Euphonious Diction

During a hockey game, an unidentified observer watches the reactions of a first-time spectator. The unidentified observer describes the spectator’s reactions to the hockey match in order to convince sports neophytes that by overcoming the initial confusion to a sport, one will experience more satisfaction watching the game. He incorporates shifting tone, euphonious diction, and parallel syntax to encourage sport neophytes to enjoy hockey. The narrator communicates the spectator’s change in understanding by shifting from a confused tone at the start of the match to an excited tone later in the game. The first scene of the hockey game appears “discorded and inconsequent” (13) as players performed complex maneuvers for a person “who had never seen it before” (12). Essentially, the situation seemed messy to the first-time spectator because he never witnessed anything similar to hockey prior to the game; confusion consumed him. However, with a stroke of insight, “he learned to find the puck” (25) indicating the beginning of his comprehension. Once he followed the puck, he noticed the names of players and drew comparisons to their play styles. The …show more content…
The narrator draws attention to the spectator’s near grasp of the game, which regressed back into confusion to evoke familiarity. Everyone has experienced a moment of being so close to an epiphany yet not being able to reach it. Later in the hockey match, the first-time spectator’s perception of the movements as crude transformed into “proper perspective to the passion” (51). His view of the game has been corrected to the “proper perspective” -- hockey possesses meaning and beauty. Consequently, the “proper perspective” leads the spectator to feel “passion” and satisfaction because he realizes hockey embodies more than pure