When addressing the style of each author, you may choose to analyze the diction, or word choice, of each. (Is the word choice formal or informal? Does the author write in a way that is imagistic and poetic or rather terse and straightforward?)
Other ideas to consider: Does the author use dialect? Long or short sentences? Lots of dialogue or not so much? Is there anything else that stands out about the author's style? What sort of atmosphere, tone, or mood is each writer able to create? How are the writers similar and different in these areas? Also, what impact or effect does the author's style have on the novel? Does the style help the readers to understand the time period or culture? Does the style tend to alienate readers or draw them in to the story? Does the narrator seem to have a particular bias or philosophy that spills onto the page?
*These are questions to think about for the essay topic. For this post, feel free to stick to Hurston's/Angelou's style and we'll save O'Brien for later. (Unless you've already read both novels...in which case I now appoint you Most Impressive Person of June. Anyone?)
Though I am not a Twilight fan in the least, this is something I always pay attention to when I read. While reading the novel by Maya Angelou, I notice a few things. One of those things being her word choices. She chooses to describe things poetically, giving herself a glow of wisdom throughout that I found most admirable. Angelou does not throw information at the reader, but takes them slowly through the portion of her life she has written about. She allows the reader to make inferences with her refined and poetic style, letting her personal stories resonate with the reader.
ReplyDelete“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou immerses the reader with southern vernacular and culture. The dialogue and actions of the characters, especially Momma, helps set the mood of the novel. The culture of the novel consists of a heavy influence of religion, deep rooted racism, and tradition. I agree that Maya Angelou splits her life into sections for the reader; she never overwhelmed me with details and characters. Maya describes her life in great detail which draws in young adults who share her same feelings. She gives advice in her novel about love and honesty. Maya’s writing style personally helped me understand her situation and setting.
DeleteI agree with Max that Maya Angelou does a good job at pacing her novel. When I heard that it was an autobiography with only around 300 pages I wondered how it would work. I thought it would be rushed and lack important detail. I really enjoyed how she was able to highlight specific stories in her life.
DeleteAwesome, Twilight! Team Jacob all the way! I read the books and really liked them but the movies were rather disappointing. Every author has their own style while writing and I feel that it is important to pay attention to it. After reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I feel like Maya Angelou takes a more poetic approach while writing. She paints a picture inside your mind with her words instead of just coming right out and saying it and because of this I really enjoyed her writing style and reading this book. She made you think twice about what you thought you knew and it really made you feel like you knew Maya personally and that you were experiencing her life right beside her.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you're interpretation of Maya Angelou's writing stye. It is much more poetic then many authors and she really attempts to appeal to all of our senses through the novel. She paints an increasingly detailed picture that keeps the reader entertained thought the novel. Angelou is also incredible at moving the reader emotionally and her work is very enjoyable. However I am disappointed in your choices in life as team Edward is so much better then team Jacob. Go team Edward!
ReplyDeleteBefore reading "Their Eyes were Watching God," I have never encountered a writing style based on southern dialect quite like Hurston uses. Hurton's short, choppy sentences help me remember how much education African Americans actally had. The words chosen by Hurston, such as "Ah" to replace "I," help me stay more connected to the characters because I easily imagine the characters speaking in my head. The writing style Hurston uses causes me to go back and re-read many parts which also helps me understand the story better, which I don't catch myself doing very often while reading. I definitly enjoy the writing style portrayed by Hurston since it draws me closer to the readers and brings a whole new aspect into reading the novel.
ReplyDeleteThe southern dialect in this book might be why I will remember this book. Even though I did not like this particular style, it made me read slower and more carefully, as a result I understood a lot more. I will also remember her descriptions of everyday scenarios and make them seem more interesting in the book. Every small event seemed like an important one until you compare it to something else. I've never read a book with that type of dialog before, and a lot of it!
