Post by taylormohn on Mar 11, 2009 18:58:08 GMT -5
Purpose and Meaning
Through her mothers humorous yet complex and strange personality, we can determine that Annie Dillard has been greatly influenced by her mom, considering that she is the main focus throughout the memoir. This explains a lot about Annie Dillard and how much of her childhood has been corrupted by this crazy, unique mom. Dillard’s main focus throughout her essay, her thesis, is the effect of how powerful language can play in a person’s life, in this case Dillard’s mother. Her childhood is about how much her mother is constantly repeating, entertaining, and tricking people with words and phrase mainly for her (Dillard’s mother) entertainment. From the explicit detail and a thorough memory is a prime example of how much of an influence her mom was. Furthermore, the syntax in Dillard’s essay shows how she enjoys the language almost as much as her mother does. For example, "That . . . is a royal Poinciana”, the use of the periods shows the involvement and how she uses syntax to display the euphemism her mother enjoys. The way Dillard’s mother repeats “Terwilliger bunts one” years later, and the effect “Tamiami trail” had on her mother are key examples that language can be used to amuse people. In addition, “Pittsburgisms”, the Pittsburg people’s use of language, can also be to separate people from one another. Dillard’s mom uses most of the powers of language for her mere entertainment. This use can bring to attention how powerful language can be and how it can affect a person’s life (Annie Dillard’s).
Language and Style
Dillard’s mother’s enjoyment in the euphemism of certain phrases such as "Terwilliger bunts one"; "royal Poinciana"; "Tamiami Trail" show how language can be appealing. The words flow together with funny names which makes the phrases entertaining. This could be to the fact that all of the words contain mostly vowels which together makes the phrase flow. Along with the flowing phrases, Dillard uses diazeugma to portray the actuality of the sentence. The continuation of verbs gives off a different meaning each time making the language more powerful. “Blasted muck with dynamite, cut jungle with machetes”; the words blasted and cut next to dynamite and machetes add to the power of these nouns. Furthermore it provokes auditory and visual imagery which allows the reader to take position in the story and feel the actions occurring. The specificity of her words i.e. limestone, machetes, and dynamite show how much she remembers and the impact of the setting she went through. In the very first paragraph Dillard describes the setting where her mother is walking through the kitchen and her father was making a sandwich. She recalls the team names and the field at which they were playing at (“Pirates were playing the New York Giants at Forbes Field”). The story then continues on to talk about “Terwilliger bunts one”. The amount of detail that Dillard recalls from the one instance shows how much she was influenced and how she admires her mom’s personality and the play on language. In the story Dillard extracts some of her mother’s humor through syntax and certain phrases which indirectly shows the effect of her mother and her conditioning toward intellectual rigor. For example, when Dillard writes this, - "I swear, I never saw her before in my life ...", we can see that she absorbed the humor but having his response with a couple of periods at the end.
Strategy and Structure
Throughout her childhood Dillard has been constantly trained to have a questioning mind all because of her mother’s fondness of language. It is more effective to analyze how much of an impact her mother has on her own writing indirectly because Dillard wants the reader to dig deep to why she focuses mainly on her mother. In the story Dillard extracts some of her mother’s humor through syntax and certain phrases which indirectly shows the effect of her mother and her conditioning toward intellectual rigor. For example, when Dillard writes this, - "I swear, I never saw her before in my life ...", we can see that she absorbed the humor but having his response with a couple of periods at the end. Her mother teaches her to think outside of the box with is a good message to be sent. More indirectly, throughout the whole essay Dillard fails to mention her mother’s name. She is failing to see her mother as a person but just as a personality of a lesson on language. Without mentioning her mothers name Dillard is now proving that the essay is mostly about language rather than her mother as a person. The power of language used to amuse and separate people such as euphonic words and misuses of language has had a much greater affect on Dillard. Although her mother is the start of this training mind I feel Dillard is trying to write how language affected her childhood more than her mother; her nameless mother. The use of language to a write and where the information is placed is also effective. Most people tend to remember best what comes first and last in a movie or book. Dillard ends her essay with her mother’s insistence on a questioning, think-for-yourself kind of mind so the reader will have the lasting impression the sentence makes when they leave the essay. Those words sum up the whole memoir and explain what Dillard was trying to say throughout.
