VOICE is an author’s distinctive literary style, basic vision and general attitude toward the world. This “voice” is revealed through an author’s use of SYNTAX (sentence construction); DICTION (distinctive vocabulary); PUNCTUATION; CHARACTERIZATION and DIALOGUE. The voice of an author may cover a wide range of possibilities (e.g. “victim,” “judge,” “friend," "coach," “spy,” “opponent,” "cheerleader,” "critic," "alien") (AP Glossary of Literary Terms).
All of us have a distinct writing voice. The way we construct our writing and present our ideas to the world is unique to each of us. Your blog this week is to find an example (not discussed in class) that you can determine the following:
Type a paragraph of the text into your response. This can come from any school appropriate source. Explain the following about your passage.
1. What is the passage trying to say?
2. How does this writer say it? Look at vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, and dialogue.
3. Why does this style appeal to you?
64 comments:
"Sixty seconds. That's how long we're required to stand on our metal circles before the sound of a gong releases us. Step off before the minute is up, and land mines blow your legs off. Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equidistant from the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, spilling over with the things that will give us life here in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn. For instance, only a few steps from my feet lies a three-foot square of plastic."
This is an excerpt from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I chose this because it is something I am familiar with and also distinct in voice.
1. The passage is trying to get across how these 60 seconds will go by quickly. As soon as they run out, kids will be fighting for their lives and killing each other.
2. Her sentences are short. They often are fragments as well. This creates suspense as well as a fast pace. The reader becomes worried as if they are going into the arena. Her diction is not very complicated or elevated. By making the point of view first person, it causes the person to become invested in the work as well as the characters. Collins puts her readers in the story.
3. This style appeals to me because I love reading quickly. The short sentences really help with that. I also like it because it deviates from the normal complete sentences that make up many works of literature.
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” (pg 3) In this passage of Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury is expressing Guy Montag’s sense of happiness and fulfillment in life. Bradbury uses incredible word choice and diction. The words burn, blackened, fists, python, spitting, venomous, kerosene, blood, pounded, blazing, burning, tatters, charcoal, and ruins all add to the distinct tone. The passage is about the Montag’s satisfaction with his life and how amazing he is at his work, yet the words are dark and negative providing a sinister quality to his voice. Going along with his sinister attitude is his harsh diction, and alliteration, which foreshadows his lack of understanding toward the true meaning of living a happy and fulfilling life. This style appeals to me because of the phenomenal description, another distinct characteristic of his voice. I love the way he speaks about the running kerosene, comparing it to a python. I also love how he is described as the conductor of the fire symphony.
"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I'd hoped to give you forever." - Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook. I chose this because it is something familiar to everyone.
1. This passage is trying to say that love can be a good thing and if you find the right person, love can happen and that it can be good.
2.He doesnt have alot of sentences but the one or two he has they are pretty long. The speaker is giving great amount of hope to the reader or listner. It really makes you feel the love the two people have.
3.This style apeals to me because i love long qoutes. and i love the note book. The descriptions also really apeals to me because he personifys certian things and parts.
Breanna Hartory 4/5
"He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.
“They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.” a passage from the Great Gatsby
1.) The passage is trying to show how shallow and materialistic Daisy is by having her cry for not marring Gatsby and being rich.
2.) She has long sentences that are only broken up by commas. She is also very describe. He describes every single shirts color and type.
3.) This passage aplies to me because i am a very visual person, so the more colorful details the better.
{Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang}
"When i travel to New York, I hire
a big, black, british driver named Sylvan. I call him chocolate chunk. At the end of my trips he always buys me a little gift and gives it to me when he drops me off at the airport. Last time I left New York, he handed me a small brown paper bag,and once I boarded the plane and was comfortably seated, I opened the paper bag to find a note that read, "This is so that you'll have me with you whenever your driving. XO, Sylvan" Attached to it was a key chain that held a miniature hairy black Gorilla."
1. The passage is trying to say that when Chelsea goes to New York she hires a big, black driver who likes to leave her with gifts and the one gift she got was a hairy, black Gorilla keychain in memory of her driver sylvan.
2.The writer says it very casual, almost like she is conversing with you and telling you a story.
The sentence structure is vivid, yet straight to the point.
3.This style appeals to me because its easy to read and relateable and humorous.
You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period - Christopher Gardner (Will Smith)
1. The passage is saying that if you want someting go and get it no matter what anyone says.
2. The sentence structure is just plain and simple but used proper structure.
3. It appeals to me since i have been reading alot lately and i have decided to write my own books now due to this quote and inspiration given from this quote.
"Do they still can it infatuation? That magic ax that chops away the world in one blow, leaving only the couple standing there trembling? Whatever they call it, it leaps over anything, takes the biggest chair, the largest slice, rules the ground wherever it walks, from a mansion to a swamp, and its selfishness is its beauty... People with no imagination feed it with sex- the clown of love. They don't know the real kinds, the better kinds, where losses are cut and everybody benefits. It takes a certain intelligence to love like that- softly, without props." - Toni Morrison, LOVE
1. The passage is saying that lust and love are two completely different things. Love is not all about the physical and the infatuation. That is not love, that is lust. Love runs much deeper; this does not mean it is easier, it takes more work, but gives the two members of the relationship with a stronger bond.
2. The writer is the one making all of these statements. Morrison, a woman who writes in poetry, eloquently and beautifully states that infatuation is not the same as love. She is capable of bluntly stating something without it coming across negatively. Her vocabulary is elevated, but not forced. Her sentence structure is varied. There is no dialogue in this excerpt. The punctuation is varied; and she does not avoid the use of conjunctions.
3. This style of writing does really appeal to me because it is such a gift to be able to say things that need to be said and may be hard to say, and to say it in an eloquent way without sounding at all intrusive. Morrison is able to hit the hard things in a beautiful way and I hope that I am able to do the same, eventually.
“My theory is about moments, moments of impact. My theory is that these moments of impact, these flashes of high intensity that completely turn our lives upside down actually end up defining who we are. The thing is each one of us is the sum total of every moment that we’ve ever experienced with all the people we’ve ever known. And it’s these moments that become our history. Like our own personal greatest hits of memories that we play and replay in our minds over and over again.” -- The Vow
1.) The passage is trying to say that every moment we do something that impacts our life and defines who we are even if we don't realize it.
