Practice Diction Analysis

J. D. Salinger’s loutish and reverberating style in his excerpt from Catcher in the Rye, expresses the narrator’s unenthusiastic and lethargic attitude towards his own life and world in general.The narrator begins by addressing the desire of readers to know more about his "lousy childhood" in which he doesn't want to describe because "that stuff bores" him. His outlook displays the disconnection and unwilling relationship between his parents and himself. The only history the narrator seems to inform the reader about is "madman stuff" that happened to him before he becomes "pretty run-down." His cloistered approach to most people, even his family, implies that he is guarded and informs about most anyone or anything, except for himself. Aside from his connections with family the narrator reveals a pessimistic attitude towards the place he lives describing it as a "crumby place." Clearly, the narrator isn't satisfied with his current situation, from his public relations to living situations. 

Style Mapping

       Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier all have different languages that can be described in different ways. The connotation of all three excerpts is connotative. Stardust uses poetic and picturesque style to illiterate the story whereas Rebecca uses quaint and lyrical style; both are connotative in their own way. The elevation of Stardust and Rebecca are both elevated and ornate whereas Cormac McCarthy uses a familiar and colloquial elevation in Blood Meridian. In addition, the language used by both Neil Gaiman and Daphne Du Maurier is pleasant and sophisticated in sound. In contrast, Cormac McCarthy uses more raspy and resonant sounding language. All three excerpts use language style that is unique to its author and sets in apart from the rest. 

Stardust: Neil Gaiman
x= connotative, figurative, poetic, picturesque
y= elevation, scholarly, elevated, ornate, archaic
z= pleasant, mellow, sohpisticated

Cormac McCarthy: Blood Memdian
x=connotative, scenic, illustrative, poetic
y= low, concise, familiar, colloquial
z=harsh, raspy, resonant, grating

Rebecca: Daphne Du Maurier
x=connotative, lyrical, quaint, descriptive
y= high, intricate, elegant, scholarly
z= musical, melodious, pleasant, sweet

Update Week 8

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Pages This Week: 132
Total Pages: 902

Quarterly

This quarter I've read more than I probably have in the past year. It's been challenging for me to find the time to read and the time to blog. However I have surprised myself on time I did find to read a book, even just a few pages. This quarter I surprised myself by reading a book I got a lot time ago and could never push myself to finish. As of right now I'm almost done with it. I find myself reading at all times of the day, basically whenever I can find the time. A lot of reading has been done at night and when I have free time during the school day. The most challenging book I've read this quarter is probably Rebecca. It's a semi-thick book with fairly small type so it takes the most time for me to get through, especially when I go back and reread certain passages to understand or remind myself. For the remainder of the semester I'd like to set a goal to start blogging more frequently. I haven't had much time to this quarter so I'd like to change that.

Currently week 7 and Sentences of the Quarter

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Night by Elie Wiesel - finished. :)
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Pages this Week: 130
Total Pages: 770

Sentences of the Quarter:

1. "At the moment it inspires me, if not with love, at least with confidence." Rebecca

2. "He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer..." Night

3. "Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get - a cold, sick feeling deep down inside - when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were." A Northern Light

4. "So big question - why so much hate in your mind when love is the only way to straighten things out?" Jay's Journal

I like all of these sentences for different reasons. Sentence # 1, I like the idea of it and the optimism of her thinking. Sentence # 2, makes me think. When I first read it I was confused but the more I thought about it I understood, and I like that it made me think. Sentence # 3, I like because I personally can relate to what Mattie is describing. And sentence # 4, I like because I like the concept of the question. I believe that you shouldn't waste time hating or resenting as well as regretting, so why not be happy and love?    

I Can't Imagine

I've read plenty of books about the Holocaust and World War II but none of them have made me feel so angry or annoyed. I'm not angry at the author but angry about the Nazis and how they treat the Jews. For myself, I think the reason I feel the way I do is because the author was a person who went through the harsh and unethical treatment of the Nazis. Usually, well the trend of the books I've read over the topic have been written by third party authors. In those books you don't get the same feeling or complete understanding of the extent of damage Germans caused. With Night being written by Elie you're exposed to his feelings and thoughts throughout the events and years. In this book you also get insight into the years after the Holocaust and how it effected his life, in the other books I've read you don't get as specific as first person experiences.

