In order to identify DIDLS terms, you will need to first pay attention to the "diction" of the author - the implication of his or her word choice. For example, you must ask yourself why the author chose to use certain words over others. What might the purpose of this be? Perhaps the author wrote the word "chuckle" instead of "laugh" in order to set a particular tone or to let the reader know about a particular character to help characterize that person. Ask yourself, for example, what makes a character "mature" instead of just "old."
The second step you'll need to take is to identify some imagery in the passage or chapter - vivid descriptions or figures of speech that help you, as the reader, identify the author's tone. To do this, you may want to look for and identify metaphors, similes, personification, hyperboly, understatement, synecdoche, oxymoron, paradox, overstatement, symbolism, irony, puns, and allusions. Also look for sound devices, like alliteration, repetition, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia and rhyme. In Lord of the Flies, what might the pink conch shell and the trapped wild pig symbolize? Are they metaphorical?
Next, look for specific details that the author either chooses to include, or chooses to omit. Details are different from imagery in that they are facts that don't have a strong sensory appeal. For example, the name of a character in the story might help to establish the tone by reflecting intelligence or education or a lack thereof. Is it figurative? It may serve as a symbol for a concept or idea. In Chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies, the chubby boy introduces himself to Ralph as "Piggy." This is an important detail that could give you clues as to the author's tone.
Pay attention to the type of language that is being used by the author. Is it poetic? Formal? Does the author use a lot of slang words and colloquial vocabulary? What impression does that give you as the reader?
Last, pay special attention to the syntax used. This means sentence structure and how it affects your perception as the reader. For instance, does the author use parallel structure, similarly styled sentences, to convey interconnected emotions and ideas? Or does the author use shorter sentences to convey a passionate or flippant tone? Longer sentences might signify a more reflective, philsophical tone.
As the reader, you can look for certain clues which present a shift in tone. You can look for key words like "but," "nevertheless," or "however." You can also pay close attention to any changes which occur in punctuation, sentence length, paragraph divisions, or diction.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
How can I identify DIDLS terms in Chapter 1 of Golding's Lord of the Flies?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
One way to support this thesis is to explain how these great men changed the world. Indeed, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was the quintes...
-
Polysyndeton refers to using several conjunctions in a row to achieve a dramatic effect. That can be seen in this sentence about the child: ...
-
Both boys are very charismatic and use their charisma to persuade others to follow them. The key difference of course is that Ralph uses his...
-
At the most basic level, thunderstorms and blizzards are specific weather phenomena that occur most frequently within particular seasonal cl...
-
Equation of a tangent line to the graph of function f at point (x_0,y_0) is given by y=y_0+f'(x_0)(x-x_0). The first step to finding eq...
-
Population policy is any kind of government policy that is designed to somehow regulate or control the rate of population growth. It include...
-
Gulliver cooperates with the Lilliputians because he is so interested in them. He could, obviously, squash them underfoot, but he seems to b...
No comments:
Post a Comment