http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/03/16/090316crat_atlarge_acocella
Diction: Since this piece of writing is about the frightening nature of vampires, and how they still are able to cause us great discomfort and worry, the diction involved in describing the vampires is suited well to this purpose. The author uses the general terms of the past to describe vampires, "bloated", "purple-faced", "talons", "terrible". Together these create a creature that no one would want to run into, very indicative of the fact that vampires still cause us a lot of fear in modern day culture, the whole point of her piece. Her excerpts from other works about vampires describe the blood with diction such as "trickling, smeared". These are truly discomforting and describe well the bestial nature of vampires with their lust for blood.
Imagery: The description of vampires created through the strong and disturbing diction creates a very vivid and real image of vampires in a reader's mind. This is coupled with past texts that do an even better job of describing vampires in their terrible deed's of sucking the blood of helpless maidens. These images are especially vivid to a reader because they are something that truly reaches people on the deepest level. Nothing would be worse than being unconscious and unable to help someone as they were attacked by a vampire. The terrible nature of vampires, and the associated historical reaction by people is described with great imagery as well, as the author describes the various means by which vampires were killed :staked, burned, and beheaded. This also creates a pretty brutal image.
Details: The details involved in the work are especially suited to further the author's goal : to describe the significance of the fear that vampires still invoke in people to this day. In order to do this she needed a mix of chilling fictional work and historical fact. This is seen in her use of excerpts from Dracula and descriptions of eastern European folk lore and tradition. Together the mix of historical fact and frightening fiction are especially well received by the audience. This is a winning combination that undeniably proves the author's point by instilling a slight discomfort in the reader about vampires.
Great job William. All of your information on diction, imagery, and details are very well written and thought out. I especially like your diction paragraph. It was a good thought to put that paragraph as your first one, because the other two almost feed off of it and refer to it constantly. This makes sense though, because without diction, the imagery would not be strong. I also like your details paragraph and how you bring together the ideas of historical fact and fiction to feel the fear that vampires still cause people to this day. I know that Ms. Holmes said that it was okay to write these in this format, and I personally don't mind it, but it might be good practice to write it in essay format, with a conclusion added as well. Just for practice! but great job William!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelly on your "Diction" paragraph, on how it was a really good idea to put it first because it leads so well to the Imagery paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI also like that you chose this article, because I don't think I would have noticed very much of this if you hadn't pointed it out in this article.
I'm never sure what format these close readings are supposed to be in. I do mine pretty informally like you but some people are writing essays. I guess it's good practice but Ms. Holmes was never really clear. Great analysis, though, especially with the diction. I liked imagery, too, when you touched on how deeply the images of death can affect a person. There's a nice continuity without the analysis that I think would translate into a really great essay about the article. Great job!
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