http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-myturn-dying-20110926,0,2663863.story
Diction: Brady's choice of words in the title itself shows her use of diction. The juxtaposition of perfect and death grabs the reader's attention. A death is never described as perfect, given that perfect has an honorific connotation. Her use of "buddy" and "kids" to describe adults emphasizes the amount of comfort her father felt with the ones around him, in his last hours.
Details: Brady picks great details that set the article's positive mood. When all the kids and the friends think that her father is about to draw his last breath, a somber and sad moment, Brady makes sure to add in her father's response. Her father's joking response in the face of death, and the break of tension that the onlookers, as well as the reader feels advances Brady's message. Her quotes from her father, in his last hours, never show fear or sadness, but only perfect contentedness.
Syntax: Brady, in the opening lines of the her first real paragraph, uses simple sentences with repetitive structures to give the reader a sense of the simple and matter of fact attitude that was taken towards the complex subject of death: "He was home on hospice. He was comfortable. His wife of 53 years, his six children and several grandchildren surrounded his bed." Throughout the piece, Brady uses simple statements like "Even as he was dying he comforted me."These short statements are presented as simple and factual. In other words, the way things went was perfect.
Cody, you a do an excellent job of analyzing the author's use of diction, details, and syntax and showing how they contribute to the overall meaning of the piece. However, I think there are a few more relatively important examples in the essay that I think you could draw on. For example, in the last paragraph you could emphasize her use of "gusto". Also, her use of the word "vigil" in the third to last paragraph definitely works to conjure specific images in our minds.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, this is a very thorough analysis and I think you did a great job.
Nice analysis. Connect the paragraphs together and take out the "diction:" "details" and "syntax:." There were two parts that I disagree with you. Deaths could be perfect. Some people, like me, think that when one rests in peace the way he or she wanted to, then his or her death is perfect. Also, you interpreted short statements as simple and factual, thus, making things feel like they went perfectly. I disagree. Short sentences could sometimes be too simple to describe the situation which then need further elaboration.
ReplyDelete