Diction (Gr. 6-8)

At our lab, we looked at examples of diction in writing.

To identify diction:

1. Pay attention to vocabulary

2. Is there a dialect? Slang?

3. Make connections between vocabulary and tone

Here is one more example, entitled “The School,” by Donald Barthelme:

“One day, we had a discussion in class. They asked me, where did they go? The trees, the salamander, the tropical fish, Edgar, the poppas and mommas, Matthew and Tony, where did they go? And I said, I don’t know, I don’t know. And they said, who knows? and I said, nobody knows. And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said no, life is that which gives meaning to life. Then they said, but isn’t death, considered as a fundamental datum, the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of –

I said, yes, maybe.

They said, we don’t like it.

I said, that’s sound.

They said, it’s a bloody shame!

I said, it is.”

Now, write a paragraph practicing diction. Illustrate (don’t state!) that the narrator is having trouble concentrating. What does their train of thought look like? Do they use filler words? Be creative with it! Write at least 50 words.