“With All Flags Flying”
by Anne Tyler
Interrupted Reading
Directions
• The first paragraph of “With All Flags Flying” has
been divided into five sections. Please complete
your work about each section before going to the
next.
• Analyze the section, taking into account what
syntax, diction and detail reveal about the
narrator
• After you finish the five sections, briefly describe
both the narrator and the tone of the paragraph
Definitions of terms
• Syntax = sentence structure
• Diction = word choice
• Detail = particulars, specific and descriptive
information
Analyze the section, taking into account what syntax,
diction and detail reveal about the narrator
Section #1:
Weakness was what got him in the end.
Analyze the section, taking into account what syntax,
diction and detail reveal about the narrator
Section #2:
He had been expecting something more
definite—chest pains, a stroke, arthritis—but it
was only weakness that put a finish to his living
alone.
Analyze the section, taking into account what syntax,
diction and detail reveal about the narrator
Section #3:
A numbness in his head, an airy feeling when he
walked. A wateriness in his bones that made it
an effort to pick up his coffee cup in the
morning.
Analyze the section, taking into account what syntax,
diction and detail reveal about the narrator
Section #4:
He waited some days for it to go away, but it
never did.
Analyze the section, taking into account what syntax,
diction and detail reveal about the narrator
Section #5:
Meanwhile the dust piled up in corners; the
refrigerator wheezed and creaked for want of
defrosting. Weeds grew around his
rosebushes.
Analyze how syntax, diction and detail convey meaning in
paragraph one of “With All Flags Flying.”
Weakness was what got him in the end. He had been
expecting something more definite—chest pains, a
stroke, arthritis—but it was only weakness that put a
finish to his living alone. A numbness in his head, an airy
feeling when he walked. A wateriness in his bones that
made it an effort to pick up his coffee cup in the
morning. He waited some days for it to go away, but it
never did. Meanwhile the dust piled up in corners; the
refrigerator wheezed and creaked for want of
defrosting. Weeds grew around his rosebushes.