Growing up in North Dakota, Debra Marquart puts a different perspective on North Dakota and its history. She shows that the heart of North Dakota is not the land, but it is truly the people that live on it. The people that built up North Dakota are the foundation for our lives, not the land we walk on. In this passage from The Horizontal World, Marquart uses imagery, juxtaposition, reference to historical figures, and passionate yet respectful diction to help outsiders understand that the people are what make North Dakota a great place to live. President Theodore Roosevelt once said in reference to North Dakota, “It was here that the romance of my life began.” In the passage, Marquart used imagery to aid in people's understanding of the
…show more content…
Marquart writes, “[North Dakota is] a region that spawns both tornadoes and Republicans.” This is an excellent example of juxtaposition because she is showing how tornadoes and Republicans can be related even though they are two completely different things. Marquart also has a sentence where she talks about North Dakota’s pretty, blond girls and how it is such a tragedy when they become like the girls in Los Angeles or New York (“Being blond, fresh-faced, … all the more tragic.”). Juxtaposition could be used here because she is comparing the difference between the girls from North Dakota and those of more high end cities where there behavior is …show more content…
Her diction is present throughout the entire passage but it is extremely prevalent in the final paragraph. In the final paragraph, Marquart discusses how her great-grandparents and her grandparents traveled to the United States and into the Midwest from Russia between 1885 and 1911. The diction she uses shows that she has great respect for her ancestors who came before her to build up the area she now loves and spent her childhood. She also quotes Richard Manning in his nonfiction book, Grassland, in which he writes, “The place was a mess, and it became a young nation’s job to fix it with geometry, democracy, seeds, steam, steel, and water.” This shows that she knows what her ancestors did to make her state a place that is envied by
Marquart writes, “[North Dakota is] a region that spawns both tornadoes and Republicans.” This is an excellent example of juxtaposition because she is showing how tornadoes and Republicans can be related even though they are two completely different things. Marquart also has a sentence where she talks about North Dakota’s pretty, blond girls and how it is such a tragedy when they become like the girls in Los Angeles or New York (“Being blond, fresh-faced, … all the more tragic.”). Juxtaposition could be used here because she is comparing the difference between the girls from North Dakota and those of more high end cities where there behavior is …show more content…
Her diction is present throughout the entire passage but it is extremely prevalent in the final paragraph. In the final paragraph, Marquart discusses how her great-grandparents and her grandparents traveled to the United States and into the Midwest from Russia between 1885 and 1911. The diction she uses shows that she has great respect for her ancestors who came before her to build up the area she now loves and spent her childhood. She also quotes Richard Manning in his nonfiction book, Grassland, in which he writes, “The place was a mess, and it became a young nation’s job to fix it with geometry, democracy, seeds, steam, steel, and water.” This shows that she knows what her ancestors did to make her state a place that is envied by