Voice Assignment 5/13

3.  Oftentimes, we tend to think of imagery as simply creating a visual picture for the reader.  However, imagery includes any experience with the five senses.  Effective imagery is built on effective diction and detail, so as you can see, voice involves multiple building blocks all depending on one another.  Which of the passages creates the most intricate sensory experience for you, as the reader? 

Imagery is most profound in the second passage, Speak, by Laurie Anderson. Through her diction and sensory details you can imagine exactly what this scene would look like. She also uses dialouge to help you get a better understanding of how it would sound as well. When she says, "Rachelle:  [Snorts.  Stands back from mirror, turns head from side to side to admire the black mess that looks like goose poop across her cheekbones]," you can visualize how the mascara looks under her eyes and you can also hear it when she uses the onomonopetia "snorts". She goes into great detail about her movements and uses diction that we can understand.

6.  Tone is examined last because understanding the tone of a work requires an understanding of all the elements writers use to create it:  diction, detail, figurative language, imagery, and syntax.  Remember that tone is the expression of the author’s attitude toward his / her audience and subject.  There are as many different tones as there are feelings (i.e., serious, light-hearted, playful, sarcastic, accepting, bitter, anxious, forceful, harsh, humorous, sympathetic, nostalgic, detached, etc.). 

The tone in the first passage, Miss Nelson is Missing, is more playful and humorous. It jokes around with the stereo type of trouble-making kids and their relationship with their teachers. It relates to the reader because they understand what it's like to have a mean sub and miss your usual teacher.
The author is joking around in the passage rather than being very serious.
As for the second passage, Speak, it has a more bitter tone which you can see when she writes, "I don’t want to be cool. I want to grab her by the neck and shake her and scream at her to stop treating me like dirt. She didn’t even bother to find out the truth– what kind of friend is that?" From this you can she she has resentment toward her friend and it's creating a more annoyed tone.
 

7. Characterize or explain the voice of your creative non-fiction piece so far.  How do you know? How would we know it is YOUR piece? What purposeful choices have you made to create voice? Is this a strength or weakness of your writing?

I have created a piece that has a lot of passion and emotion. I've added a couple heart wrenching stories to make my reader understand how serious my topic of police brutality is. You can tell it's my piece because throughout my writting, I added questions to check my readers comprehesion. I really tried to connect and speak directly to whoever is reading my piece which I feel is a strength because it makes my them more entrigued and involved in my creative non-fiction paper.