Readers A More Fulfilling Experience example essay topic

Throughout time, great literature has given readers the opportunity to explore the world without ever leaving the comfort of their homes. Authors give us the ability to experience the thoughts and feelings of characters with many different backgrounds and lifestyles. Reading about far away people and places may sound difficult or rather boring to some, especially if they are not familiar with the subject; however, good authors have found ways to make reading more interesting by using elements that are familiar to everyone. Toni Cade Bambara gives readers a glimpse into the life of Sylvia, a poor, young black girl in "The Lesson". Bambara illustrates exactly how unfair life is even though America is supposed to be and land of equal opportunity and equal rights for all. The author uses the elements of diction, setting, and theme to allow the readers to personally relate to the work even if their life experiences are not similar at all to those of the characters.

Webster's dictionary defines diction as "choice and use of words in speech or writing". Obviously this is a very important element in making a story seem more real. They way the characters speak to each other tell readers a lot about them. For instance, when Sylvia, who is also the narrator in "The Lesson", states.

".. Miss Moore rounds us all up at the mailbox and it's pure dee hot and she's knocking herself out about arithmetic. And School suppose to let up in summer I heard, but she don't never let up", the reader can automatically assume certain things about her just by the way she speaks. You know she is a young, na " ive girl who is uneducated. The fact that the readers can gain all of this insight into the characters background simply from the way they speak and carry on conversation proves that diction is an extremely effective way of creating a character's personality. The setting an author chooses represents the heart of the story.

Although it is not an actual character the setting can be just as important to the plot of the story as the people in it. For example, if the poem "I Saw You Walking" by Deborah Garrison had a setting other than downtown New York City on September 11th, it just would not make as big of an impact. The setting can reveal a lot about the characters in a story as well. From the young girl in "The Lesson" we learn that Miss Moore tells the children that "we all poor and live in the slums, which I don't feature". Clearly the children do not live in the best of neighborhoods but they may not even be aware of how bad their situation is until they are exposed to a different setting. Miss Moore does exactly this when she takes the neighborhood children downtown to F.A.O. Schwartz toy store.

The mood of the children completely changes as the children enter the lavish world where people spend hundreds of dollars on luxury toys. They are no longer their confident, boisterous selves. In fact, they are afraid to even enter the store. The environment is completely alien to them. It is practically unfathomable that a world exists where a person would buy a toy sailboat for what it would cost to feed a large family. The effect the setting has on the main character brings her to the undeniable conclusion "that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me.

Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it?" This is the climax of the story. You can actually feel Sylvia's outlook on life change as she speaks the words. Without the setting, this change would not have happened. The use of a theme in a literary work is another way an author can help a reader become more interested. It is the central idea that can be applied to the work as well as real life. A theme can be an important life lesson or simply a broad generalization.

Oftentimes, readers are left to infer what they think the theme of the work is. Good authors give clues that the reader can decipher and use to figure out what the main idea is. Throughout "The Lesson" Toni Cade Bambara drops small hints on what the reader should get out of the work. She uses the college-educated Miss Moore to open the children's (and the readers) eyes to what exactly "the lesson" is.

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, Sylvia realized what a cruel, unfair world it really is when she saw how much money some people have and how little others don't. The realization that America is not really a Democracy in the true sense of the word eventually comes to everyone. This is not only the theme of "The Lesson" it is also a theme of real life. This is why a theme is so important in literature because it gives a reader the ability to learn something about life and apply it to the real world. Literature can be very boring or fun and exciting depending on how it is written. When authors like Toni Cade Bambara use the elements of diction, setting, and theme to give readers a more fulfilling experience and allow them to give the work a personal touch.

A good reader uses these elements to further enrich others' lives and gain some insight on their own.