as I read my book. There was quite a bit of webbing as well, and I realized that it had probably been there awhile. I had sat and read without a clue, and it never came near me. I think. I hope. But it led me to realize that maybe spiders aren't demonized spawn of the devil, and are probably okay to the point that I don't have to run around screaming. I still killed it though.

--xx, diary writer.

Analyzing the following expressions:

The expressions above are oxymorons, meaning that they put together words whose meaning are contrasting. We would assume that, if something or someone is pretty, they cannot be ugly; if something is true, it cannot be a lie.

That, however, is not the real purpose of this rhetorical device. The apparent contradiction mentioned above is precisely that: apparent. It does make sense in context because the first word serves as an intensifier of the second word.

We can observe that in the following examples:

In both instances, the first words of the oxymoron are intensifying the second one. The cut wasn't merely ugly, it was very ugly. "Pretty" does not keep its original meaning in this context.

The same happens with the word "true". The lies told were extremely obvious. "True" does not keep its original meaning either.