Searching for Summer

In the story “Searching for Summer”, Joan Aiken uses diction and imagery to show how the moods change from depressing in the town to happy in the country. Aiken uses imagery to describe the sky as “whitish gray, day after day, sometimes darking to weeping slate” (68). The author compares sky to crying without the sun shining. The reader can conclude that without the sun, the town would be dark and depressing. Another way Aiken uses imagery in the story to describe the houses is when she states “dimmest, drabbest, and most insignificant huddle” (64). Aiken uses it to describe how the houses looked scary, ominous, creepy, and dark in that particular part of town. Everyone is scared to stay in some parts of the town due to the fact that the sun isn’t shining there. Aiken uses strong diction to describe the sun as “Blazing geraniums on the window sill housed a drove of murmuring bees” (68). She uses it to show how the bees and other things enjoy being in the sun, which makes everyone happy. Another example of Aiken’s use of strong diction is when she states that Tom and Lilly were “stopping every other minute to exclaim the blueness of the sky” (69). The reader can conclude that everyone is grateful and happy to see the sun if it only is a few hours of the day. The feeling the author creates in the story changes from being dreary to grateful due to the discovery of the sun, without the discovery of the sun, people would not be able to grow their gardens of food out in their yard. One can conclude that the sun has a major impact on the people in this story “Searching for Summer”.