2.) The writer says this with a mixture of long and short sentences. The way the writer conveys their message makes you think outside of the box.
3.) This style appeals to me because I love the movie and I love quotes about life.
K.Monkowski 1*
"As you grow old, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, its also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it." (118) - Morrie
This is a passasge from Tuesdays With Morrie
1) It is saying that it you know you are going to die some day you will live a better life.
2) He says it by saying that you gain wisdom as you age you dont just decay until you die. So he compared decaying to growth.
3)This style appeals to me because he comes right out and says what he wants to say. He doesn't try to say things through all this figurative language. Its easy to understand.
A.MacIvor
"The trip took twice as long as usual. I arrive soaked with sweat under the snowsuit while my face is numb with cold. The glare of the winter sun off the snow has played games with my vision, and I am so exhausted and wrapped up in my own hopeless thoughts that i dont notice the signs. The thin stream of smokefrom the chimney, the indentations of recent footprints, the smell of steaming pine needles. I am litterally a few yards from the door of the cement house when I pull up short. And that's not because of the smoke or the prints or the smell. That's because of the unmistakable click of a weapon behind me." -Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
1.This passage is trying to say that you should always look for signs of trouble or danger.
2. The writer says it be hinting at clues that were missed by the person walking. The girl failed to see the footprints, the smells and the smoke.
3. This style of writing leaves you wanting more by ending every paragraph with you asking the question, "And then what?". Every paragraph is easy to read and really catches your attention with little twists here and there.
-Megan Chiara 4/5
"As for what's happened in the two years since, there are so many details: the hospital stay, the treatment I received, where I've been. Let's just say, for now, that I was lucky on many levels. I'm alive. I didn't kill anyone. I have been sober every day since-although some days are harder than others."-Mitch Albom in the book For One More Day.
The passage is saying that sometimes you just have to be thankful that you are alive and be thankful for what you have. Even though times get hard, you have to work through them.
The passage includes a list of things that he is not including in the book. It also has many short and to-the-point sentences that make for a dramatic and easy read.
The style makes the piece dramatic and easy to read. It is to the point and does not hint around. The style is very blunt.
-Madison Smith
“…a man could fill a ham with pickle in a few seconds. And yet, in spite of this, there would be hams found spoiled, some of them with an odor so bad that a man could hardly bear to be in the room with them. To pump into these the packers had a second and much stronger pickle which destroyed the odor – a process known to the workers as "giving them thirty per cent." …Formerly these had been sold as "Number Three Grade," but later on some ingenious person had hit upon a new device, and now they would extract the bone, about which the bad part generally lay, and insert in the hole a white-hot iron. After this invention there was no longer Number One, Two, and Three Grade – there was only Number One Grade. The packers were always originating such schemes – they had what they called "boneless hams," which were all the odds and ends of pork stuffed into casings; and "California hams," which were the shoulders, with big knuckle joints, and nearly all the meat cut out; and fancy "skinned hams," which were made of the oldest hogs, whose skins were so heavy and coarse that no one would buy them – that is, until they had been cooked and chopped fine and labeled “head cheese!”
This passage is from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
1. This passage is showing how low quality meatpacking was in the early 1900s. This is explaining the cruel schemes Packing towns had and how the grade meant nothing then. This is trying to suggest a need for serious change in the production standards.
2. Sinclair is extremely blunt about what is happening, he uses words that fill readers with disgust and force them to take action. The sentence structure varies to keep the reader from lack of interest but also is simple enough for the common person to understand. The word choice repulses readers and demands a change. The dialogue personalizes the experience for the reader and puts them in the place of the workingmen who witnessed it.
3. I liked this style because it is to the point and has an impact. Nothing is boring yet it is all well written. The book left such an impact that Theodore Roosevelt changed the whole food grading and standards system. If it was written dodging the truth it would not have had such and impact.
From Bradbury's Illustrated Man:
There were fireworks the very first night, things that you should be afraid of perhaps, for they might remind you of other horrible things, but these were beautiful, rockets that ascended into the soft air of Mexico and shook the stars apart in blue and white fragments. Everything was good and sweet, the air was that blend of dead and living, of the rains and the dusts, of the incense from the church, and the brass smell of tubas on the bandstand which pulsed out vast rhythms of "La Paloma." The church doors were thrown wide and it seemed as if a giant yellow constellation had fallen from the October sky and lay breathing upon fire upon the church walls; a million candles seemed sent their color and fumes about. Newer and better fireworks scurried like tight-rope walking comets across the cool-tiled square, banged against adobe cafe walls, then rushed on hot wires to bash the high church tower, in which boys' naked feet alone could be seen kicking and rekicking, clanging and tilting and retilting the monster bells into monstrous music. A flaming bull blundered about the plaza chasing laughing men and screaming children.
The passage is explaining the pure joy and beauty of a certain part of the world, in a certain time. The story goes on to explain that two of the visitors are escapists from the future world. This passage is, therefore, saying that we should enjoy and preserve the wonder the current world has to offer us; that we should not be so caught up in looking forward as to look sideways in time and think about what we have and how it might change.
Bradbury creates another world in one paragraph by using colorful imagery and unique metaphor. The sentences of this passage are characterized my multiple descriptive ideas, separated by commas much more often than periods. Words are often taken for aesthetic meanings rather than literal ones. That is, phrases like "boys' naked feet" give a clear image and feeling rather at the same time rather than being excessively detailed and confusing. The whole passage flows and is alive because of its fantastic form and simple genius.
Bradbury is a joy to read because he is so strikingly clear and lush in his descriptions of things. He is the best writer I know that can convey the emotion of an event. If for nothing else his aesthetic form is beautiful and completely enjoyable in and of itself.
“Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"
"Yes."
"You called her a liar?"
"Yes."
"You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?"
"Yes."
"Have a biscuit, Potter.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
1,the passage is trying to get across that Harry thinks he is going to get in trouble but instead gets offered a biscuit
2.Her sentences are short and straight to the point.
