Discovering How Writers Use Tropes and Schemes to Achieve an Effect Close Reading Discovering How Writers Use Tropes and Schemes to Achieve an Effect

Close Reading Close reading is used to analyze text. When reading closely, you develop an understanding of the text that is based first on the words themselves and then on the larger ideas suggested by those words; in other words, you take the small details, think about them, and discover how they affect the text’s larger meaning (Shea, Scanlon, and Aufses 35).

Writing about Close Reading Conversely, when writing about close reading, you start with the large meaning (CLAIM & UNIVERSAL IDEA IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT) and use the small details (DIRECTIONS IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT) to support your interpretation of the text.

Style One simple way to define style is the way you write. Style is comprised of many different elements, including tone, sentence structure, and vocabulary. If you have read enough works by the same writer, you may have picked up on distinct traits of that writer’s style, so much so that you might even recognize it even if his or her name is not on the work.

Everything leads to an effect Authors use various rhetorical strategies and resources of language to achieve certain effects. THE THREE MAJOR EFFECTS WRITERS STRIVE TO ACHIEVE ARE: Theme – Tone – Purpose

Theme Depending on whom you’re asking, theme has a couple of different meanings. Theme is a unifying subject or idea in a story. It is NOT to be confused with a moral; theme is more like a central idea. Example: A unifying subject or idea in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is tradition, especially tradition that goes unquestioned by society.

Theme and Motif Theme and motif are two different concepts. While theme is a central, unifying idea in a work, motif is a recurring event or element used to reinforce a theme. There is a good explanation of the difference between theme and motif at: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-theme-and-motif.htm

Tone Tone is the attitude of the speaker/writer towards the subject in a work. We will be looking at tone a great deal over the course of the year.

Purpose Purpose is why the author wrote a work. Some basic purposes are to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to describe, etc.

REVIEW – THE THREE EFFECTS Learn this now. Writers use various strategies to achieve: THEME TONE PURPOSE Make sure you know this.

Theme, Tone, and Purpose Know it yet? I sure hope so. It’s important. I’m serious, you better know it.

Seriously… Theme, tone, and purpose. They’re huge.

Some terms you need to know Diction – a writer’s choice of words. When looking at tone, it is very important to look at diction.

Diction Choosing a synonym for a word can change the tone of a sentence in a major way. I drove my car into town to get gas. I drove my jalopy into town to get gas. I drove my gas-guzzler into town to get gas. I drove my hooptie into town to get gas. I drove my bucket into town to get gas. I drove my ride into town to get gas.

Syntax Syntax is the arrangement of words in a sentence.

Syntax Something as simple as inverting the order of a sentence has a significant impact on its emphasis. I drove my car into town because I desperately needed gas. Desperately needing gas, I drove my car into town. In the first sentence, the action of driving the car is more emphasized because it comes first. A writer may choose the second sentence (even though both are correct) if he or she would prefer to more strongly emphasize his or her “desperation.”

Tropes and Schemes Trope – artful diction. Some examples are metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole. Scheme – artful syntax. Some examples are parallelism, juxtaposition, and antithesis.

Analyzing Tropes (Diction) When analyzing diction, ask yourself: Which of the important words in the passage (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are general and abstract? Which are specific and concrete? Are the important words formal, informal, colloquial, or slang? Are some words nonliteral or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors? (Shea, Scanlon, and Aufses 37)

Analyzing Schemes (Syntax) When analyzing syntax, ask yourself: What is the order of the parts of the sentence? Is it the usual subject-verb-object, or is it inverted? Which part of speech is more prominent – nouns or verbs? What are the sentences like? Are they periodic (moving toward something important at the end) or cumulative (adding details that support an important idea in the beginning of a sentence)? How does the sentence connect its words, phrases, and clauses? (Shea, Scanlon, and Aufses 37)

Resources Shea, Renée, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. "Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis." The Language of Composition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 35-59. Print.