W EDNESDAY, A UGUST 27 TH AND T HURSDAY, A UGUST 28 TH 10 TH L ITERATURE AND C OMPOSITION Folder labels: please write your last name first, and first name last on the label you are given. Use sharpie and write the block you are in. Ex: Aschliman, Karen M3 Share Fairy Tales is you haven’t done so already. Style, Tone, and Language Pre-Reading Activity for “The Lottery” Listen/Read “The Lottery” Answer the questions at the end of the story in your own words. Standards: 2 & 3

S TYLE Style is the techniques the writer has used, and how he or she has created a particular voice and given the work a particular tone. For example, a person might explain the style of the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty as follows: The writer's use of rhythmic language and end rhyme gives the piece a cheerful, playful tone. The simple words and short line lengths create a childlike voice that is interestingly at odds with the literal events - the main character's tragic death by falling off the wall. Style, then, is the result of the author's choice of diction, figurative language, and sentence structure. Style should be consistent throughout a piece; inconsistencies indicate a lack of control or at least lack of awareness of style.

D ICTION Diction deals with the literal meaning of words (their denotation ), their emotional loading and figurative meaning (or connotation), and the sound of the words (rough or smooth). Denotation = dictionary definition Connotation = is the feeling that we get from the word Ex. Scrawny and Skinny They mean the same thing, but scrawny sounds bad and skinny sounds good. It's interesting to look at two passages that mean approximately the same thing. #1: I hate it when I have to walk through a crowd of teen punks at a bus stop. They look me up and down. Their eyes are empty. Their faces are blank. They don't move out of the way for me. I feel that they want to hurt me. #2: I strongly dislike the necessity of walking through gatherings of alienated youth at bus shelters. They slide their expressionless eyes over me without reaction, keeping their faces neutral as though I was nonexistent. They decline to recognize my need to walk on the sidewalk. It appears certain that they desire to cause me bodily harm. Which of these passages has more impact?

F IGURATIVE L ANGUAGE Figurative Language adds impact and make the piece seem vivid, because they appeal to the reader's imagination. Here is a passage without figurative language, adapted from "The Painted Door" by Sinclair Ross: She moved briskly, performing each little task with careful and exaggerated absorption, thinking carefully about it, using it to keep from thinking about the surrounding snow and silence. Above the quiet, steady sound of her paintbrush against the bedroom door, the clock sound became noticeable. Suddenly her movements became precise and deliberate... and she felt that she was not alone and that someone was watching her. It was the silence again, which seemed to be threatening, and always there. Here is the same passage, with figurative language added in italics: She moved briskly, performing each little task with careful and exaggerated absorption, binding her thoughts to it, making a screen between herself and the surrounding snow and silence. Above the quiet, steady swishing of her brush against the bedroom door, the clock began to tick. Suddenly her movements became precise, deliberate... as if someone had entered the room and were watching her. It was the silence again, aggressive, hovering.

Look closely at the figurative language that was used to heighten the impact of the story. 1. binding her thoughts to it is a metaphor showing how she used work to keep her mind occupied, to keep out unwelcome thoughts. 2. making a screen between herself and the surrounding snow and silence is another metaphor, showing how the character uses work to create a wall between her and both the silence inside and the dangerous weather outside. 3. swishing is onomatopoeia, it imitates the sound of a loaded paint brush spreading colour onto wood. 4. as if someone had entered the room and were watching her is a simile that makes the reader more vividly conscious of how uneasy the character feels the silence again, aggressive, hovering is an example of personification in which the reader easily shares the protagonist's fear of the invisible silence that is always with her.

S ENTENCE S TRUCTURE Sentence structure, like diction, has an impact on the reader's experience of a piece of writing, and consequently is an important part of style. Long, flowing sentences, containing many phrases and subordinate clauses, produce a mellow, flowing mood. If these are used in a description of fast, urgent action, such as an account of witnessing a plane crash, the reader is distanced from the action. By contrast, short sentences produce a feeling of urgency, immediacy, and increased tension.

T ONE, M OOD, AND V OICE Tone is the emotional colouring of a piece of writing. It reflects the author's attitude, and the feelings that he or she puts into the writing. It can, for instance, be angry, demanding, or humorous. The author controls the tone by choosing diction, sentence structure, and figurative language that will heighten the desired effect on the reader. Mood, by contrast, is the emotional feeling that the reader gets from the writing. Usually the mood is clearly related to the tone, for the tone of the author creates the mood of the reader. Mood, is also affected by figurative language, sentence structure, and diction. Voice is the role that the writer takes on while writing. A personal voice is an expression of a writer's own thoughts and personality.

A DDITIONAL N OTES Theme: It is central idea or concept of a story. Imagery: It is the use of figurative language to create visual representations of actions, objects and ideas in our mind in such a way that they appeal to our physical senses. For example: The room was dark and gloomy. -The words “dark” and “gloomy” are visual images. The river was roaring in the mountains. – The word “roaring” appeals to our sense of hearing. Simile and Metaphor: Both compare two distinct objects and draws similarity between them. The difference is that Simile uses “as” or “like” and Metaphor does not. For example: “My love is like a red red rose” (Simile) He is an old fox very cunning. (Metaphor) Hyperbole: It is deliberate exaggeration of actions and ideas for the sake of emphasis. For example: I got 99 problems but literature ain’t one!

Personification: It gives a thing, an idea or an animal human qualities. For example: The flowers are dancing beside the lake. Allegory: It is a literary technique in which an abstract idea is given a form of characters, actions or events. For example: “Animal Farm”, written by George Orwell, is an example allegory using the actions of animals on a farm to represent the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW II. In addition, the actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the Revolution. Irony: It is use of the words in such a way in which the intended meaning is completely opposite to their literal meaning. For example: The bread is soft as a stone. Onomatopoeia : a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. For instance, saying, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more meaningful description than just saying, “The stream flows in the forest.”