3.I like this style because it gets straight to the point and she doesn't dilly dally what she want her audience to know.
"Line upon line of grim-faced men knelt behind their shields, facing the creature, whispering silent prayers as the dragon's attack melted the shields of those closest to him and roasted them inside their armor. The screams of the dying birthed anger in those closest to the victims. With fierce determination the lines of men rose with cries of revenge and charged the dragon" - 'Swords of the Six, Scott Appleton
1. I chose this passage because it shows one of the best and worst qualities of mankind. It shows men hiding in fear from the enemy, but it also shows the courage that comes from watching those around you die, rising up from the ashes (possibly literally), and willing to fight on, despite what the enemy is capable of.
2. HIs first sentence is long, compared to the others, paralleling with the agony of those who died first, being burned alive. The other two sentences are much shorter, showing how long the fear lasts, and their hurriedness to avenge their comrades.
3. Again, I chose this passage because it reveals the best and worst qualities of humans. I also chose this because Appleton writes in a style that draws the reader in from the very first sentence.
"Thus one Need-love, the greatest of all, either coincides with or at least makes a main ingredient in man's highest, healthiest, and most realistic spiritual condition. A very strange corollary follows. Man approaches God most nearly when he is in one sense least like God. For what can be more unlike than fullness and need, sovereignty and humility, righteousness and penitence, limitless power and a cry for help? This paradox staggered me when I first ran into it; it also wrecked all my previous attempts to write about love. When we face it, something like this seems to result." Introduction to "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis
1: This passage is explaining why we can not come before God with anything but the basest Need-Love which finds root in our utmost depravity. Lewis invented the term Need-Love to distinguish the love of an unprotected child for its protecting father as a Need-Love from the free-will bestowment of affection as a Gift-Love. The mind-blowing aspect of this passage and its surrounding paragraphs is that a Need-Love, though birthed from what we need and receive but can not give, is no less love.
2: The major sentence structure device that brings out his point is the list of contrasts. The length of the list shows the deepness of the relationship between the opposites while the single word divider "and" shows the closeness. His word choice carries the incredibility of the situation as he juxtaposes "limitless power" and "a cry for help." The first term encapsulates what is infinitely elevated and Divine whereas the second is informal and pitiful in plain vocabulary. Lewis uses periods as punctuation where he could have used colons to keep the proper pause after each idea or half an idea so that the reader might not get indigestion with depth of the concepts.
3: There is so much passion in the style of this paragraph which is only the climaxing tip of the iceberg of a beautifully laid out idea threaded through the previous pages. One can hear in the voice an awed perplexity at the paradox as it blends formal attributes into the mush of desperate human understanding.
"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which
I have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew: "Christmas among the
rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has
come round--apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if
anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good time: a kind,
forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long
calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to
open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if
they were really fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of
creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never
put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good,"
This passage is about how Christmas is more then gifts and how life is a journey and u have to take steps to succeed and become successful in life.
This style of writing apples to me because I enjoy reading about life and things that are more important then material things. It also make u think about life and be grateful with what u have.
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-
No more-and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep-
To sleep-perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause-there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,
THe insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their current turn awry
And lose the name of action."
Hamlet 3.1 63-95
1. The passage is essentially an interpretive view of death, and the choices we have to make to either cause or avoid bringing it upon others in order to aid the common good. However, not all find their punishment until the afterlife, for Hamlet, this is not enough, but it is a heavy choice he must make to avenge or ignore his father's words.
2. His sentences are long and winded, he speaks philosophically and interpretively of life's justices and injustices, using the Shakespearean or Elizabethan language. He is essentially having an aside of one of the biggest choices the story will hold.
3. Overall, the style of the text does not entirely appeal to me, this passage however, is the most direct and descriptive of the person's outlook and ideals are. Seeing this provides wonderful character development and insight.
"Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn." The writter is trying to drecribe fear and does it well. It appeals to me because fear really can be bad or good like a fire. i really like that comparison he used their. This was a really good book that I enjoyed
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a tellar but for want of an understanding ear.”
― Stephen King, Different Seasons
King is trying to say that the worst things in life are those that are left unsaid. These words can tear people apart, and we all wish that someone would be there to listen. We're afraid that if we let out what we are thinking, it can be turned around and backfire on us. However, we wish we can speak our minds to someone without bias that can listen to what we say and understand without judgement. King is conveying this message by using metaphors for silence. He refers to words you don't say as treasures that your enemies can steal away. This writing appeals to me because it isn't too over the top, and it's something that we can all relate too.
Sean W. 4-5
"To be or not to be" From Hamlet
In the passage Hamlet is trying to figure out what the meaning of life is and is deciding if he should stay alive or deal with all of the difficulties of life.
Shakespeare uses the words they used back then and uses different saying to help you figure out what he means.
This doesn't appeal to me, I think that it is hard to understand what he is saying.
"Mars stinks. From the depths of its rock quarries to the iron-laden dirt that covers the planet's crust, it has a pungent, metallic tang that you can taste in your mouth. and it isn't just the soil. OUr polluted air is poisoned with the stick of human waster and burning fuel. The terraformed oceans stink; the newborn rivers reek; as do the lakes, which spew a perpetual efflux of sulfur. the whole planet is a compost heap, intentionally designed to rot and burn endlessly so that one day, its air will be completely breatheable, and its waters capable of supporting life. But tonight the stink is so powerful, I can smell it up here. Ten kilometers above the surface. Where I'm standing on a small square platform. Looking straight down."
An excerpt from Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill, one of my favorite books of all time.
1. This passage, the opening paragraph of the book, is really used to describe what the setting of the book will look like, and to grab the reader's attention (I mean, I'd be a little freaked out if I was on a platform 10 kilometers above Earth!).
2. Gill uses a lot of short sentences, like he's listing all of the things that are wrong with the planet. He doesn't use a lot of figurative language, either. The book is written in first person, so everything is from the main character's perspective, and the main character is really a person who just comes out and says it. Not a lot of figurative language.
