Post by COLTON STIFF on Mar 23, 2009 8:02:56 GMT -5
Purpose and Meaning
1.) Annie Dillard’s mother was entertained and fascinated with the many different uses of words and language. Annie Dillard has inherited her mother’s use and fascination of words. This is obvious because Dillard is in fact a writer/ author who writes and expresses herself rhetorically and descriptively most likely due to her mother’s influence upon her as a child and her love for words. Her mother’s influence is apparent when Dillard attempts to describes the building of the Tamiami Trail. Her Characteristics resemble some of her mother; descriptive and aware, although she uses many details.
2.) Looking at the passage, it is conclusive that language was very important within the Dillard household. When Dillard’s mother found a phrase that was unique or sounded somewhat awkward, her mother would prance around quoting this phrase as she was easily amused. Annie Dillard’s mother had such a way with words and language that it was the dividing factor between her and the rest of society. Dillard’s mother used this to her advantage like when she asked her surgeon if she would whether or not be able to play piano after the operation. The essay reflected how language influenced Dillard’s childhood and how it still influences her life today; she realizes now why her mother was so persistent on words and language.
3.) Dillard’s thesis reflects that language was an important part of her life and that it makes a person who they are and that this can affect all of us in a very influential way.
Language and Style
1.) When saying such phrases, one’s mouth moves in such a way that it is awkward and unusual. “Terwilliger bunts one” is just one of these phrases that are much more awkward than phrases that we use daily; much easier to pronounce and say fluently.
2.) The use of these and other descriptive word gives life to Dillard’s writing by effectively describing, using a play on words, how she imagined the long trail being built. Another place in which she uses this method is when she writes about her mother’s mischief while playing board or card games. Dillard describes how she would “bid slams for the devilment of it, or raise[d] her opponents' suit to bug them, or showed her hand, or tossed her cards in a handful behind her back in a characteristic swift motion accompanied by a vibrantly innocent look. It drove our stolid father crazy.” She uses words like “devilment” and “stolid,” and phrases like “vibrantly innocent.”
3.) Dillard is painstakingly specific because she wants to effectively express to her reader how she experienced these events. When she talks about the eccentricities of her mother she describes how she used to lick the corner of an envelope to place a stamp because she didn’t like the taste of stamps, and how she would glue sandpaper to the sides of kitchen drawers, and under kitchen cabinets, so she always had a handy place to strike a match. Dillard’s specificity most likely came from her mother’s constant questioning of her thoughts. She uses imagery and details to create a humorous tone.
Strategy and Structure
1.) This shows that Dillard’s mother was an intellectual. This effectively compliments the characteristics that her mother possessed; her questioning of authority, her passion for original thought. Her mother seemed to be a prevalent force in Dillard’s life and serves well as a model because it is because of her mother why Dillard is able to think the way she does and write the way she does because she realized that her mother was trying to teach her an important lesson by constantly questioning and rarely following the rules.
2.) Her mother remains nameless throughout the story, I think, because Dillard thinks of her mother as a series of events in which language was prevalent and in which her mother was the main cause of this. The reader, in turn, gets the idea that Annie’s mother was probably unlike anyone they ever met in that she had a unique way of looking at things.
3.) She wants people to remember this because this is what she got out of her mother’s unique view of language. She finally realized, when she grew older, that her mother had a reason for always asking her of her own opinion. She wants the readers to also get this out of her memoir because it was an important aspect for her and her experiences with her mother.
1.) Annie Dillard’s mother was entertained and fascinated with the many different uses of words and language. Annie Dillard has inherited her mother’s use and fascination of words. This is obvious because Dillard is in fact a writer/ author who writes and expresses herself rhetorically and descriptively most likely due to her mother’s influence upon her as a child and her love for words. Her mother’s influence is apparent when Dillard attempts to describes the building of the Tamiami Trail. Her Characteristics resemble some of her mother; descriptive and aware, although she uses many details.
2.) Looking at the passage, it is conclusive that language was very important within the Dillard household. When Dillard’s mother found a phrase that was unique or sounded somewhat awkward, her mother would prance around quoting this phrase as she was easily amused. Annie Dillard’s mother had such a way with words and language that it was the dividing factor between her and the rest of society. Dillard’s mother used this to her advantage like when she asked her surgeon if she would whether or not be able to play piano after the operation. The essay reflected how language influenced Dillard’s childhood and how it still influences her life today; she realizes now why her mother was so persistent on words and language.
3.) Dillard’s thesis reflects that language was an important part of her life and that it makes a person who they are and that this can affect all of us in a very influential way.
Language and Style
1.) When saying such phrases, one’s mouth moves in such a way that it is awkward and unusual. “Terwilliger bunts one” is just one of these phrases that are much more awkward than phrases that we use daily; much easier to pronounce and say fluently.
2.) The use of these and other descriptive word gives life to Dillard’s writing by effectively describing, using a play on words, how she imagined the long trail being built. Another place in which she uses this method is when she writes about her mother’s mischief while playing board or card games. Dillard describes how she would “bid slams for the devilment of it, or raise[d] her opponents' suit to bug them, or showed her hand, or tossed her cards in a handful behind her back in a characteristic swift motion accompanied by a vibrantly innocent look. It drove our stolid father crazy.” She uses words like “devilment” and “stolid,” and phrases like “vibrantly innocent.”
3.) Dillard is painstakingly specific because she wants to effectively express to her reader how she experienced these events. When she talks about the eccentricities of her mother she describes how she used to lick the corner of an envelope to place a stamp because she didn’t like the taste of stamps, and how she would glue sandpaper to the sides of kitchen drawers, and under kitchen cabinets, so she always had a handy place to strike a match. Dillard’s specificity most likely came from her mother’s constant questioning of her thoughts. She uses imagery and details to create a humorous tone.
Strategy and Structure
1.) This shows that Dillard’s mother was an intellectual. This effectively compliments the characteristics that her mother possessed; her questioning of authority, her passion for original thought. Her mother seemed to be a prevalent force in Dillard’s life and serves well as a model because it is because of her mother why Dillard is able to think the way she does and write the way she does because she realized that her mother was trying to teach her an important lesson by constantly questioning and rarely following the rules.
2.) Her mother remains nameless throughout the story, I think, because Dillard thinks of her mother as a series of events in which language was prevalent and in which her mother was the main cause of this. The reader, in turn, gets the idea that Annie’s mother was probably unlike anyone they ever met in that she had a unique way of looking at things.
3.) She wants people to remember this because this is what she got out of her mother’s unique view of language. She finally realized, when she grew older, that her mother had a reason for always asking her of her own opinion. She wants the readers to also get this out of her memoir because it was an important aspect for her and her experiences with her mother.