How Does Joyce Carol Oats Use Diction

Curated within a text, an authors word choice often ascribes an emotional tag, or connotation of a word rather than the literal denotation. In analyzing diction, a reader’s perception of a character is often strengthened not by the specific words themselves, but rather the suggested meaning attached. This powerful element of style used within writing further influence a readers understanding, and the stories tone. Within Joyce Carolyn Oats where are…. , diction is used throughout the text with an intent to elect specific responses from the reader. The deliberate word choice associated with diction draws upon the strong connotations, or implied meanings attached to a specific word. The word choice associated with diction further enables the reader to interpret the suggested meaning within the authors text. In this paper, I will discuss how character representation and the constructed narrative of the text are crafted through Joyce Carol Oats use of diction.
Through analyzing diction, one can further deconstruct the authors intended …show more content…
… Connie had a voice and sense of humor for at home, and a different one when she was out with friends. This apparent duplicity within her own character, and her lack of sincerity and honesty comes back to hurt her in this problematic way. This of course does raise a complicated theme of: did Connie ask for it? This is a highly controversial question, and for a long time since this story was written, people have made the argument that through her behavior, and through her vanity asked for the Arnold Friend manifestations to come into her life. Since, that notion has shifted to an amenable view thus, giving Connie a victimized role as such that she is just a young girl and just because she is sort of naive, does not grant permission for the occurrences that