Independent Reading Project II (Due March 13 )

MAKING YOUR CHOICE: By Wednesday, Feb. 25, you must turn in to me a paragraph, MLA formatted, that
explains to me why you chose your particular independent reading selection for this third nine weeks. See the
instructions regarding the first IR project for information regarding the content of the paragraph or changing your
selection. This time, should you choose to change your selection, you must submit the paragraph explaining your
decision by Monday, March 2. Detail counts! Again, submit digitally.
WHAT TO DO: Authors Style Project
Defining Style
Style in literature is the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words the author's word
choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood,
images, and meaning in the text. Style describes how the author uses language to describe events, objects, and ideas.
One easy way to understand literary style is to think about fashion styles. Clothes can be formal and dressy, informal
and casual, preppy, athletic, and so forth. Literary style is like the clothes that a text puts on. By analogy, the
information underneath is like the person's body, and the specific words, structures, and arrangements that are used
are like the clothes. Just as we can dress one person in several different fashions, we can dress a single message in
several different literary styles:
Original
"No sich uh thing!" Tea Cake retorted. (Zora Neale Hurston. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1978, p. 205.)
Informal
"Nothing like that ever happened," Tea Cake replied.
Formal
"With great fortune, that happenstance did not become a reality," Tea Cake stated.
Journalistic, after Ernest Hemingway
"It did not happen," Tea Cake said.
Archaic, after Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Verily, it was a circumstance, to be noted, that appeared not to so much have been a reality as to
have evolved as a thing that had not yet come to be," Tea Cake replied.
The style that an author uses influences how we interpret the facts that are presented. Wording and phrasing can tell
us about emotions in the scene, the setting, and characters. If you're still not convinced, consider the differences
between the following sentences:
He's passed away.
He's sleeping with the fishes.
He died.
He's gone to meet his Maker.
He kicked the bucket.
The version of that sentence that a writer chooses tells us a lot about the situation, the speaker, and the person being
spoken to (the audience).
Part I: Again, use post-it notes or digital markings to annotate sentences and passages as you read. Use different
colored post-its to note passages that strike you for imagery, diction, and/or syntax. This will help you keep the
categories straight. When you have completed reading your book, select 3 samples of each from the text. Copy the
samples down (including page numbers) and then write about each according to the instructions in Part II. If using
digital notes, you may want to keep track of where your notes are on a separate sheet of paper.

Part II: In a well-written paragraph for each of the selections, analyze the choices the author has made that
contribute to his or her style. Use the same format that you followed for the first project. Consider the following
questions:
Imagery (language that appeals to the 5 senses)
What sensory information do I find in the language: colors, scents, sounds, tastes or textures?
What is the author trying to convey or achieve by using this imagery?
What symbols and allusions are used? Metaphor? Onomatopoeia? Hyperbole?
Are these images part of a larger pattern or structure within the text (does it connect to one of the major themes, a
particular character)?
What figures of speech (metaphor, simile, analogy, personification, hyperbole . . .) does the writer use and how do
they affect the meaning of the text? What is the author trying to achieve?
How does the use of this language make you, the reader, feel?
Diction (the choice and use of words and phrases writing that impact tone, mood or atmosphere)
Which of the following categories best describes the diction in the passage or text? Low/informal (dialect, slang,
jargon)? Elevated or formal language? Abstract or concrete diction (word choice)? Denotation v. connotation?
What do you think the author is trying to achieve through the use of a particular type of diction?
What does the choice of diction suggest about the authors attitude toward the subject, event or character?
What do the connotations of the words in the passage suggest about the authors attitude? Are they positive?
Negative?
What words best describe the diction in the passage?
Syntax (sentence structures and patterns)
What types of sentence pattern(s) is (are) being used? See attachment.
How does the author punctuate and to what extent does this affect the meaning?
How would you characterize the authors syntax?
Are there places where the syntax changes? Where? How? Why?
What length are the sentences? What effect does this have on the reader?
What devices does the author use? See attachment.
Part III:
Write a letter to me reflecting on the way in which the authors use of words and structures has affected you. What
do these stylistic features tell you about the author? His or her tone/attitude toward the subject?