Angela's Ashes – class notes
RE: author's style
FYI: Four major areas we always question/consider/discuss are PURPOSE/AUDIENCE/TONE/MOOD
STYLE can fall under that "umbrella" of TONE, for the author's attitude drives his/her style of writing.
2nd hour: Brilliant
ominous tone
style is dark
author's perspective – from child and from adult p.o.v.
use of emotion – gives reader comprehension
emotion – mood
emotion – empathy, PATHOS
spare description
absence of quotation marks
absence of grammatical rules – makes his style informal, casual, non-traditional
dialect – gives book character, helps us understand "culture" he's writing about
stylistic/literary/rhetorical devices/terms – ex: metaphor, personification, narration, description
St Francis/Feast Day/rosary beads/Pope – jargon related to the Catholic religion
author's purpose – what effects/reactions can we discover based on what we say about purpose?
audience – who is the intended audience? how do we know this? what is there in the text that tells us this?
3rd hour: Discerning
descriptive
sentence structure – complex (different types of sentences, not just complex sentences)
lack of grammar rules, and quotation marks when he uses dialogue
style can be considered – rough, amateurish, rebellious, non-traditional
running narrative – includes dialogue within paragraphs, does not always use "he said" etc.
perspective – childish/logical vs. adult/logical
silliness vs. seriousness -- elicits PATHOS from reader
these are juxtaposed – placed against one another to emphasize contrast perhaps
state of sin, bless me Father . .. Domincian Church, priest, confession, go straight to Hell – jargon
JARGON is one aspect of DICTION – jargon is specific language associated with one particular subject
ex: music, religion, art, education, etc.
repetition – references to his father – actions/ "songs"/Ireland
slang – Limerick terms
dialect – Limerick dialect – helps portray characters, culture, also his own personality
ex: "eejit" – for the word idiot, he writes some words they way they SOUND, not the way they are
traditionally spelled
fatalistic TONE – Tis (pg. 145-146). Word "Tis" ends the passage. Ends the thought. Can mean and end,
itself.
5th hour: Profound
descriptive
detail
style – earthy, gloomy, childish/blunt, comical
dialect – eejit (example: Jeetchet? Nodejew? – Did you eat yet? No, did you?) recreates Limerick dialect
adds to characterization, readers' knowledge of characters' level of education, historical setting,
culture
mood – how the reader feels as a result of reading something, or atmosphere created by author
perspective – childish, blunt
sentence structure – combinations of run-on, complex, short, choppy, dialogue inserted verbatim
no quotation marks
sentence structure could allow style to be described as unsophisticated, casual, informal
Stunning
Miss Katherine Thorp also made an extremely insightful comment on Tuesday about McCourt's
repetitious use of songs -- their content, and their importance to the author.
Thanks to Mr. MacVey, Miss Tamm, and Miss Huder