Sacks Diction Analysis

In ‘What gets students motivated to work harder? Not money’ by Matthew G. Springer, he explains how many use money to motivate children to work hard and how it doesn’t actually work. To prove this he will use his status and credibility, his information and statistics, and emotions to get us, the readers, to side with him.

The Civil rights movement was a long and hard fight for freedom in our nation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the many people who devoted themselves and fought for the movement. He did it in hope to make the world a better place. Outraged and indignant, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham city jail” addresses the events that took place in the name of freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. reflects on the events, through his use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools.

Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains,” tells the story of a self-regulating house that is all that is left of the world. Through the use of diction, the reader is able to understand the shifts in tone throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the house. Bradbury uses terms such as “ruined city,” “radioactive glow,” and “rubble and ashes,” (Bradbury 1) effectively creating a dark and forlorn atmosphere. The author’s word choice creates an image in the reader’s mind of how desolate the house’s surroundings are, ultimately contributing to the somber tone. Another example of diction being utilized is shown when Bradbury wrote “angry sparks” and “tenderly crisping,” (Bradbury 3) to describe a fire that has begun

In writing, authors chose particular words and phrases to effectively convey their message or to engage the reader. Writer's word choices, also known as diction, can help communicate ideas, reveal emotion and opinions that they may have toward something or someone. There are many different levels of diction such as formal diction, used by Richard Rodriguez in his autobiography The Hunger of Memory, and neutral diction, used by Charles Bukowski in his novel Ham on Rye. The use of diction in these pieces make the stories come to life in the reader's head.

Most English students know that catchy titles may be a sure way to get the reader’s attention, and the professor’s nod as well. Similarly, most country songs begin with a striking, if not shocking, title and immediately capture the listener’s attention – and not always the high-brow listener. Just as her beloved country tunes, well-known author, Gina Barreca, in her humorous essay, “Why English Professors Love Country Music,” presents not only that “catchy title,” but numerous examples of country music songs as evidence to support her position that as “grown-up music,” country music is accessible to both the erudite academics as well as the blue-collar-Joes. Barreca’s purpose is to resolve the age-old idea that the lofty, ideological professor might also find relevance in the seemingly simple lyrics of country songs. She adopts a vibrant and funny tone in order to appeal to the emotions and experiences of her more mature adult audience with phrases such as the quote from Rene . Through the use of both academic and colloquial diction, Barreca convinces readers that country music is accessible

Throughout this excerpt, the use of imagery is vital to the evolution of Chief Bromden. Chief wakes up with the sudden urge to do something. As he walks around, he feels the cold tiles against his feet, and he realizes how many times he had walked on the tiles before, but had never felt it at all. “I walked down the windows to one where the shade popped softly in and out with the breeze, and I pressed my head against the mesh.” In this paragraph the imagery of the smells and Chief presses his head against the mesh, appeals to the senses of smell and touch. This sets up chief realizing that his eyes are closed. This gives the reader a sign of awakening. Chief looks out the window for the first time and notices that the hospital is in the country. “It

The poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee depicts the complex relationship between a boy and his father when the boy asks his father for a story and he can’t come up with one. When you’re a parent your main focus is to make your child happy and to meet all the expectations your child meets. When you come to realize a certain expectation can’t satisfy the person you love your reaction should automatically be to question what would happen if you never end up satisfying them. When the father does this he realizes the outcome isn’t what he’d hope for. He then finally realizes that he still has time to meet that expectation and he isn’t being rushed. Through shifting points of view, a purposeful structure, and settle choices in diction the author adds

Chapter 2 of The poisoner’s handbook by Deborah Blum has an aggressive style. Elements of diction support this style. Some of the elements that support the style are connotation/ denotation, cacophonous, and monosyllabic/polysyllabism.

Music is not something which is tangible, but yet is has been loved and cherished by many for a very long time because of the unique pleasure that it grants. Music has the ability to bring together many people of all ages. There are so many different ways to create and listen to music that everyone has access to music in some way, shape, or form. Many songs are written and created using repetition with the intent to get them stuck in your head. That feeling when you have a song stuck in your head and it is repeating over and over again, is known as an ear worm. In his writing, Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks uses many rhetorical devices, including imagery, anecdote, and pathos, to achieve his purpose of describing to his audience what exactly an ear worm is and how it can affect people.

In Sydney J. Harris’ essay, “Blasting Music to Drown Out Reality”, the thesis argues that people listen to music to distort their current life endeavors as stated explicitly in paragraph 5. As seen in paragraph nine, the author employs a few examples of a reference to authority to convey this message. To use a “reference to authority”, means to use an individual, institution or an expert on a specific topic as a source of information in order to present your idea. In this essay, he refers to several renown composers such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. He states that their music “elevates us, delights us, deepens us and brings us closer to the wellsprings of life”. He also states that any genre of music other than classical dehumanizes the soul.

In Phaethon, the author promotes Phaethon’s bravery. As the story begins the author uses diction to describe the climb to the Sun God’s palace. He says, “A mortal dared to approach.”(1) As the story continues the author shows bravery through Phaethon’s actions. The author states, “ Proudly and joyously Phaethon entered the chariot and they were off.”(2) Towards the end the author uses symbolism to show the tone. He puts on Phaethon’s gravestone, “Greatly he failed, but he greatly dared.”(3) Overall the author’s tone of Phaethon’s bravery reinforces the idea that Phaethon may not have been wise but he was very brave.

Sherry Turkle argues that the dependency on technology in society eliminates the ability to communicate in her essay “the flight of the conversation.” Similarly, Paul Barnwell criticizes societies’ technological dependence but narrows the conversation to the current generation of high school students in his essay, “My Students Don’t Know How to Have a Conversation.” While both authors intend to argue the necessity for making conversation ultimately Turkle better identifies the issue and reaches a wider audience.

In “EROS” by Robert Bridges, in direct contrast to the god depicted by Anne Stevenson in her poem, “Eros”, a god of love is, in actuality, a god of power, whilst Stevenson’s Eros is wholly dependant on humanity for his continued survival. The two authors use diction, rhyme scheme, and the symbol of power in both similar and completely different ways to portray two very different interpretations of the Greek god of love.

The two excerpts from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks made me have many tangential thoughts about William, his thinking, and his identity. Who is he? Who does he think he is? Can he actively think? However, in the spirit of our class, I re-read the passage several times to understand what kinds of readings are taking place. In this passage I find three interesting types of reading. The first two are 1) Sacks’ reading of the audience’s reading of William and 2) the audience’s evolving reading of William. The third type of reading is Sacks’ perception of William.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch epitomizes the ideas of both the Surrealism movement and Science Fiction genre and should be classified as such. The diction in this novel pertains to the movement and genre because of its poetic and lyrical style as well as its scientific jargon. Through self-realization and personal growth, the main character’s development illustrates the ideas of Surrealism and Science Fiction. The genre of Science Fiction is shown in the conflict of Dark Matter because of its examination of parallel universes. The point of view that switches as the book goes along which highlights the contrast between the two main characters, and expertly showcases their inner thoughts. Those attributes fit descriptions of the Science