The specializations and restrictions the Nazis placed on the Jews is so frustrating to read about because although I've known about them when you read how it effected the author and ones he was close to, it brings you, or me as the reader to a more personal level. I think that because the reader is brought to a more personal level it causes them to feel more emotion rather than just feeling informed. If I'm feeling frustrated now I can't imagine how it would have felt to be in Elie's place back then...it's something that most people can't comprehend which for me only makes me feel for them more. This book is powerful, in the words and context it displays but also the feelings it instills in the reader.

Likes and Challenges

I've thought of a new thing I like about A Northern Light, well that I find interesting. I like how the author starts in the middle of the plot and then flashes back to a different time before returning to the original scene. I think this dives the reader into action or conflict and then keeps them hooked because they want to know what happens with that conflict, but to find out they have to read through all the flashbacks and secondary events.

I'm having mixed feelings about the new book I've started, Rebecca. It's a rather thick book, bleh, and there's a lot of words on the pages, small print. Not that I don't accept the challenge or anything it's just a different appearance and writing style then what I've been reading. In books like Jay's Journal and Go Ask Alice the tex is written in the form of journal entries. The context is broken up and spaced in such a way that makes those books an easy read...but not too easy. I guess change is a good thing...we'll see.

Sparks of Controversy

So, controversy of Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal, maybe they weren't as true as I'd thought. Turns out the editor has been accused on many accounts of creating fraud to both stories. Supposedly she took passages and events from multiple of her clients' journals and combined them into the resulting two books. Jay's Journal however was taken from one boy in particular but had bits and pieces added to it from, like I said, other journals that did not belong to the boy. In the case of Jay's Journal, the original story and published story were so different in that the published story had strayed so far from truth that it upset the original story's family. The family had to move from their city because people had read this book, immediately knew who it was about, and then read the added bits and pieces that weren't true of the real boy and began to ridicule the family. That's horrible, and even though the books are good I definitely think the publisher or editor should make a note in the book explaining that although the events in the books are very much like real life events, they did not really happen and the people, places, and occurrences are fictional. The most 'non-fiction' of the two stories is without a doubt Jay's Journal.

"Alice"

I felt so bad for "Alice" (as I've chosen to call the main character seeing as her name is never truly revealed...odd) because all she wanted was to fit in and feel accepted for once. Although she'd moved and met a new friend and felt a little more "in place" when she returned home to her previous city she felt out of place. An old classmate of hers ran into her and invited her to a party she was having later that night...but that's where Alice's trouble began. At the party (no parents, of course), they decided to play a game where the girl brought in cans of Coca-Cola and passed them out. Little did Alice know that a select few of those drinks had been laced with LSD, but that was the game. Basically, the girl and everyone else didn't know which drinks were drugged and which were normal, but they'd all know soon. And just Alice's luck she got a drugged drink, and that was her first trip. Much like the partner book, Jay's Journal, Alice's life soon began its downward battle that would never recover.

A Northern Light

A Northern Light is starting to really interest me because I'm discovering little things that I like about it. Like, the  name of every chapter is a word. At first I didn't understand the relevance of each word and then as I continued reading I realized that each word is a word that Mattie has picked from her dictionary to be her "word of the day". I thought that was a creative idea on the author's part. Another thing I like is the setting, it takes place on a farm where they have to supply almost all of their necessities. I really respect the farm life, coming from a southern background, and can relate to the characters not only in the lifestyle (to an extent) but to some of the chores they have to do as well. In addition, I also like that it takes place many years ago but it still teaches lessons that are valuable today.

Night

So, I've always had an interest in World War II and the Holocaust, so Night seemed like an interesting book to read. Now having a start into the book I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be a Jew living in Europe during the early 1940s. The fear of not knowing what was going to happen to yourself, your family, or people you know would have terrified me. Some of the rules Jews had to follow, like wearing a yellow star, are unfair and unjust that if it were me I'd probably end up dead or in jail for arguing against it. I really admire Elie for everything he's gone through and overcame. Yeah...I'm hooked on this book. I think it can really teach a lesson while also informing about a historical event. :)