3. This style appeals to me because it's very dramatic and action-packed (at least, the book as a whole is).
“You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.” -Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
1)This passage from the book is saying that everyone is equal to everything and everyone in the world. No one is better than anybody else.
2)His sentences are short and choppy. But when he describes what his short sentences are saying, his sentence is longer. His uses "you" and "we" making the reader feel as though they are apart of the book.
3)This style appeals to me because I like easy reads, but I also like books that are interesting and well put together. The short sentences make it easy, but the descriptions he uses makes it easier to understand by working all of his sentences together.
"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day"
1). The passage is telling you to think about one specific day and think how it could be different. Think about if things that happened never happened. How could this be different.
2). He talks in short pauses. He used these pauses to make what he is saying really sink it. To get you to stop and read it slower to truely understand what he is saying. He make it third person to make you think about it in your own situation more and really relate to what he is saying.
3).I really like this appeal because i love things that can relate to my life. I like when i can read it and immediatly think of my life and use his words to relate to my life. I like when a author really tries to make me think..
"How can I explain about his Illustrations? If El Greco had painted miniatures in his prime, no bigger than your hand, infinitely detailed, with all his sulphurous color, elongation, and anatomy, perhaps he might have used this man's body for his art. The colors burned in three dimensions. They were the finest scenes in the universe, the man was a walking treasure gallery. This wasn't the work of a cheap carnival tattoo man with three colors and whisky on his breath. This was the accomplishment of a living genius, vibrant, clear, and beautiful."
From The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury communicates to us the vivid reality the illustrations depict. He starts with a question, giving us a sense that whatever he says to describe them will hardly give us a perfect image of the man before him, but instead will give us an idea of how they must have been. He leads into an analogy of El Greco, who, from Bradbury’s words, was perhaps a master of detail compared to the artwork on the man’s body. His vocabulary serves to add depth to the image painted in the mind, such as “infinitely detailed,” “sulphurous color, elongation, and anatomy,” “burned in three dimensions.” The words give depth to the human canvass, an impossibly realistic painting that mimics life on actual life. It is like seeing the depth captured by a television now all around the man’s body and without the pixelation. He uses commas to continue on ideas stated before and expand on the realism of the art. I enjoy his style because it is simple on the surface, but the word choice is deliberate. He did not understate the terrible realism and beauty of the scenes on the man, but did not need to spend paragraphs getting across the intricacies that must come with such detailed work. So I think that’s why I like it, because it is simple with subtle flourishes.
And Sam looked at the paper and then she looked at me.
"Charlie. . . Have you ever kissed a girl?"
I shook my head no. It was so quiet.
"Not even when you were little?"
I shook my head no again. And she looked very sad.
She told me about the first time she was kissed. She told me that it was with one of her dad's friends. She was seven. And she told nobody except Mary Elizabeth and then Patrick a year ago. And she started to cry. And she said something that I won't forget. Ever.
"I know that you know that I like Craig. And I know that I told you not to think of me that way. And I know that we can't be together like that. But I want to forget all those things for a minute. Okay?"
"Okay"
"I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you. Okay?"
"Okay" She was crying harder now. And I was, too, because when I hear something like that I just can't help it.
"I just want to make sure of that. Okay?"
"Okay"
And she kissed me. And it was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.
From The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
1. The passage is a conversation between two characters sharing an experience with each other.
2.The writer says it in a way using dialouge and short sentences. Also, the writer starts a lot of their sentences with the word "and". The vocabulary is also easy to understand.
3. I like this style of writing because the book is easy to read. It doesn't use big words that not everyone knows, and it makes the author more relateable.
“Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric moved:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I shall endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
1. These lines are found by Dante to be inscribed on the gates of Hell to serve as a warning to anyone entering Hell. Hell is described as a city that brings suffering.
2. The writer uses foreshadowing to establish a foreboding tone for what is to follow in the poem. The description of Hell sharply contrasts that of Heaven. The tone is meant to instill fear of Hell and hopelessness for those who enter.
3. This style appeals to me because it is elegant but at the same time he is describing a wicked place of pain and suffering.
"The storm seemed to come out of nowhere. It came at Grace and Connor just when they were at their most vulnerable, out beyond the harbor in the open ocean.
It didn't give them a chance.
The sky changed color so fast, it was as if someone had ripped away a sheet of blue wallpaper to reveal a gaping black hole. The heat from the sun vanished in an instant and the rain came down in hard pellets of water that burned and froze them at the same instant." Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper.
This passage describes orphans Connor and Grace setting out to sea towards their new home when a storm hits that will ultimately change their lives for the rest of the series.
The use of imagery is especially present in this passage. Somper uses such words as "vulnerable" and "black hole" to emphasize the darkness and coldness and especially the danger that is present. The way that it is written is reminiscent of the way ghost stories would be told, with short to the point sentences that are filled with imagery in order for the reader to feel and picture exactly as the characters in the story would.
This style appeals to me because I can place myself in the story. I can feel my stomach clenching with fear as if I too were on the same boat as Grace and Connor. It also has an older feeling to it, like old sea chanties, even though the story is supposed to take place in the future. Somper does a good job at making the book both timeless and believable.
My quoted section is listed below. I may or may not have used this before, but I find something new in it every time I read it. It comes from The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous.
Jesus, he wispered.
Then one by one they turned and blinked in the pitiful light. Help us, they wispered. Please help us.
Christ, he said. Oh Christ,
He turned and grabbed the boy. Hurry, he said. Hurry.
He'd dropped the lighter. No time to look back. He pushed the boy up the stairs. Help us, they called.
Hurry.
A bearded face appeared blinking at the foot of the stairs. Please, he called. Please
Hurry. For God's sake hurry.
He shoved the boy through the hatch and sent him sprawling. He stood and got a good hold of the door and swung it over and let is slam down and he turned to grab the boy but the boy had gotten up and was doing his little dance of terror. For the love of God will you come on, he hissed. But the boy was pointing out the window and when he looked he went cold all over. Coming across the field toward the house were four bearded men and two women. He grabbed the boy by the hand. Christ, he said. Run. Run.
This passage is describing a scene where a man and his son come across a house in post-apocolyptic America. In the basement are humans, who are slowly being cannibalized by the house's inhabitants. The message the passage sends is one of the barbarism of the society that the man and his son inhabit. McCarthy uses words such as "pitiful", "hideous", and "blackened and burnt". His vocabulary serves to place the audience in the scene and witness for themselves the terrible things that are being done to innocent victims. In addition to this, McCarthy structures his sentences increasingly without punctuation towards the end of the excerpt. By omitting these parts of speech, the anxiety builds for the reader, and they find themselves reading faster and faster. The reader truly gains a sense of the desperate feelings of the characters. Finally, McCarthy's dialogue is short and sharp. This adds the the overall tone of the paragraph, and increases the drama of the situation. This style appeals to me because of its uniqueness. I have never seen a more effective way of conveying drama and suspense than McCarthy's. By dismissing some grammatical conventions, he is able to form the paragraph to read as if her were speaking it aloud. This allows me to get a better sense of what his characters are feeling, and how he would be saying it if he was telling me the story in person.
“They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.” Nicholas Sparks. The Notebook
1. The passage is saying that despite the differences people have between eachother, if you really love the person you can get past the soley based off of love.
2. He uses good solid sentences to get his point across. It makes you really think about what he is saying and think about the people in your life that you love.
3. I like this passage because it is an easy topic to realte to and just explains so much with only a few sentences; and also because I really enjoy Nicholas Sparks.
Shannon Egan 3rd
“I hope she'll be a fool that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." This is a passage from the great gatsby.
1. The passage is saying that the best qualitie a girl can have is to be a fool in this world.
2. He uses repetition and society's view on woman to convey his message.
3. I found this passage interesting because this reflects on a mans point of view on what the qualities of a woman should be.
"I'm later. I've got to finish the dishes on time, otherwise no breakfast; and since I didn't have dinner last night, I have to make sure I get something to eat. Mother's running around yelling at my brothers. I can hear her stomping down the hallways towards the kitchen. I dip my hands back into the scalding rinse water. It's too later. She catches me with my hands out of the water. SMACK! Mother hits me in the face and I topple to the floor,".
1. That is the first paragraph from the book A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer. This author has a very stict voice in the tone of his writing. Not only is the excerpt in a lot of gruesome detail, but the entire book is the same way as well. The author tells his tale about being abused as a child, and life he had to live in a household where love was not avaiable to him in any way, shape, or form.
2. The sentence structure varies throughout the novel. But, in this little passage from the book, sentence structure does very quite a bit as well. There are mainly compund sentences in this passage of Dave Pelzer's writing. There are also simple and complex as well. His writing is clear to read, easy to follow along, and can understand it easily as well.
3. This kind of writing does attract and appeal me. I enjoy reading novels that are based on true events and have a lot of detail so you can picture what is going on. The way the author describes his childhood, makes this author have a stinct voice and sticks out more than amy other author I have read before.
Chelsea Durr 4/5
"I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you eat them In a box? Would you eat them With a fox? Not in a box. Not with a fox. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywhere. I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am."
It's from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.
1. The passage is showing how utterly solid the unnamed character is in his belief that he does not like green eggs and ham.
2. The sentences are short and fragmented to show he is not willing to argue the merits of the dish with Sam-I-Am. He is firm. The diction uses a wide variety of scenarios to demonstrate how the unnamed character doesn't want to approach the issue from any imaginable angle. The entire passage is dialogue, and it all rhymes, to make it more enjoyable and allows the audience to take the two characters less seriously.
3. The style appeals to me because it is short, sweet, and simple. The passage gets the point across very briefly while still using interesting and varied language. It will never get old.
“‘I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only… I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?’ he asks. I shake my head. How could he die as anyone but himself. ‘I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.’”
1. This is a passage from the Hunger games by Suzanne Collins. It is talking about individuality and how Katnis does not want to be controlled by anybody but herself.
2. The Passage uses short sentences to make a point.It doesn't use any tough vocabulary so the reader can completely understand what is going through her head.
3. I like the style because it is easy to read and understand. It is very short and simple.
Gregg: “Every human has a weakness, but you know what? This hill? This hill has no weakness. You know exactly what it is going to give you, but you still can’t beat it!”
Me: “Huff, puff…You’re right… I’m going to… huff, puff… find a weakness… in this… goddamn…Hill.”
I never did find one. Over the course off two off-season months that winter, the Hill and I fought each other to a draw. But somehow, the toughness I had to have just to drag my ass up the Hill at six every morning incorporated itself into my mentality as a football player. Don’t get beat. Find a weakness. If there is no weakness, look again. If you can’t beat your opponent, at least don’t let your opponent beat you. There it was. Gregg Comella’s philosophy distilled into three words. Don’t get beat.
This passage is saying no matter what problems life throws at you, never give in and don’t get beat, give all you can give, like it is your last day of living. The writer tries to say this by using dialogue to emphasis this idea of not getting beat. This style appeals to me because for one it talks about an inspirational story between Tiki Barber(retired football running back from New York Giants) and his fullback, two the use of italics make the writing pop out and seem more interesting than a regular old paragraph.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Hamlet
1. This passage is about Hamlet trying to decide if he should live through all the craziness that is happening or if he should kill himself.
2. His sentences are mostly short fragements, using a bunch of old words to say one simple thing....
3. This does not appeal to me because it is rediculously confusing trying to read it.
To be, or not to be, that is the question.
This is from the Hamlet soliloquy when he is contemplating death and basically hamlet reflecting of his life and its entirety.
His use of words come from the Elizabethan and Shakesepearan language. The word choice is much different than then it would be today. He speaks with much intelligence as well.
Although the word choice and story is not my cup of tea, the development and growth of Hamlet is what really seems to appeal to me as a reader.
"He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and more and the soft rich heap mounted higher- shirts with stripes and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. "They're just such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before.'"
-pg. 92. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1. This passage is when Daisy realizes that Gatsby has become a man of wealth and rich materialistic objects. The passage shows his wealth through his divine clothes he now has and did not have before considering his state he was in concerning money.
