Preview

Diction In The Flowers By Alice Walker

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
667 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Diction In The Flowers By Alice Walker
In the short story "The Flowers," there are examples of diction, symbolism, and setting that prepare the reader for the ending. The example of diction throughout the story is the narrator's word choice, which prepares the reader for shifts in mood. The example of symbols in the story are the flowers, which represent innocence and youth. The setting that changes from light and cheerful to dark bring forth the grotesque ending. Despite all the example differing, they all foreshadow the ending to the short story. In the beginning of the story, Walker uses diction to create an atmosphere that is happy and innocent:
"It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen to smokehouse that the days had never been as beautiful as these" (Walker).
As the story goes forth, there is a shift in the mood between paragraph four and five. The diction in paragraphs 1-4 was care-free and happy, on the other hand, language in paragraphs 5-9 are negative and dreadful. Myop describes the "strangeness of the land" and how it was "not as pleasant" as her usual
…show more content…
Also, the setting shifting from "sunny" to "gloomy" shows a dark ending. Myop is surrounded with nature and death itself. The harvest and "warm sun" make the reader feel calm and care-free. The family's sharecropper cabin mentioned in the story tell you Myop and her family are African American. The "fallen leaves" and familiar woods explored before put the reader at ease, but when the setting shifts to "strange and "silent" the reader automatically feels negative. The body she found changes the setting to sympathetic knowing his head was laying beside him the remains of a noose near by. The bones and green buckles on the over alls show how long he has been there under " an over hanging limb of a great spreading oak." The setting gives the details needed to feel as if the reader was there with Myop on her adventure to adult

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    ‘The Violets’ by Gwen Harwood, illustrates a number of metaphors outlined between the differences of childhood and becoming an adult. Such metaphors counted are used within the context of the Violet flower, this being placed for beginning the further made metaphors about a child’s loss as they…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One's a Heifer

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages

    3) The author describes the farmer’s house as following: “The yard was littered with old wagons and machinery; the house was scarcely distinguishable from the stables. Darkness was beginning to close in but there were no lights in the windows.” By describing like this, the reader feels an almost eerie mood or atmosphere, desolate even.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the short story, Edna’s Ruthie, used good diction to explain Ruthie’s strange behaviors in an understandable way. The author explained she acted more like a child than an adult, without just outright saying that. The reader is capable of making conclusions about Ruthie, and the way she acts, without it being said word for word because the author used good diction.…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, the title indicates that the dream will die. “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew” (Doc A). The title of the book was taken from this line. It is hinting that their farm dream will die when it says that plans of mice and men go often askew. Also when Curley’s wife dies; it is foreshadowing for the farm dream dying. After killing her, Lennie says, “I done another bad thing” (Doc B). Lennie is realising that he just killed her, that the other guys are going to want to kill him, so he has to run away killing the farm dream. The foreshadowing in the book tells the readers that the farm dream will…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paret's Diction Essay

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through the use of vibrant diction, syntax, and ever changing tone, the author is able to create a dramatic, yet sorrowful story that affects the reader on many levels.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kjjkbjkbj

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2. The narrator describes the room with the yellow wallpaper as a former nursery — that is, a room in a large house where children played, ate their meals, and may have been educated. What evidence is there that it may have a different function? How does that discrepancy help develop the character of the narrator and communicate the themes of the story?…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    4. (a) The descriptive details of the interior of the house that suggest the narrator has entered a realm that is very different from the ordinary world are details such as the narrator felt that inside the house he “breathed an atmosphere of sorrow,” and that there was “irredeemable gloom that hung over and pervaded all.” These details foreshadow that the things that will happen inside the mansion are going to be much more sorrowful and gloomy than things that could ever happen in the ordinary world.…

    • 1588 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the imagery creates a dark and disturbing mood which shows the theme of how greed will make some people do whatever it takes to get what they desire. The language or words used to describe things such as settings, a character, or an event can help create a mood to help describe the theme.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author uses descriptive language to describe the dull and depressing mood of the story. For example, he uses a simile to illustrate the dullness of the story,” This look came over her face like the sun had wrinkled out and was not going to shine again till next June.”(4) When he mentions wrinkling it gives the reader…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, the use of foreshadowing is used truly conspicuously. To foreshadow is to provide advanced indications to a future event or discovery.. The extremely strong dank scent about Ms. Emily's house, the second floor of this residence being locked and the discovery of the iron grey hair, all are strong foreshadowing incidents that achieve this surprising and strong but also believable ending. Faulkner use of foreshadowing is used ingeniously to achieve a shocking and powerful yet certain ending…

    • 611 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walker conveys emotion with the narrator’s relationship to her daughters. Walker uses the contrasting daughter’s attitude and feelings; to express this, like how Maggie makes her feel. “When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head…Just like when I’m in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout.” (Walker 10-11) Walker connects to her audience by showing that feelings can be beyond description spiritual even. Mama has a deep, rich personality, and although she has not lived an easy life, the rough life she has lived has turned her into a strong woman.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A person’s perception of anything is always influenced by their experiences. Alice Walker is no different in regards to her perception of beauty. “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is The Self” is an autobiographical story written by Walker that recounts and compares her life before and after her "accident". When she was eight years old, she was shot in the eye by one of her brothers while playing cowboys and Indians with a BB gun. The incident leaves a once cute and outgoing girl with a destroyed sense of self beauty. Walker traces her experiences throughout life as it was changed by her "deformity". Walker uses various elements throughout her writing to convey her ever-changing outlook toward her own beauty. She also makes use of various symbolic strategies in order to deliver a clear and luring story that keeps the reader engaged as she describes her life as a flashback. Alice does a good job making the reader feel like he or she is part of the story. She is able to bring to mind memories that may be long forgotten due to her detailed storytelling.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    5. What 2 possible symbols does the rose have for the reader? A sweet moral blossom or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alice Walkersjourney

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Walker and her mother visited their own house, first. When they arrived, they felt many different things. They remember all of their experiences in their home, including the farm, and new things they encountered. Even her mother was glowing, remembering all the things they went through. They had good and bad times, but they still enjoyed visiting their past, together. Walker remembers some bad times she had at the house, for example, when her cat got lost and she could not get to it in time. Yet, she thinks and remembers all the good times in the field during her childhood. The gratification they shared together was a good thing.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use Symbolism

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Walker uses descriptive diction to give a realistic, detailed vision of the characters. “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall.” (Walker 50). But, she also includes “But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skins like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights.” (Walker 52). These statement made by the narrator is significant because it reinforces the authors constant sense of realism throughout the story. Walker also includes, “How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflected in them” (Walker 53). This adds to the characterization of Maggie, explaining what happened to her that made her into the timid way she is. Walker also relied upon literary techniques in the story. Robert Matunda states that Walker employs phonological processes, patterns of word formation; the syntactical features that Walker uses to negotiate with her readers including, negation, verb-deletion, tense-variation. Walker’s use of these elements give the story a more technical and logical taste for the audience, though still implying a…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays