Vanderpool Language Analysis
Vanderpool used her choice of diction to create a pensive mood in the story. “Hearing Gideon tell about it was like sucking on butterscotch. Smooth and sweet. And when he’s go back to not saying much, I’d try recalling what it tasted like. Maybe that was how I found comfort just them, even with him being so far away. By remembering the flavor of his words. But mostly, I could taste the sadness in his voice when he told me I couldn’t stay with him for the summer while he worked a railroad job back in Iowa.” (Vanderpool, 1-2) Vanderpool was relating her feelings to food. She symbolizes the happiness of Gideon’s stories with butterscotch, and begins to contrast that feeling of happiness with the remembrance of the flavor because you can