King Leopold's Ghost Diction

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Diction Analysis In a passage of Adam Hochschild’s historical text, King Leopold’s Ghost, Hochschild creates two languages of the text, each contrasting the other. The second sentence of the passage is filled with appalling and ghastly diction that describes the slaves of 19th century rubber plantations in the Congo. Words like ‘starving’, ‘raped hostages’, ‘emaciated’, and ‘severed hands’ force the feelings of agony that the slaves feel and the pain associated onto the readers. Hochschild's despondent diction quickly shifts to a luxurious and glamorous language. It analyzes King Leopold's extravagant lifestyle by using words and phrases like ‘empire of his dreams’, ‘exotic animals’, ‘private railway car’, and ‘glass cupolas’. All of the

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