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Change is something difficult for everyone.

Yet in ​All the Living ​we are able to get insight


on the complex responses which a young girl, Aloma, goes through after being sent away to
mission school. The author, Morgan, utilizes literary elements, such as pathos, diction and
imagery to illustrate the aspirations which Alomas spirt withholds while having to go through this
change.
Morgans use of imagery throughout the passage allows the reader to be able to
visualize and feel all of the overwhelming emotions which Aloma experienced. For example
when the author described how the first night she “found that her eyes stung...she turned
facedown into her pillow… let them tear with her mouth open ragged against the cotton ticking”
you can practically feel the agony which Aloma found herself in at the moment. When Morgan
describes how “the tip of the finger finally burned with its first sun” it depicts the warmth and light
which is brought into the dark picture which had previously been painted by Morgan. It also
portrays how the brightness of the sun brings along with it hope and a sense of opportunity to
Aloma.
The dicton present throughout the passage also helps build upon Alomas strong
emotions. There is a constant repetition of the word “dark” when describing the environment
which she found herself in; “lived in this dark place, a dark country in a dark state.” This reflects
the negativity which she felt towards where she was at and how her soul yearned to be
elsewhere. Morgan builds upon this feeling when using words such as “riseless place” when
describing where Aloma hoped to one day be at. It also displays part of Alomas personality and
how she was someone with a restless soul who wanted to get away.
Tied in with Morgans use of diction and imagery, Morgan utilizes pathos to place the
reader in Alomas perspective and takes the reader to feel empathetic/ sympathetic towards
Aloma. “Then she would find a riseless place where nothing impeded the progress of the sun…
that was what she wanted.” Lines 49-60 grant the reader insight on what Alomas soul yearned.
It reflects how she feels closed into a dark space and dreams of one day being in a place where
“premature darkness” cannot be recalled. This emphasizes to what extent Aloma feels alone
and limited to what she can do. She was a restless soul who disliked routine such as her aunts
“too-small predictable chords.” She wanted to experience a life full of “dissonance” where things
could be unexpected and inconsistent. Morgan ending with those two paragraphs allow the
reader to fully understand what Alomas soul yearned and how at that moment in her life she
could only dream of it.

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