A Separate Peace: Diction - Setting the Scene
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- Date Submitted: 12/08/2014 01:39 PM
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Diction: Setting the Scene
Some words are able to describe the topic of a situation. In some cases, the words totally explain and give a picture of the meaning of the setting, and help the reader completely understand what the writer was talking about. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses unique diction to convey how the era in which the book was written is different than it is now. Some of the words used are “war”, “leave”, and “unpatriotic” to describe how the time period was in perception of the author.
The first way the author showed the time period to be different was when “war” was used. This diction helped give the reader a thought of violence, fighting, and cruelty because that is what war was and is, and it is feared by many people. “War” also showed that this era was in harsh times, and everyone in America was focused on it. This changed all of these people’s lifestyles because most everyone had to “lend a helping hand” and give what support they could to the people fighting over seas in World War II. Today, people are not as focused on the wars and everyone doesn’t have an entire life dedicated to the war, with the exceptions of the soldiers.
Another word to portray uniqueness of the setting is “leave”. “Leave” gives a first thought of someone going away or not being present. In the situation of the setting, this word tells of a family member having to be deployed to the other side of the world and possibly “leaving” forever. Some soldiers are unable to survive and are taken from their family for good. Also,
many jobs were vacant, so the people who caused the positions to be unoccupied were on “leave”. This was a big part of the time period because it was the start of women doing a man’s
job and doing it successfully. This is different now, because the jobs are not vacant due to military men going away and leaving their job behind. There is always someone who is able to fill the position.
Last, “unpatriotic” is a detail of...
Some words are able to describe the topic of a situation. In some cases, the words totally explain and give a picture of the meaning of the setting, and help the reader completely understand what the writer was talking about. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses unique diction to convey how the era in which the book was written is different than it is now. Some of the words used are “war”, “leave”, and “unpatriotic” to describe how the time period was in perception of the author.
The first way the author showed the time period to be different was when “war” was used. This diction helped give the reader a thought of violence, fighting, and cruelty because that is what war was and is, and it is feared by many people. “War” also showed that this era was in harsh times, and everyone in America was focused on it. This changed all of these people’s lifestyles because most everyone had to “lend a helping hand” and give what support they could to the people fighting over seas in World War II. Today, people are not as focused on the wars and everyone doesn’t have an entire life dedicated to the war, with the exceptions of the soldiers.
Another word to portray uniqueness of the setting is “leave”. “Leave” gives a first thought of someone going away or not being present. In the situation of the setting, this word tells of a family member having to be deployed to the other side of the world and possibly “leaving” forever. Some soldiers are unable to survive and are taken from their family for good. Also,
many jobs were vacant, so the people who caused the positions to be unoccupied were on “leave”. This was a big part of the time period because it was the start of women doing a man’s
job and doing it successfully. This is different now, because the jobs are not vacant due to military men going away and leaving their job behind. There is always someone who is able to fill the position.
Last, “unpatriotic” is a detail of...