Diction Of “Araby”

Writers are faced with decisions of the use of their diction to stimulate a reaction from the reader in order to increase his or her enjoyment of reading. If authors would choose their words poorly books would be boring and uninteresting. This explains why word choice is important for an author to use correctly throughout their book, story, etc. Visualize this line from ” A worn Path” With the use of great word choice. ” Big dead trees, like black men with one arm”¦” (Paragraph #) Now try visualizing the same scene without the words big, black, and dead it would seem boring and no picture would pop up in your mind.

Furthermore, diction is used to create a mood or setting in a readers mind clearly rather than questionable. Authors use certain words to emphasize a certain scene. In ” Araby” by James Joyce, he uses words like blind, quiet, Silent Street to emphasize that this street is dark and depressing rather than it is just a dead street. If other words would have been chosen us might have gotten a different impression and the author could have mislead us. In both stories ” Araby” and ” A Worn Path” there are words used to set a specific setting and coincidently both story use similar words to get the same mood for each of their settings. In ” Araby ” the word dark is used repeatedly to create a gloomy or depressing setting, which is also the same in “A Worn Path ” were the setting is depressing or a challenge to the old lady. In the story ” A Worn Path ” Eudora Welty uses ” Overhead the live-oaks met, and it was dark as a cave. ” (Paragraph #) we get the sense that the character sees a dark tunnel, which may bring trouble in the old lady’s journey. This creates the setting that is about to take place, giving the reader a glimpse or feeling of what we can expect next.

An even more important aspect of diction in literature is the use of repetition. Repetition is used to keep the setting fresh in our minds by reminding us of the setting. In ” Araby ” the word dark is repeated over and over throughout the story to keep the depressing mood going throughout the story. In ” A Worn Path ” old is used to emphasize that the character is not only old but to try to create a feeling that the character might not might not have what it takes to finish the journey. The use of repetition helps describe the setting, and also draw attention to certain ideas, which the author may want the reader to feel, is important.

In short, the use of diction in all stories is extremely important for the content of the story, but also to entertain and interest the readers. In each story the authors portray a sense of depression by the use of diction to set the mood. Even though some stories are not depressing the setting is used to show hardships and struggle throughout each story. With out the use of diction stories would drag or will not intrigue the reader to keep on reading.