2. The writer uses words such as "stormily" to describe Daisy's crying and how hard she was crying. The use of colors is very pronounced throughout the story but is seen vividly in this paragraph to describe the shirts. He uses a long sentence with many "and"'s and limited use of comma's; this sentence is to show how much he has. His words are simple yet get the point across.
3. Fitzgerald's style appeals to me. He uses descriptive, yet easy to comprehend words and that makes for an easy read. I love The Great Gatsby because of all of it's symbolism- especially through colors, but other objects as well. I really enjoy the use of color in texts as archetypes.
-Erica Jacks 7/8
“What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms . . . or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.”
- George R.R. Martin ASOIAF - Game of Thrones
1. The passage is trying to say that love is the greatest power that affects the choices we as people have to make.
2. His sentences are short and to the point. He starts off asking questions what is more powerful than love? Then tells how we are built around love.
3. This piece appeals to me because it is true most people would do anything for those we love and sometimes it can do great good or end up in termoil.
" ' Mom...' My throat was raw. I had to swallow between words. 'That woman? What was she saying?' She gently lowered my shoulders. 'Forgive.' 'Forgive her? Dad?' My head touched the earth. I felt moist blood trickling down my temples. 'Yourself,' she daid. My body was locking up. I could not move my arms or legs. I was slipping away. How much time did I have left? 'Yes,' I rasped. She looked confused. 'Yes, you were a good mother.' She touched her mouth to hide a grin, and she seemed to fill to bursting. 'Live,' she said. 'No wait--' 'I love you, Charley.' She waved her fingertips. I was crying. 'I will lose you...' Her face seemed to float over mine. 'You can not lose your mother, Charley. I am right here.' Then a huge flash of light obliterated her image. 'CHARLES BENETTO. CAN YOU HEAR ME?' I felt a tingling in my limbs".
This paragraph is from For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I chose this because it has a very distinct voice.
1. The passage is trying to get across that all things will go by fast. As soon as reality tries to break through he will lose sight of his mother.
2. In the paragraph his sentences are short to the point because in the section he is departing from his image with his mom back into his body in the real world. This makes the reader read faster and realize what is happening sooner.
3. The style Appeals to me because its very easy going and it feels as if he is talking to me, kinda like I am right there watching this happen in third person.
Dom Cobb: What is the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intenstinal worm?
Arthur: Uh, what Mr. Cobb is trying to...
Dom Cobb: An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to iradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood. That sticks, right in there somewhere.
[he points to his head]
Saito: For someone like you to steel?
Arthur: Yes, in dream state your conscious defences are lowered and it makes your thoughts vulnrable to theft. It's called extraction.
The passage is trying to get across saying that an idea is way more powerful than just a virus or bactria to a person. it can change everything about them
He stops the man from talking to contiue his thought, he conects with the other person and then plants an idea in his mind using his choice of words.
this is appleaing because the idea to talk other into doing or beiliveing things just based off of words is so interesting to myself
"Broadly speaking, the ability of the park to control the spread of life-forms. Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way." Malcolm shook his head. "I don't mean to be philosophical, but there it is." - Ian Malcolm, from Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
-Here, Ian Malcolm is trying to explain that no matter what the staff of Jurassic park does to keep the dinosaurs from breeding, the animals will naturally evolve to mate with each other despite the barriers.
-There is some repetition in this passage, because the character is trying to get his point across. It also makes it seem like the character is speaking to reader as well.
-Jurassic Park is one of my favorite stories, and the character of Ian Malcolm is the reason why. He is a very intelligent man, border-lining ingenious. But nobody wants to listen to him trying to warn them about the inevitable failure of the park, because they want to prove the "genius" wrong.
“Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.” - Dan Brown "The Da Vinci Code"
1) This quote basically says that a man will put forth all effort to obtain something they truly want. They will not slack off, they will do anything in their power to achieve this.
2) This is a longer sentence, and many of the sentences throughout the book are longer and full of commas. This essentially packs the information into the sentences and gives him his own distinct voice.
3) I don't know if it was more of me enjoying the story, or enjoying his style, but this was a very easy read. I would have to read other stories of his such as "Angels and Demons" to double check. However, I am drawn to his style because it is very much like my own. I
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
1.The author is trying to say life is passing you by so when we feel like our life is falling apart we don't wanna blink. So we just stare to know what is happeing in the world.
2.When Fitzgerald explained we can only stare when our life is falling apart its showing his exaggeration.
3. This quotes appeals to me because one I love this book and because when we need to blink while we are living. It would be difficult for someone to stare forever to watch there life pass them by and miss on the good things in life, but if life is crashing down why blink?
“How do you define a word without concrete meaning? To each his own, the saying goes, so why push to attain an ideal state of being that no two random people will agree is where you want to be? Faultless. Finished. Incomparable. People can never be these, and anyway, when did creating a flawless facade become a more vital goal than learning to love the person who lives inside your skin? The outside belongs to others. Only you should decide for you, what is perfect.” (Perfect by ellen hopkins)
!) this passage is trying to say that no one can be perfect and the closest thing you can come to perfect is being happy with yourself.
2)the writer does this through simple vocab, generally normal sentence with slightly more punctuation than normal and short and quick phrases. Also there are questions which make the reader think
3) This appeals to me because it is simple and gets the message across in a way that makes sense without being absolutely straightforward.
"As you grow old, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, its also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
1. The passage is trying to say there are always more than one way to look at a situation such as aging. You can see the negatives of getting older or you can see the positives of gaining knowledge and growing as a person.
2. The writerer says it in short simple sentances as well as compound sentances that generally use a sarcastic manner.
3. It appeals to me because it opens my eyes to simple things and make me think about how I view things in my own life and it challenges me to reconsider alot of them.
"As you grow old, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, its also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
1. The passage is trying to say there are always more than one way to look at a situation such as aging. You can see the negatives of getting older or you can see the positives of gaining knowledge and growing as a person.
2. The writerer says it in short simple sentances as well as compound sentances that generally use a sarcastic manner.
3. It appeals to me because it opens my eyes to simple things and make me think about how I view things in my own life and it challenges me to reconsider alot of them.
