The Shawshank Redemption Diction Essay

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Just two choices. “Get busy living or get busy dying” (106). Stephen King masterfully uses relatable quotes like this to weave a rich story full of pain, determination, and hope that engages readers. He connects with his audience by using realistic diction, incredibly vivid imagery, rich details, plain language, and varied syntax. Unique and rather colloquial diction is one of the first things that readers notice in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. King uses words unique to the setting to make the story feel so much more authentic than it would have otherwise. Words such as fish, sisters, and stir are seemingly normal but hold connotation specific to the setting that pique the reader’s interest. These types of words also show that King put much effort into researching the setting and writing this story. Readers sense this and become more invested in the story because of the realism. His …show more content…

The sentence structures are varied, and there are also a lot of incomplete phrases. While this is not technically grammatically correct, it shows how people think and talk in real life, and this simply flows with the story. An example of this is in the lines “Andy told me once that all of geology is the study of pressure. And time, of course.” The slight pause created by the ending of the first sentence allows readers to digest the implications of what is being said, and then the second phrase adds more meaning. King goes out of his way to connect with the reader, and it gives him an empathetic tone. His act of connecting engages the readers in what is happening, further ensnaring them in the drama of Shawshank Prison. In conclusion, Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is an incredible story. King relates to his readers by using realistic diction, incredibly vivid imagery, rich details, plain language, and varied syntax

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