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Hawthorne's Use Of Diction In The Ambitious Guest

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The vocabulary and sentence structure can dramatically affect the effectiveness of a text A great example of diction is “ The Ambitious Guest”. The text is about a family that resided in the mountains. The family is accustomed to having travels through the mountains and need a place to halt for the night. The family is very inviting to travelers seeking refuge. While one of these journeyers was staying at the cottage, there was a rock slide and everyone ran outside seeking refuge from the rocks. The traveler, along with the rest of the household, passed due to the rock slide. An author's diction helps develop the characters, along with sentence strength and structure, helping bring emotion into the writing The use of diction helps the reader understand the travelers point of …show more content…

(Hawthorne 18). After being questioned by his wife, he explains that he tends to grow old with her. When the time comes a slate stone with his name and a bible verse will suffice because he died an honest Christian man. As soon as the guest hears this, the stranger exclaims, it is our nature to desire a monument, be it slate or marble, or a pillar of granite, or a glorious memory in the universal heart of man,(Hawthorne 19). With the guest interjecting into a conversation that does not pertain to him, it shows that he is very passionate about this topic. This also expresses his true aspirations in life. The guest wants to be remembered and have a slate or statue to remember him along with his achievements. The guest blurting into this conversation gives a deeper understanding of the type of person that the traveler is, along with a major factor in why this man feels he must travel and explore to be great. The sentence structure and descriptive wording shows the emotion and severity of the situation. The cottage is located on a hill where rocks often come tumbling

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