Use of Diction in "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
Jasmine Darlucio
Period 4
Independent Reading Essay
December 20th, 2012
Wandering in the Inbetween If I Stay is told in a first person point of view by a girl named Mia who has gotten into a horrific car crash along with her family. Mia’s mom, dad, and younger brother Teddy, have unfortunately passed away, but Mia, while in a coma, is in a state of mind where she is able to notice everything and walk around as if she was awake. During the course of the book, she goes back and forth between flashbacks that look over her relationships with friends and family all leading up to the incident, and later must choose to stay alive or slip away. Throughout this novel, If I stay, written by Gayle Forman, diction is used to create a good piece of literature by making Mia’s flashbacks feel realistic and emotional. Mia has just realized she is involved a car accident and found herself unconscious lying in the ground. She is awake somehow, looking at her mangled self on the ground. She feels as if it’s a nightmare, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t wake up. Mia uses colloquial diction when she says, “Wake up! I scream. Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup! But I can’t. I don’t” (18). Using colloquial diction in this quote explains how she felt very panicky when trying to wake herself up. The way the author wrote “wake up” several times without any spaces added emphasis to her anxious feelings. Soon afterwards, Mia sees the medics rushing her body into the ambulance to get to the hospital trying to revive her because she has a collapsed lung. As soon as they get to the hospital, they realize Mia is unresponsive and must be brought to Trauma by helicopter immediately.
Reminiscing about her past, Mia has a flashback. She remembers the time her best friend Kim, rode a helicopter with her uncle, a photographer for National Geographic, and threw up all over the place. Mia felt the same way, “Once we lift off, I understand why Kim got so queasy. A helicopter is not like an
Period 4
Independent Reading Essay
December 20th, 2012
Wandering in the Inbetween If I Stay is told in a first person point of view by a girl named Mia who has gotten into a horrific car crash along with her family. Mia’s mom, dad, and younger brother Teddy, have unfortunately passed away, but Mia, while in a coma, is in a state of mind where she is able to notice everything and walk around as if she was awake. During the course of the book, she goes back and forth between flashbacks that look over her relationships with friends and family all leading up to the incident, and later must choose to stay alive or slip away. Throughout this novel, If I stay, written by Gayle Forman, diction is used to create a good piece of literature by making Mia’s flashbacks feel realistic and emotional. Mia has just realized she is involved a car accident and found herself unconscious lying in the ground. She is awake somehow, looking at her mangled self on the ground. She feels as if it’s a nightmare, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t wake up. Mia uses colloquial diction when she says, “Wake up! I scream. Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup! But I can’t. I don’t” (18). Using colloquial diction in this quote explains how she felt very panicky when trying to wake herself up. The way the author wrote “wake up” several times without any spaces added emphasis to her anxious feelings. Soon afterwards, Mia sees the medics rushing her body into the ambulance to get to the hospital trying to revive her because she has a collapsed lung. As soon as they get to the hospital, they realize Mia is unresponsive and must be brought to Trauma by helicopter immediately.
Reminiscing about her past, Mia has a flashback. She remembers the time her best friend Kim, rode a helicopter with her uncle, a photographer for National Geographic, and threw up all over the place. Mia felt the same way, “Once we lift off, I understand why Kim got so queasy. A helicopter is not like an