Elena Woodside Post 3

Patricia McCormick, the author of Sold, tells the story of a innocent young girl in a somber and in a dramatically poetic tone.

The diction that the author used in this passage sets the tone for what will come next in the book. “I do not understand. The bus has left the city. And we are traveling on a hard black road. Everyone on the bus is asleep. No matter where I turn, I cannot see the swallow-tailed peak (70).” When she leaves her home, she doesn't know where she is going. The use of “I do not understand, ” and using “a hard black road,” started to foreshadow what was going to happen in a dramatic way.

There are many images that represent the tone in the novel, such as in this passage. “I have already learned from these city people. From the ones who turned a blind eye to the legless beggar boy, from the ones who shuffle through this city of the dead with their eyes empty (116).” McCormick tells through Lakshmi about how cruel everything and everyone in the city is. The vivid imagery such as the “Legless beggar boy” gives examples of the harsh reality. The somber tone shows how she has turned from such an innocent young girl to a mature but dark woman in such a short amount of time.

The syntax that the author uses to portray the somber and dramatically poetic tone is short. The short sentence structure gets the dark message across and shows how miserable she is. “In between men come. They crush my bones with their weight. They split me open. Then they disappear (123).” The sentences are direct and show her misery in a poetic sense.