Question

Hello Guys! This is a question from AP Lang that I need help with. I'd appreciate it if you'd help me.

“The years took all the fight out of Janie's face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some. She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels. Sometimes she stuck out into the future, imagining her life different from what it was. But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods—come and gone with the sun. She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn't value.

“Now and again she thought of a country road at sun-up and considered flight. To where? To what? Then too she considered thirty-five is twice seventeen and nothing was the same at all.” From Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

What tone is created through the use of diction in the above passage? Give two examples of the diction that reveals the author’s attitude.

Answer 1

The tone is that of despair. An informal diction, as well as figurative speech, were used by the author and that, can be seen in these two examples;

a. The years took all the fight out of Janie's face

b. She was a rut in the road.

Step-by-step explanation:

Diction is the word-choice of an author. It could be informal or formal depending on the topic of discussion. The author in this excerpt used informal diction and figurative language to describe the feeling of despair that Janie felt. This can be seen in the following expressions;

a. The years took all the fight out of Janie's face: This was used to show the dejection and depression Janie felt because of the constant disagreements between her and Jody.

b. She was a rut in the road: This is not to be understood literally, rather, just as a rut was deep and was caused by the constant passage of the wheels of a vehicle so was Janie whose essence could not be seen as a result of her outward pains and continuous struggles through the years.