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Avery Kelly

Mcfadden
May 13,2019
Good Lit Essay
Exemplary Text versus Mediocre Texts
In literature, the way the author presents the diction and details regarding the characters should
enlarge the meaning of the text for the reader. How the author chooses to depict the diction and details is
up to their style and how they want to convey their message. No matter what type of genre or type of
book one is reading they share two combining quantities: effective and clear use of diction and specific
and to the point details. It is these two combinations that set stories apart. Without these two
distinguishing factors, it can severely hinder what the reader takes from the overall meaning of the story.
The combination of both diction and details is what gives a story its purpose and meaning.
The first criteria is the effective and clear use of diction. Diction is what enables the characters to
communicate with each other and for the readers to communicate with the characters. A well written
example of the use of diction is enacted in the play titled, ​A Streetcar Named Desire. ​Tennessee
Williams’s use of clarity in diction among the characters helps to place the reader into the play. Stanley
states, “I done nothing to no one. Let go of my shirt, You’ve torn it” (Williams 137). Here what Stanley is
saying is very clear and relatable to the reader or audience of the play. By having the reader understand
what Stanley is saying and making the diction between him and the other characters more relatable, it
helps to place the audience into the play and want to continue reading to find out more about the other
characters. The use of diction in ​A Streetcar Named Desire​ is diction of everyday language and that helps
to bring the audience more connected to the play. The way each of the characters speak to one another
and act is something an average American would go through on a daily basis. The use of relatable diction
and actions is what helps to connect the audience with the characters in the play.
In some stories, it fails to bring the clear use of diction that many individuals use on a daily basis.
Instead, an old time use of diction is used and it hinders the communication between the reader and the
characters. It can ultimately hinders what the reader receives from the meaning of the story. An example
of this particular type of diction is in ​Their Eyes Were Watching God ​written by Zora Neale Hurston.
Hurston's complex and deep southern diction places an obstacle on the reader and the author as the reader
may not be use to the old and deep south language. For example, it states, “You better git dat kivver offa
dat youngun and dat quick” (Hurston 17)! This is an example of the deep and old southern diction. A
reader that is not use to this way of speaking might be so focus on slowing down and trying to read it
word for word that they lose sight of what the actual purpose the author is trying to get across. This
complex way of using diction forces the reader to slow down their reading place and can cause
frustrations while reading that may eventually cause the reader to stop reading a story because there is a
barrier between languages or how people speak. Complex diction encourages the reader to not want to
become apart of the stories and characters and may even cause them to stop reading just to lack of past
experiences or backgrounds with a particular way of speaking.
The second criterion is that a story must have a balance of details. A lack of details or an
abundance of details can impact the interpretation of the story for the reader in the same way: A lack or an
abundance of details often brings confusion about the plot and what is happening in the current pages that
the reader is reading. A balance of details helps to convey the meaning of the text and helps to get to the
point of the story faster without causing confusion to the reader. A perfect example of a balance of details
​ ritten by David Hwang. David Hwang begins the play by providing details
is in the play, ​M. Butterfly, w
of the setting and location at each scene in order to help the reader keep track of whether or not it is a
present or past moment. Even in the beginning, it states just enough details so that the reader can
understand the things that happened in the past and then further helps to explain the events in the present
scenes. “M. Gallimard’s prison cell. Paris. Present” (Hwang 1). By beginning the start of the play with the
location and whether it is present or past details helps to keep the reader organized in understanding what
is happening in each of the scenes without each of them getting lost and not understanding what is
happening in the current scene. This helps to bring the reader more connected into the story and further
captivates their attention while reading it.
Some stories provide a lack of details or an abundance of details which can lead to confusion for
the readers. An example where a story uses an abundance of details is in ​Wuthering Heights ​written by
Emily Brontë. Emily Brontë immediately starts the story with many details about different characters and
the villages where each character lives that it causes interruptions for the reader sas they may have to go
back t the beginning to remember which character is related to who, or which village is described in a
certain way. One such example describing the character, Heathcliff’s village, “Wuthering Heights is the
name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. Wuthering being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the
atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed to stormy weather” (Brontë 4). Here, Mr. Heathcliff’s
dwelling is being described with all these adjectives in the beginning of the story. As the story progresses
on, the reader is receiving new information about many new characters while also going between different
details on perspectives without any warning. This leads to confusion and lack of memory for the reader.
While the details in ​Wuthering Heights a​ re very descriptive, Brontë utilizes many of them while using
many other elements of a story and it becomes difficult for the reader to follow with who may be speaking
or who lives where. This ultimately causes the reader to not want to continue reading because there is no
organized way of displaying each of the details.
For a story to be explementary, it must have a clear and universal usage of diction and a balance
between the amount of details used and other elements that help to develop a story. A lack or an
abundance of these elements can either cause a barrier for the reader or much frustration that the reader
does not want to continue reading the story. This can ultimately either hinder or advance what the reader
recieves from the story. A balance between these two criteria can help establish a clear and effective
meaning for the reader.
Works Cited

Brontë Emily, and Daphne Merkin. Wuthering Heights​. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.

Hurston, Zora Neale, et al. ​Their Eyes Were Watching God​. Distributed by Paw Prints/Baker &

Taylor, 2010.

Hwang, David. ​M. Buttergfly​.

eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/gillespie17/files/2017/10/Hwang-David-Henry-M-Butterfl

y.pdf.

Salinger, J. D. ​The Catcher in the Rye​. Little, Brown, 1991.

"The Story of an Hour"​, archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/hour/.

The Wife's Lament​. arts.uwaterloo.ca/~rtierney/TheWifesLament.pdf.

Williams, Tennessee. ​A Streetcar Named Desire​. New Directions, 2009.

Woolf, Virginia. ​To the Lighthouse​. Vintage, 2004.

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