“It's much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody. I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everybody was, especially me. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and than make the choice to share it with other people. You can't just sit their and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. And I'm going to figure out what that is. And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. It's just different. Maybe it's good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Because it's okay to feel things. I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. I feel infinite.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
1. This passage is saying how ignorance is bliss. It's also saying how you need to be yourself, and make sure you are happy with your own life first. It talks about a lot of different feelings and how it's okay to feel all those ways.
2.The sentences are choppy, and not complete. His sentences are continued by using words like, But, Or, And, and Because.
3. This style appeals to be because it's easy to read, and understand. It makes it seem relatable by using everyday words instead of big words.
"He whispers, "In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many life times you live." I wrote that in my everything book, and then cried into my pillow for five minutes straight." -Tangled by Carolyn Mackler
This passage is trying to say true love only comes once. He states his love is so strong for her it could never happen again no matter how many lives he lives. He's so sure of her in a world that is so uncertain. The vocabulary is easy but the way the author write it kind of gets you, it hits that hopeless romantic in you. Its a very long run on sentence. It could have been split up into sentences. This style appeals to me because its so sweet and romantic, and I like love stories so it appealed the hopeless romantic side of me.
"But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple,and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mothers story, because hers is where yours begins. So this was my mothers story. And mine. I would like to make things right again with those I love." -Mitch Albom
1. The passage is trying to say that we shouldn't take advantage of anything and that our history makes up who we are every single day and decides our choices in life. This passage also makes you want to better your life by going back and fixing those past relationships that were once broken.
2. His sentences are staggered. Some are short others are long and he states everything very clearly and with passion.
3. This style of writing catches my attention because I like to read things that can change the way you think or want you to better yourself. I also like to read things that have a bit different writing schemes therefore to make the reading a lot better to not only understand but enjoy.
“We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me, love like that has only happened once, and that's why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory. I'll never forget a single moment of it.” The Notbook
1.)This passage says that love has its ups and downs but it is worth it all in the end.
2.) His sentences are medium lenght and well worded. They are very easy to comprhend and he doesn't use big words.
3.)His style appelas to me because its easy to understand and has a lot of meaning behind it. The use of word also helps and makes me like it a lot better.
"'It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from a fire.'" -Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
1.) This passage is Catherine basically saying that even though she is in love with Heathcliffe and even though he is a part of her, she will never be with him because it would degrade her. I think it is a comment on all of the people in this novel who put themselves above others, and the priorities in which they have. It is an overall comment on society.
2.) The writer says this through Catherine. The first thing I notice is the colon, showing that she feels the need to elaborate as to why she loves Heathcliffe, because it is important to her. There are a lot of commas in this speech, showing the pauses in her explanation, it makes the speech read as if she is trying very hard to explain it. This is a very deep explanation, the use of the word "soul" shows this along with the similes at the very end.
3.) I like this passage because I can feel the emotion in Catherine's speech. I like the way that her pauses make her speaking seem real, and I like the comment that Brontë is making on the people of the time.
"Soul Alone by Hannah Baker
I meet your eyes
you don't even see me
You hardly respond
when I whisper
hello
Could be my soul mate
two kindred spirits
Maybe we're not
I guess we'll never
know
My own mother
you carried me in you
Now you see nothing
but what I wear
People ask you
how I'm doing
You smile and nod
don't let it end
there
Put me
underneath God's sky and
know me
don't just see me with your eyes
Take away
this mask of flesh and bone and
See me
for my soul
alone”
― Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why.
This is a powerful poem that one of the main characters wrote in my favorite book,'Thirteen Reasons Why'. She's explaining that no one sees her as a person in her life, not even her mother. No one cares beyond what they see. She doesn't have friends, her family doesn't understand her, and most people see her as an object or rumors that they've heard. The author uses choppy sentences to explain Hannah's through process. She feels alone and abandoned. It's split into three sections possibly the first two for the narrator, Clay, and her mother. The two are people who are very important in her life. The word alone is by itself in the book because that's how she truly feels and it shows that this is the only thing she has. There is no punctuation in this poem so I believe it is because her thoughts are trailing and she's slowly spiralling downward and she's telling the tail leading to her suicide. The author uses words like kindred spirits, God's sky, and mask of flesh and bone, and it heightens the character's intelligence. The way she is perceived by everyone is different than how she really is and this poem represents her soul accurately. This style appeals to me because it is all written in first person and it's in the point of view of a teenager. I usually read books like this but not only that the author does not over exaggerate teenagers. He represents teenagers (especially suicidal ones), accurately and a lot of adult writers who write young adult novels portray teenagers like how they see us instead of how we (teenagers) see ourselves.
"there is more than what is presently weighing you down. If you wait for his timing, there will be a resolution. His plans are greater than we could ever imagine, and the stress and pain we go through will end some day. Then when we look back on our lives we might be able to see how God used the most difficult times in our lives for His glory. To shape who we would be, help us care for others who have also gone through hardships, and show how much he loves us that he would give us them as well as a better day. So let us not grow weary, but pray for the strength to get through-knowing that there will be a better day."
1.) the author is encouraging the audience to fight threw the rough times in life.
2.)lots of direct religious comments of encouragement.
3)this style appeals to me because it is encouraging and very direct. It is a post that was made because of the times happening in her life. I love that.
"It was so ordinary in so many ways, but as she said, you can find something truly important in an ordinary minute." -Mitch Albom, For One More Day
This passage is trying to tell the reader to look out for the little, yet important, things in life. That people, myself included, often do not take the time to appreciate the little things in life. Realizing and appreciating these things make a person alive. This writer writes for young adults and even adults that are maybe going through a crisis in life, like the main character. This style appeals to me because I am a young adult. This style of writing is very easy to read and understand . It is also very relatable because many people have gone through something that they feel regret towards.
"His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people — his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God . . . and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end."
1. The passage is trying to say that people will create their own character that isn't actually their own. They will make a person in their mind that people would like and start I believe in their mind that's who they really are.