DeleteI definitely agree with both of you. While I will admit that at some points the dialect was difficult for me to understand the amount of writing in this style helped me to pay closer attention to the storyline and connect with the characters more. You really have to pay attention to what you are reading in order to understand the situations. I definitely can say that I have never read a book like this and I can honestly say I kind of enjoyed the challenge.
DeleteThe dialect that Hurston uses made it hard for me to comprehend at first. Only because I had never red a book of this particular type. Once I listened to the audiobook I could understand the southern dialect a lot more. It still made me think more rather than any other book, and I think Hurston did a good job doing that. The dialect that she uses makes me feel like I am African American, which is appropriate for this book, and I like how Hurston does that. It reminds me of how little education African Americans received back then. Using a word like "t'aint" instead of "there is not" is just a conjunction I would never think of. Hurston does a great job using these conjunctions to go along with the southern dialect.
ReplyDeleteThe way that Hurston writes in the novel is in a very informal way, even the non-dialogue parts. It took me a bit to get used to the wording in the dialogue because I don't read many books that are told in such a strong accent, but soon enough it got easier for me to read and I began reading the book faster. I enjoy the way the book was written nonetheless, it made the characters feel more real. The way the conversations were written made it feel as if the reader was actually there listening to the talk. I also enjoy the way Hurston describes things, she is able to describe things in a way that aren't straightforward but are short yet descriptive.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Hurston uses an interesting and informal diction as an attempt to hook the reader into the story. This informal word choice is what creates the southern atmosphere and bright tone of the novel. The informal word choice is most apparent in the southern dialects of the characters that are introduced throughout the story. These dialects are also meant to draw the reader in by forcing their brain to think and piece together the actual meaning of phrases as they are most likely not accustomed to reading such a strange dialect. The southern dialect Hurston uses in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” also designates the setting of the novel being in the south without the author straight out saying where the novel takes place. Furthermore Hurston’s style uses more dialect when something problematic or out-of-the-ordinary occurs in the novel; one situation where this is highly apparent is when Joe Starks says that Janie has grown as old as Methuselah (written as Methusalem in the book), all the while working in the store, and she still did not know how to properly cut a plug of tobacco. The style Hurston uses also contains lots of dialogue which helps the reader to remain interested and curious as the story unfolds.
ReplyDeleteIn "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, the author tends to use her particular diction in order to bring her story across to the reader in a rather imagistic and poetic sense of writing. As opposed to another author's rather precise and curt way of phrasing a story, Angelou likes to to use her long, drawn-out sentences to really help the reader envision scenes, while conveniently providing an additional amount of descriptive information to the said reader. While her narrative writing tends to be utterly formal, the types of dialect she includes in her book varies depending on the particular person she is portraying. For example, the dialect of her Mamma happens to be very Southern. Angelou shows this by using the correct Southern slang and phrases of the certain era in her quotations such as the words "ain't", along with her character's strong objection to the phrase "by the way", as it pertains to the white-folk's use of the Lord's name in vain. The white characters' dialect favor a relatively proper way of speaking, which shows how they have received a considerably different type and amount of education when compared to the colored characters'. However, I believe Angelou happens to narrate a great deal more than to provide dialog. This allows us readers to see more from her perspective, of what the author is seeing and feeling, rather than what she just said. I noticed that Angelou matures considerably throughout her story. The way she speaks changes as she is influenced by her experiences. In the beginning of the novel she has quite a Southern way of speaking, and as the book progresses she picks up upon the common white person's dialect. Although, she does seem to favor observing rather than speaking in the book itself. Overall, the specific dialect of each character emphasizes the particular time period of the Jim Crow era, especially when contrasting the common colored person's phrases with the common white person's. The difference is too great for the races to be on equal terms with one another. The way the entire book is written is quite interesting to me, something rather new in terms of diction. At times I found reading the book for long periods of time to be a bit difficult due to its continuous, poetic phrases, but overall, I thought the book was quite moving and very inspirational.