Through her mothers humorous yet complex and strange personality, we can determine that Annie Dillard has been greatly influenced by her mom, considering that she is the main focus throughout the memoir. This explains a lot about Annie Dillard and how much of her childhood has been corrupted by this crazy, unique mom. Dillard’s main focus throughout her essay, her thesis, is the effect of how powerful language can play in a person’s life, in this case Dillard’s mother. Her childhood is about how much her mother is constantly repeating, entertaining, and tricking people with words and phrase mainly for her (Dillard’s mother) entertainment. From the explicit detail and a thorough memory is a prime example of how much of an influence her mom was. Furthermore, the syntax in Dillard’s essay shows how she enjoys the language almost as much as her mother does. For example, "That . . . is a royal Poinciana”, the use of the periods shows the involvement and how she uses syntax to display the euphemism her mother enjoys. The way Dillard’s mother repeats “Terwilliger bunts one” years later, and the effect “Tamiami trail” had on her mother are key examples that language can be used to amuse people. In addition, “Pittsburgisms”, the Pittsburg people’s use of language, can also be to separate people from one another. Dillard’s mom uses most of the powers of language for her mere entertainment. This use can bring to attention how powerful language can be and how it can affect a person’s life (Annie Dillard’s).
Language and Style
Dillard’s mother’s enjoyment in the euphemism of certain phrases such as "Terwilliger bunts one"; "royal Poinciana"; "Tamiami Trail" show how language can be appealing. The words flow together with funny names which makes the phrases entertaining. This could be to the fact that all of the words contain mostly vowels which together makes the phrase flow. Along with the flowing phrases, Dillard uses diazeugma to portray the actuality of the sentence. The continuation of verbs gives off a different meaning each time making the language more powerful. “Blasted muck with dynamite, cut jungle with machetes”; the words blasted and cut next to dynamite and machetes add to the power of these nouns. Furthermore it provokes auditory and visual imagery which allows the reader to take position in the story and feel the actions occurring. The specificity of her words i.e. limestone, machetes, and dynamite show how much she remembers and the impact of the setting she went through. In the very first paragraph Dillard describes the setting where her mother is walking through the kitchen and her father was making a sandwich. She recalls the team names and the field at which they were playing at (“Pirates were playing the New York Giants at Forbes Field”). The story then continues on to talk about “Terwilliger bunts one”. The amount of detail that Dillard recalls from the one instance shows how much she was influenced and how she admires her mom’s personality and the play on language. In the story Dillard extracts some of her mother’s humor through syntax and certain phrases which indirectly shows the effect of her mother and her conditioning toward intellectual rigor. For example, when Dillard writes this, - "I swear, I never saw her before in my life ...", we can see that she absorbed the humor but having his response with a couple of periods at the end.
Strategy and Structure
Throughout her childhood Dillard has been constantly trained to have a questioning mind all because of her mother’s fondness of language. It is more effective to analyze how much of an impact her mother has on her own writing indirectly because Dillard wants the reader to dig deep to why she focuses mainly on her mother. In the story Dillard extracts some of her mother’s humor through syntax and certain phrases which indirectly shows the effect of her mother and her conditioning toward intellectual rigor. For example, when Dillard writes this, - "I swear, I never saw her before in my life ...", we can see that she absorbed the humor but having his response with a couple of periods at the end. Her mother teaches her to think outside of the box with is a good message to be sent. More indirectly, throughout the whole essay Dillard fails to mention her mother’s name. She is failing to see her mother as a person but just as a personality of a lesson on language. Without mentioning her mothers name Dillard is now proving that the essay is mostly about language rather than her mother as a person. The power of language used to amuse and separate people such as euphonic words and misuses of language has had a much greater affect on Dillard. Although her mother is the start of this training mind I feel Dillard is trying to write how language affected her childhood more than her mother; her nameless mother. The use of language to a write and where the information is placed is also effective. Most people tend to remember best what comes first and last in a movie or book. Dillard ends her essay with her mother’s insistence on a questioning, think-for-yourself kind of mind so the reader will have the lasting impression the sentence makes when they leave the essay. Those words sum up the whole memoir and explain what Dillard was trying to say throughout.