Style Mapping

The three novels I am observing are Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Shadowland by Meg Cabot and Chosen by P.C. Cast. Dostoevsky's course, grating diction highlights his wrathful Russian background. He refers to an apartment as a "garret in which he lodged" and transitions with phrases like "quite the contrary." Cabot's straightforward, colloquial diction displays her lighthearted attitude towards life which intrigues her more with every new case she faces. The main character openly speaks to the reader, telling him "I guess I should explain. I'm not exactly your typical sixteen-year-old girl." The use of first person narration, in addition to a lack of non-elevated words makes Shadowland an easy read. P.C. Cast's blunt, blog-esque diction of Chosen simplifies the mystical, bloodsucking plot of the vampires. On the opening pages, Cast introduces Nala, the cat, by saying one would think "she hung on my every word , which is soooo not the case." The main character has experienced many "sucky December twenty-fourth birthdays." Writing with such words brings the make believe world of vampires down to a level that an outsider can easily understand and relate to. The differences in diction for each of the novels epitomizes the story they have to tell.