2. The author says this by using word choice like "shiftless" and "unsuccessful" to describe Gatsbys parents which was ultimately the reason he made this Jay Gatsby character.
3. This style of writing appeals to me because descriptive words and detailed stories draw me in to know what the story is about and it.
“One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.”
- Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
In my own opinion, this passage tries to express that everything and everyone has a story of their own, and if anyone from the outside were to help them then the struggle wouldn’t be one they could call their own.
If memory serves from when I read this book, the author, Jeannette Walls, writes this as a direct quote from her own mother. And she organizes it un such a way that it makes the reader almost feel the initial emotions Walls felt when her mother said those words to her as a child. She presents the quote as she remembers it from her childhood, and the way she divided the quote (with “she said” right in the middle) gives the reader that slight pause that Walls probably felt when her mother said this to her however many years ago.
This style appeals to me because it is very expressive and very direct. Walls does not use a lot of metaphors, similes, or any other type of comparison – at least in this novel. She tells the story the way it is and doesn't short cut around any details. Which really gives the reader a way to understand the authors thoughts as they put them on the paper.
A Hetzel
3 Period
My passage is taken from The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself."
The passage is describing Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald describes something as simple as a smile in a different way and puts a deeper meaning to Gatsby’s smile. Through Fitzgerald’s description of Gatsby, we see that there is more than meets the eye. One must look deeper to understand Gatsby.
The writer describes his smile using words such as “rare” and that it “concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.” By using the word “rare,” Fitzgerald is describing Gatsby as one of a kind.
This style appears to me because the writer does not just simply say “He has a nice smile.” He puts a deeper meaning to Gatsby’s smile, describing it as something “you may come across four or five times in life.”
It is a very unique style.
"riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend
of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to
Howth Castle and Environs.
Sir Tristram, violer d'amores, fr'over the short sea, had passen-core rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor had topsawyer's rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County's gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to tauftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all's fair in vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a peck of pa's malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface."
This is partially the first page of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It's a book that only an English major would find the time to dive into and think would be interesting, but yet, I've somehow developed an interest with this style because every word has some deep meaning or reference that Joyce has somehow been able to bring understanding to and it just drives me crazy as to how one could do that.
If I were to make a guess, I'd say Joyce was trying to simply describe the scene and give the description of one of the character's Sir Tristam.
The way he says it deals with extreme vocabulary and reference that brings about almost anything that literature and language has had to offer, thus gives him his title of one of the greatest writer's in history. He doesn't follow sentence structure, instead he makes sentence structure obey him. Why do I say this? Because this "page" of text is only three sentences. It is art, which is what literature is to common language. He was just putting a profound twist to it.
"Moments later, a gash ripped across the sky, splitting into two flaming halves, with an aching hole of nothingness between them. Then the split opened wider, like a horrible, garish sneer, and I felt all the dread I'd been bottling up sigh right out of it. I held my breath as I waited for the hand of God, or aliens, or even vindictive Ari, back from the dead one last time, to reach out and pluck me from where I stood."
This is a passage from the last book in the Maximum Ride series, Nevermore, by James Patterson. This is one of my favorite book series, and remember the feeling of dread I shared with Max as she saw her world rip open (literally).
1) The passage is trying to describe the dread the main character, Max, feels about the world ending, while describing the very end she dreads.
2) While usually comical in tone, and uses short sentences, Max seems to have taken on a very somber (especially for her) tone, and has longer, drawn out sentences. Commas are used frequently, and are used to help describe the feeling of dread.
3) While this type of writing does not appeal to me, in this case it does. In contrast to her usual tone of comedy, Max seems to finally take on a serious tone about something serious. These descriptive words helped to paint the perfect picture for me to see the end of the world as Max did.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
1.) This passage from the Gettysburg Address states that they are gathering that day to honor those who fell in battle.
2.) Lincoln gets to the point quickly, but uses very profound language to do it. This draws the audience in. His words are simple, but the manner in which he uses them is slightly elevated.
3.) I like this because Lincoln is able to get to his point while conveying an emotion onto the audience and NOT sounding like a pansy blow-heart. A lot of times, it seems like you can't have one without the other, but he manages to do it quite well here. I feel politicians these days should learn from this.
"I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited-they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island, and somehow they ended up at Gatsby's door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of an amusement park. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with the simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.
--The Great Gatsby, pg, 41
1. The passage is showing how shallow people are and how although they do not know Gatsby, they use him for the entertainment he can provide.
2. The author bluntly states the thin connections most guests share with the host, I love the line "Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatbsy at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission," because of the authors word choice. In comparing Gatsby's parties to an amusement park, you get the sense that everyone there is connected by means of seeking entertainment, but share no connection deeper than that.
3. This writing appeals to me because it uses a simple vocabulary. I believe that less is more and the best way for an author to get their point across is to use word which the reader can easily understand.
-Erin Zaranec 7/8
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.”
― William Shakespeare
1) That music is very important in our lives
2) Shakespear says it in a dark meaningful way.
3)Because I agree with Shakespear's view on music.
This excerpt is from Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder; "Before long that night, Farmer was summoned back to the hospital. A thirteen-year-old girl, moaning in pain, had arrived by donkey ambulance-a crude cart pulled by a donkey. Two young Haitian staff doctors hovered over her, not quite sure what o do.
"Doctors, doctors, what's going on with you?" Farmer asked plaintively, not angrily, as he examined the girl. He recognized the symptoms of some type of meningitis, an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. But a spinal tap was required before a specific diagnosis could be made, he told me. Farmer did the spinal tap himself while the doctors held down the girl, who erupted with wild cries. "Li fe-m mal, mwen grangou!"
"She's crying, 'It hurts. I'm hungry.' Can you believe it?" Farmer said, and for a moment he was narration Haiti again. "Only in Haiti would a child cry out that she's hungry during a spinal tap.""
1. The passage is trying to say that Dr. Farmer is trying to diagnose and treat a young, Haitian girl from possible meningitis.
2. The writer sorts of narrates and gives factual clues to what happened biographically.
3. This style appeals to me because this specific style puts the readers literally in the middle of the action where readers are soaked and absorbed by the narration.
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