Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir the “ Woman Warrior” has a very alluring writing style. Her beautifully written words drag readers into the abyss of fable and reality. Nevertheless, to numerous readers her writing style may seem unnerving and difficult to pinpoint, and can make one question the ability to fathom English ! Consequently, readers are pulled into the paradox between words and meaning. Kingston’s memoir is like no other writer, her words are like a graceful dance that swings readers along for the ride. Her diction is the dance in motion: throughout the book, she says words that convey more than a mere definition, . For example, the use of the word “ghost” is used to convey not just a supernatural phenomena, but an outsider who
Maya Clement Professor Clemens Making of America 21 March 2023 Warriors Don’t Cry Response Melba Patillo Beal’s experiences as a child and in high school were influenced by various events that affected how she answered to the integration crisis at Little Rock Central High and how she lived her life going forth. Melba lives with her grandmother, India, her mother Loiws, her father Howell, and her little brother Conrad. She was raised in a household that valued the importance of education, and her family taught her to value herself and believe that she is capable of anything with perseverance and hard effort. Melba Beals, however, was regularly exposed to prejudice and segregation, which made her aware of the injustices that existed in the world.
Have you ever faced life-changing experiences that hugely impacted you, your family, and your country? This same event happened in the selections, Warriors Don’t Cry, by Melba Patillo Beals, I Never Had It Made, by Jackie Robinson, and “The Father of Chinese Aviation,” by Rebecca Maskel, which highlights Feng Ru. Melba Patillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru all experienced life-changing events that led them in changing themselves and their countries. Melba Patillo Beals helped integrate Central High School and was one of the first African Americans to attend school.
Throughout the book she used many different types of figurative languages, and here’s an example. Paragraph three on page seven states, “The world was all a gentle gray, and he lay in a mist as fine as spray from a waterfall.”
In using diction the author was able to invigorate a higher connection, and therefore amplify a connection between reader and writer. Another example, that can really inform readers in multiple aspects is, “The houses up here were shabbier than the brick houses lower down in the valley. They were made of wood, with lopsided porches, sagging roofs, rusted-out gutters, and balding tar paper or asphalt shingles slowly but surely parting from the underwall.” (Walls 150) Jeanette connected her lifestyle with her environment around her, as well as connecting the readers with her feelings.
The author uses a limited amount of diction throughout the book, because she wanted to keep the main focus on the character. “A particularly repugnant guard was known as sh*thead,”(210). This example of diction describes how everyone felt about the guard. She uses the diction to give the reader a better thought about what was going on throughout the book. “For the umpteenth time, Louie cursed whoever had stocked the raft,” (164).
Two of the most powerful things she says/does in the whole book is when she asks her dad “can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds?” (168) Seeds are the beginning of life, and when she asks for some to plant it is a huge sign that she’s coming back to her good self. The other is when she goes into the bathroom writes on the stall, “guys to stay away from. The entry is the beast himself: Andy Evans.”
such as her use of detailed imagery when describing how she resembled a wriggling beetle to put a comical image in the reader's mind. Her use of positive diction to make light of her serious situation, and her different uses of tone, help educate her readers about the difficulties of living with a
The author makes a point of incorporating inclusive diction in her piece as well which also helps strengthen the bond the reader feels with the author. It is much closer and intimate of an exchange that maters specifically to us and here’s why. This style is very effective and draws in a wider
and although the time period was in the 1700s she is still capable of using these strategies to enhance her literary work. All of the uses of figurative language help piece together what the mother wants for her son and helps convey the mood and tone of the
Kelley’s diction adds a tone to the piece and allows her to get her message across with helping the reader understand more deeply . Kelley’s use of imagery, appeal to logic,
In detailing the events that led up to her change in perspective, she made note of the honeysuckle that covered the walls of the well-house, the warm sunshine that accompanied going outdoors, and the cool stream of water that she felt as she placed her hand under the spout. These details kept the reader with her in the moment as she felt something less simple, but still universal; the returning of a, “ misty consciousness as of something forgotten.” In using rich diction, she maintained a sense of intimacy with the reader which allowed her to call on personal details from her own life and theirs. Later in the passage, she described how, once the reality of language was opened to her, and she returned to the house, “every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.” She had gone through a complete shift of perspective, one that, to her, was felt entirely through senses other than sight or sound.
Additionally, the narrator realizes her consciousness is constantly changing as she “loves the thing untouched by lore…the thing that is not cultivated… the thing built up” (473). The narrator’s consciousness faces another struggle between trying to find equal good in both the culture of her people and the new culture that has been introduced to her. Yet, she stands boldly “one foot in the dark, the other in the light” (473), as she forms a bridge between the two cultures and is stuck while she tries to understand her sense of self. Finally, the silent voice, a metaphor for her faith, calls out to her.
Her voice in the novel is used to desensitize us--then surprise us. Leaving us thinking about our easy lives, which we have made a place we rid of issues. And we fail to recognize the issues occurring in other parts of the
She explains “Such contradictions not only betray the narrator’s dependence on the oppressive discursive structure... she jumps from one thing to another producing paragraphs that are usually no more than a few lines in length” (Haney-Peritz 116). She jumps from sentence to sentence because she is scared and is caused to go even more insane because of the oppressive power structure she is
The theme is portrayed as being bound because the author constantly says, “I cannot go”. The author’s diction is an important term being used because it describes how the author interprets being bound. This again refers to when Emily Bronte says “I cannot go”, connecting the theme and diction together. Death in this poem can be symbolic, when Emily Bronte explains how “spell has bound me” and this death causes one to be bound therefore meaning she, “cannot go” because of death.