Final Blog Assessment 1B

1.    What specific words/phrases demonstrate your writer’s voice? How do these words/phrases showcase your personality as a writer?

    

     The blog post that I chose for my assessment was "Impact of Setting in Divergent". I thought this was my best post for voice because a sentence before I say the first quote I say, "(that's really high up if you ask me...)" (Burton 7/8). That is like a side note or a way to look into my thoughts. You can almost hear me saying it to you as you read the blog. Another example of voice is at the end when I ask the readers a question, I say, "Would you want to jump off of a one hundred story building, only depending on a few people to catch you?" (Burton 7/8). In that example, I am trying to make the reader think or be more engaged if they were not engaged already. As for words, I use crazy (quite frequently) and suspense. Those two words I use quite a bit in my everyday life, so if you knew me well you might be able to hear me more than someone who doesn't necessarily know that!

2.  What purposeful diction AND syntax choices did you make to enhance your writer’s voice? You must choose to discuss at least one diction AND one syntax technique from the list below. Make sure to include textual evidence from your post where you included the diction and syntax choices you discuss.

   I have two examples of formal or elevated diction in my blog post. The first one is, in the very first sentence, I say, "In Divergent, the settings are critical" (Burton 7/8). The word "critical" is an example of formal diction because it makes you pay more attention and it makes my statement seem more important. If I had just said that the settings were important, it wouldn't have sounded as urgent or as important (the irony) as saying they were critical. Another example of diction is when I say, "They got onto a speeding train and took it to the Hancock Building" (Burton 7/8). The word "speeding" is an example of diction because it makes it sound like it is going REALLY really fast. It has that effect because it isn't just saying, it was a fast train. It is giving it more description so it sounds like it is going a lot faster than just a "fast train".  A good example of syntax would be my variety of sentence lengths. For example, I say, "In Divergent, the settings are critical. They set the mood and tone of each event. For example, Tris got invited to go to an event that only Dauntless born initiates were allowed to go to. Not a lot of people were excited that Tris was coming, some even did violent things to her" (Burton 7/8). In the first few sentences I already show a short, medium and a long sentence. A variety of sentence structures keeps the reader engaged because it doesn't seem repetitive and boring.

Conflicts in Divergent in Relationship to the Imagery Provided

Veronica Roth does great with imagery and describing situations. That is one of the reasons that I love her books! Her imagery always fits perfectly with the situation. For example, when Edward got stabbed in the eye, she stated, " A scream like that can only mean blood and bone and pain; that scream comes from the pit of the stomach and extends to every inch of the body. The lights come on. Edward lies on the floor next to his bed, clutching at his face. Surrounding his head is a halo of blood, and jutting between his clawing fingers is a silver knife handle. My heart thumping in my ears, I recognize it as a butter knife from the dining hall. The blade is stuck in Edwards eye" (Roth 202). That quote symbolizes a conflict in Divergent because Tris wasn't really sure what to do at first and no one had any idea of who did it. Roth always uses descriptive words so that you can really picture what is going on. During this quote she uses "jutting", " a halo of blood". You can hear the scream when she says,  "A scream like that can only mean blood and bone and pain; that scream comes from the pit of the stomach and extends to every inch of the body." Her language choices really help you understand what is happening and it makes you feel like you are there witnessing it. Through out the book there are a lot of conflicts and Roth describes each one so that you can fully understand it.

Impact of the setting in Divergent

In Divergent, the settings are critical. They set the mood and tone of each event. For example, Tris got invited to go to an event that only Dauntless born initiates were allowed to go to. Not a lot of people were excited that Tris was coming, some even did violent things to her. Others let it go because Tris needed to get away after seeing what happened to Edward. They got onto a speeding train and took it to the Hancock Building. Roth goes on to explain that the building is one hundred stories high and once the elevator stops, they still have to get on to a ladder to reach the top (that's really high up if you ask me..). Then  Roth explains Tris's reaction, " A strong wind hits me, pushing my hair across my face. There is a gaping hole in the ceiling of the hundredth floor. Zeke props an aluminum ladder against its edge and starts to climb. ... I climb the ladder after Uriah. It reminds me of climbing the rungs on the Ferris wheel with Four close at my heels. ..The wind is so powerful I hear and feel nothing else. I have to lean against Uriah to keep from falling over" (Roth 216-217). Her strong description of both the setting and Tris's emotions, show you how risky what they are about to do is. It shows you really how high up the building is because they higher you are, the more cold and windy it gets. Roth needed strong settings throughout this book because it helps keep the suspense going. The crazy things the Dauntless do, wouldn't see, so crazy if she didn't describe the situations so clearly. Would you want to jump off of a one hundred story building, only depending on a few people to catch you?