Post by briwiegand on Oct 29, 2015 21:26:11 GMT
In A Seperate Peace, the overall diction is easy to understand since it is told through Gene who's a seventeen year old boy. However because it is easy to understand, certain words jump out. Because of this, they convey different meanings.
In the beginning, Finny names the club with Gene the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. The "super" implies a very childlike and innocent state while "suicide" relates to the pressures of the ongoing war around them. Because Finny calls it super, he is seen as living in childhood. This is also seen when he makes the game "blitzball". The name is based of the blitzkrieg which is the bombings Germany made on England during WW2. The fact that Finny turns this into a game continues to point to the fact that he is very much still in his childhood and doesn't grasp what is happening around him. Later on page 60 when Finny falls out of the tree, Gene says that he "jounced" the limb. This implies that he did it on purpose otherwise he would have used a word like "slipped" or "accidentally moved". Because Gene did it on purpose, this leads to his inciting moment that pushes him into the liminal state.
Another example of diction is used when Gene visits Finny and talks about his house catching fire on page 68. He refers to it in a friendly way and is happy to talk about it rather than Finny's accident. Obviously a fire is a harsh experience, but Gene refers to it as "friendly". This can also relate to "friendly fire" which is a term used in war when men shoot their general. This relation can refer to Gene pushing Finny out of the tree.
On page 121, Finny says "no" to a teacher for the first time. Rather than giving a long explanation or reason Finny just says no when a teacher asks him about the war. This change in Finny's diction shows that he has changed since the accident. This change can refer to his entrance into the liminal state since he still tries to be childlike by saying there's not a war but still acknowledges it.
Later on when Gene visits Leper, Leper uses the word "psycho" (pg 144). This word is later on repeated to describe Leper's mental state. Gene is taken aback by this word and says it is "foreign" and "Japanese". Gene is reacting to the harshness of the adult world and ultimately the war. He doesn't want to believe that his friend has gone into that world and has changed because of it. This refusal to accept Leper is a characteristic of the liminal state that Gene is slowly coming out of.
Lastly the harshest diction change occurs in Finny when he hears Brinker practically accuse Gene of pushing him out of the tree on page 177. Finny curses for the first time and cries. This is the first time Finny shows his suffering and in a burst of emotion runs into the stairwell where he falls. This change in diction can also relate to this change in Finny from the liminal state to adulthood. At this epiphany moment he finally realizes that Gene and ultimately the rest of the world is not what he wants it to be and has to come to terms with reality.
The use of diction in A Seperate Piece not only shows the emotions of the characters, but also their journeys from childhood to adulthood.
In the beginning, Finny names the club with Gene the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. The "super" implies a very childlike and innocent state while "suicide" relates to the pressures of the ongoing war around them. Because Finny calls it super, he is seen as living in childhood. This is also seen when he makes the game "blitzball". The name is based of the blitzkrieg which is the bombings Germany made on England during WW2. The fact that Finny turns this into a game continues to point to the fact that he is very much still in his childhood and doesn't grasp what is happening around him. Later on page 60 when Finny falls out of the tree, Gene says that he "jounced" the limb. This implies that he did it on purpose otherwise he would have used a word like "slipped" or "accidentally moved". Because Gene did it on purpose, this leads to his inciting moment that pushes him into the liminal state.
Another example of diction is used when Gene visits Finny and talks about his house catching fire on page 68. He refers to it in a friendly way and is happy to talk about it rather than Finny's accident. Obviously a fire is a harsh experience, but Gene refers to it as "friendly". This can also relate to "friendly fire" which is a term used in war when men shoot their general. This relation can refer to Gene pushing Finny out of the tree.
On page 121, Finny says "no" to a teacher for the first time. Rather than giving a long explanation or reason Finny just says no when a teacher asks him about the war. This change in Finny's diction shows that he has changed since the accident. This change can refer to his entrance into the liminal state since he still tries to be childlike by saying there's not a war but still acknowledges it.
Later on when Gene visits Leper, Leper uses the word "psycho" (pg 144). This word is later on repeated to describe Leper's mental state. Gene is taken aback by this word and says it is "foreign" and "Japanese". Gene is reacting to the harshness of the adult world and ultimately the war. He doesn't want to believe that his friend has gone into that world and has changed because of it. This refusal to accept Leper is a characteristic of the liminal state that Gene is slowly coming out of.
Lastly the harshest diction change occurs in Finny when he hears Brinker practically accuse Gene of pushing him out of the tree on page 177. Finny curses for the first time and cries. This is the first time Finny shows his suffering and in a burst of emotion runs into the stairwell where he falls. This change in diction can also relate to this change in Finny from the liminal state to adulthood. At this epiphany moment he finally realizes that Gene and ultimately the rest of the world is not what he wants it to be and has to come to terms with reality.
The use of diction in A Seperate Piece not only shows the emotions of the characters, but also their journeys from childhood to adulthood.