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ReplyDeleteI must say Their Eyes Were Watching God had very strong dialect. This threw me for a loop when I first began reading it because of how thick the southern draw was, but there is something about the dialect that makes the characters more alive. In the first chapter, Hurston hits the reader with a strong dialect that sets the mood and setting for the story. She also paints a descriptive picture of Janie and what her role is in the community. These writing technics are what allows Hurston to capture the reader's interest quickly and I order to pull them deeper into Janie's world.
ReplyDeleteIn "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings", Maya Angelou draws readers into the Southern way of life through the dialect and special customs of that way of life. In the South, there is a balance of both formal and informal, and she does a splendid job of reflecting that in her novel. She writes in a way that reflects the times that she grew up in, but also in a way so that is appealing to the modern day reader. One of the things that I noticed is that she conveys such strong emotions in just a sentence or two. It makes the book riveting and very hard to put down.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings', I noticed how Maya writes in a very poetic style. I like her style because it makes the words flow really easily and her stories come together very well in the chapters. The only confusing thing about her writing is how her chapters start on different notes. I admire how Maya remembers her life in Stamps so clearly and can describe the situations she was in. When she wrote about the courtroom I felt like I was there with her. She writes her scenes so clearly and vividly and it's very nice to see that in an author.
ReplyDeleteOhh yeah Team Jacob all the way. While reading " Their Eyes Were Watching God" the first thing I noticed was Hurston's writing style. Hurston uses short sentences to convey her story. There is also lots of dialogue used in Hurston's novel. While reading her novel the thing that stood out the most was how informal the writing in the novel is. The entire time I was reading this novel I found myself rereading pages and sometimes even writing out sentences in to correct English, just so I could understand what was going on. Hurston's writing style definitely helped the reader better understand the time period and culture on Janie's story. After reading both " Their Eyes Were Watching God' and "The Thing They Carried" I feel that both writing styles, while they were very different, did a really good job in telling their stories.
ReplyDeleteI feel in the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God",Hurston has more of a poetic style of writing. She had lots of metaphors in her story. There was also a lot of dialogue in the story. The characters speak with broken words and use different terms than we do today. Some people may dislike how the characters talk and say it doesn't make sense, I found myself in this situation at times, but it was important for them to speak that way. I feel like this helped to set the setting because people really talked like that in the south in that time period. It helps make the reader feel like they are there with the characters.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Maya Angelou uses a very unique and personal writing style. The way that Angelou writes sounds almost like she is writing in a diary or personally telling you entire life story, and letting us readers in on her deepest thoughts, feelings, and secrets. She writes so informally and friendly, that it feels like the reader is talking to a friend. She also uses lots of dialogue to make the stories more intersting and intense for her readers. I found Angelou's writing style to be intriguing and fun to read, and I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe way Maya Angelou writes in her novel is very interesting to read. Her writing style is quite distinct, the novel is written as though the reader is reading Angelou's thoughts immediately as they appear and without censor. This is a style that seems so flawless and flows so smoothly. The vibe it gives off is something I, and many other writers I'm sure, would love to achieve in their own writing. The writing of this novel comes off as so warm, so welcoming, because she holds nothing back from the reader; it even shows through in the style of writing that the author wants you to read, and wants you to know these things. It's as though the writer wants you, personally, to care about what she's typing. It's compelling, and it is expert writing, surely.
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ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed while reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was the writing style. It was a very unique type of writing style. Unlike most books that use correct grammar and spelling, Hurston writes the words the way people in the South would say it. For example instead of "I", Hurston uses "Ah". While I was reading the book, I would occasionally have to reread pages because some of the dialogue was hard to read. While some people may think that this makes the book unlikable, the dialogue made me want to read the book. I think this is used to create a sense of where this book is taking place. I also noticed that there was a lot of dialogue. I believe that Hurston put a lot of dialogue to keep the reader on the edge of their seats. I found Hurston's writing style enjoyable and fun to read.
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