Style, Tone and Irony
Introduction
Style refers to the distinctive form in which a writer arranges his or her words in order to achieve a particular effect such as narrative, descriptive, expository and persuasive, tone is the author’s attitude towards the people, situations and events in their story while irony is a figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs. Three types of sarcasm are verbal, dramatic, and situational. In this paper, I intend to look at the style, tone an irony used by Junot Diaz’ in "How to Date a Brown girl, (Black girl, White girl, or Halfie)" and its differences and or similarities to the styles, tone and irony learnt in this course.
Style
The writer has used a combination of narrative and descriptive styles of writing. He has used the descriptive style to give a step by step illustration on what a man should do, how he should behave and lastly what he should say from the beginning to the end of the story (Meyer 45). The narrative style comes into play as he adds in his characters, the conflicts they will face or words they will use and the settings and or challenges they will encounter throughout the short story. This
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use of style is compatible with the various uses that have been mentioned in this course and I find it suitable as it helps create the story and images in my head and understand what is happening much more clearly. Tone The tone in this narrative is viewed as informal as it holds conversations and appears to be in form of a letter to a young man.
If this story was told in a woman’s point of view, the entire story would change since it would be more of the girl’s journey from her home, her thoughts on the boy and the “procedure” she would follow and behavior she would exhibit in front of the boy. He uses casual diction in his story such as: “Wait and after an hour go out to your corner. The neighborhood is full of traffic. Give one of your boys a shout and when he says, Are you still waiting on that bitch? Say, Hell yeah.” He uses this form to express how close he is to his friends as well as the type of language they use with each other. It also depicts that he is from the
“hood”. Irony The author uses irony such as when he says “Put down your hamburger and say, it must have been hard.” He means this sarcastically as he had previously hinted that it sounded like something the girl’s parents had drilled her into believing. This is verbal irony. He also employs dramatic irony when he states that; “The skies will be magnificent (Diaz 83). Pollutants have made Jersey sunsets one of the wonders of the world”. Conclusion The author employs good use of style and is able to clearly show his point. His use of style and tone is notable as well as his use for irony. He effectively uses the second person to tell the narrative.
In the essay “ ‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans” is an effective writing style to persuade his audience because Rodriguez shows the reader how ironic people are in many different situations. For example, “There is something unsettling about immigrants because….well because they chatter incomprehensibly, and they get in everyone’s way. Immigrants seem to be bent on undoing American.” This reveals how Rodriguez shows verbal irony due to the fact that he is saying it but he does not really mean it for example in this quote Rodriguez said it but he is not the one who believes that while the white people are the ones who really consider immigrants as “Chatter”. To add on, Rodriguez shows this to display how the white people is just trying
Throughout this essay he focuses on keeping the tone light and humorous so as to entertain and yet still educate. We see him casually admitting his and others shortcomings as men and directing the humor at himself as he makes fun of his horrible behavior. In doing so, he makes this piece very easy for the reader to relate to; whether you are a woman
Satirical writing allows the author to express his or her opinion about a problem in society. A writing must follow three rules in order for it to be classified as satirical. First, a continuous focus on one’s subject’s faults. Secondly, instead of telling the reader directly, information must be given indirectly. Thirdly, the writing must have a variety of satirical techniques in general (Festa). With these simple guidelines, an author can demonstrate his beliefs of what he thinks needs to be changed in society.
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Furthermore, the writer also develops a suspenseful mood by creating a calm and peaceful attitude of the main character in a strange and cryptic setting. The purpose of the diction that the author uses is to develop an understanding of the main character’s attitude. Moreover, it gives the readers the opportunity to feel the same emotions and feelings of the characters, as if they were in there shoes. As a final point, the writer includes a specific tone in order to make the readers develop a feeling towards the main character such as feeling sincere towards a character, or rather despising them.
Many critics have attempted definitions of Black Humor, none of them entirely successfully. The most significant recurring features of these definitions are that Black Humor works with: absurdity, ironic detachment4; opposing moral views held in equipoise, humanity's lack of a sense of purpose in the unpredictable nuclear age, the realization of the complexity of moral and aesthetic experience which affects the individual's ability to choose a course of action5; and a playing with the reader's ideas of reality6.
A successful descriptive narrative gives the necessary information for a reader to know the material of a text. For instance, narrating the text of a story allows the audience to connect with the feelings of the narrator. A description incorporates visuals so that the audience can recognize the image being portrayed. “Shooting an Elephant” and “The Lottery” are both descriptive narratives. Descriptive narratives give the reader a clearer understanding of the passage. “Shooting an Elephant” is the stronger descriptive narrative because of vivid sensory detail, manipulating the perception of the reader, and Orwell’s use of conflict.
Wright, Richard. "The Man Who Was Almost a Man." Literature and the Writing Process. Ed.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
However, the reader must always keep in mind the time at which this piece was written and how these relationships exemplify the realities of personal relationships during this time era. Her relationship with John is dominated by him and is almost like she is the child. Without anyone to speak to about her true feelings and stresses, she writes, another thing she must hide from John and Jennie. The reader feels a sense of fear from the narrator, “there comes John, and I must put this away,—he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 78). Yet another sign of how he does not want his wife thinking for herself and doing what she pleases. When learning about the author and her background, her feminist side shows in this piece through examples like these. The true dark sides of marriage, the loneliness, and the female role of always being superior are portrayed perfectly in this short
What goes around comes around. Sometimes life isn’t perfect. Nothing on earth is perfect, we all make mistakes and we learn from them. That’s part of being human. Relationships come and go but every time we brake up with someone, they teach us a lesson. They could teach us to become a better person or they could bring out the worst of us. In the novel called This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz, Yunior didn’t have good relationships because he always cheated. For example, he cheated on Magda with Cassandra and he cheated on Alma with Laxmi. Yunior sometimes loved them but his way of loving them was unique. He was scared to be committed to just one person. Maybe he was scared to fall in love. We live in a generation where we see all kind of crazy stuff happening in relationships. Maybe that’s how society wants us to feel,
A successful descriptive narrative displays the necessary information for a reader to explain or develop speculations within the material. Narrating the text of a story, told through one or more narrators, allows the audience to connect with the feelings of the narrator. A description includes imagery for the audience’s recognition. Furthermore, descriptive narratives have a purpose and are there for a reason. “Shooting an Elephant” and “The Lottery” are both descriptive narratives. Descriptive narratives show a clearer understanding of the passage; therefore, the stronger text is “Shooting an Elephant” because of its detail and the plot’s conflict.
" The use of short, sharp sentences helps increase the signal-mans hysteria. Many of the events in the story are written in long, thoroughly descriptive sentences that include several commas to separate specific events, and further descriptions. Though sometimes it can be slightly difficult to follow the story, I understand that this kind of writing was common for the time. The only time the sentence structure differs is when the story is at a tenser moment. At such a point, the sentences tend to be shorter and more to the point.
Stephen's relationship with the opposite sex begins to develop early in his life. Within the first few pages of the novel lie hints of the different roles women will...