Stylistic Strategies

Stylistic Strategies Within the Book


Use of pictures

 

Junior uses a variety of different illustrations to emphasize his point within his "diary". In the first picture, Arnold is using his comics to depict through humor the difficult and embarrassing predicament he finds himself in when he takes Penelope to the Winter Formal. Thus far, he had used a variety of tactics illustrated in his drawing, to prevent his classmates from knowing how poor he really was.

In the second picture, Junior is showing what he perceives to be the differences between him and his fellow white students at Reardon.

Alexie utilizes the comics in this fictional diary to give the readers an ulterior view into what he is saying. In the book, Junior says,

"I draw because words are too limited. If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning. But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it. If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, “That’s a flower.”

Narrative

Descriptive- longer, more formal sentences

"But I can’t blame my parents for our poverty because my mother and father are the twin suns around which I orbit and my world would EXPLODE without them. And it’s not like my mother and father were born into wealth. It’s not like they gambled away their family fortunes. My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people."

Alexie uses longer, more descriptive sentences when he has Junior writing about something or something. Alexie has a tendency to get more formal when he is describing situations, or what he feels. This longer, more poetic verses add a layer to Junior that readers can identify with, and that provide a fresh juxtaposition to the intense, sometimes crude, and real material presented within the book.

Shortened sentences for effect, new paragraphs

"So, okay, I’m going number two, and I’m sitting on the toilet, and I’m concentrating. I’m in my Zen mode, trying to make this whole thing a spiritual experience. I read once that Gandhi was way into his own number two. I don’t know if he told fortunes or anything. But I guess he thought the condition and quality of his number two revealed the condition and quality of his life.

Yeah, I know, I probably read too many books.

And probably WAY too many books about number two. But it’s all important, okay? So I finish, flush, wash my hands, and then stare in the mirror and start popping zits. I’m all quiet and concentrating when I hear this weird noise coming from the other side of the wall.

That’s the girls’ bathroom. And I hear that weird noise again. Do you want to know what it sounds like?

It sounds like this: ARGGHHHHHHHHSSSSSPPPPPPGGGHHHHHHHAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHAGGGGHH!

It sounds like somebody is vomiting.

Nope.

It sounds like a 747 is landing on a runway of vomit."

Alexie uses shorter sentences and new paragraphs when he is describing what Junior is thinking currently. The new paragraphs add a choppiness that jolts the reader from the smooth writing within the book, emphasizing the point that Alexie is trying to make, or enhancing the scene that he is writing about. This draws the reader in with its unique formatting, and young adult readers will identify with it because it doesn't conform the to standard writing style seen in most books.

Slang

"I wish I were magical, but I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation."

"'[T]his article said that over two hundred Mexican girls have disappeared in the last three years in that same part of the country. And nobody says much about that. And that’s racist. The guy who wrote the article says people care more about beautiful white girls than they do about everybody else on the planet. White girls are privileged. They’re damsels in distress.' 'So what does that mean?' I asked.

'I think it means you’re just a racist asshole like everybody else.'

Wow.

In his own way, Gordy the bookworm was just as tough as Rowdy."


The use of slang is prevalent throughout the book, with the obvious advantage of being relatable to young adult readers, the most pervasive group of slang users. The slang within the text is juxtaposed against the poetic, and more beautifully written passages within the book. These are used to hilarious effect, which makes the reader facing the deeper issues within the book have an easier time of it.

Cliche

“Dodge’s face was red. Hot red. I’ve never seen an Indian look that red. So why do they call us redskins?” (pg 84)

This passage is a cliché because the term redskins is or was used in reference to Indians quite often and this passage makes note of that then questions it. 

Hyperbole

“With my big feet and pencil body, I look like a capital “L” walking down the road.” (pg 3)

“My head was so big that little Indian skulls orbited around it. Some of the kids called me Orbit. And other kids just called me Globe.” (pg 3)

These passages are both in relation to his body image and identity in which was a theme that ran throughout the book. I feel they do a great job of showing how he felt about his appearance then comparing it to what the other kids said or thought. 

Metaphor

“But cerebral spinal fluid is just the doctors’ fancy way of saying brain grease. And brain grease works inside the lobes like car grease works inside an engine. It keeps things running smooth and fast. But weirdo me, I was born with too much grease inside my skull, and it got all thick and muddy and disgusting, and it only mucked up the works. My thinking and breathing and living engine slowed down and flooded. My brain was drowning in grease.” (pg 1 – 2)

I chose to use this metaphor because he uses his rare brain condition and relates it into terms that other people would be able to comprehend. This condition that has an effect of Alexie’s life for the first decade of his life is turned into a source of comic relief. 

Use of Dialogue

Dialogue excerpt on pg 18:

“Come on, you wuss,” Rowdy said. “Let’s go to the powwow. You can’t hide in your house forever. You’ll turn into some kind of troll or something.”

“What if somebody picks on me?” I asked.

“Then I’ll pick on them.”

“What if somebody picks my nose?” I asked.

“Then I’ll pick your nose, too,” Rowdy said.

“You’re my hero,” I said.

“Come to the powwow,” Rowdy said. “Please.”

It’s a big deal when Rowdy is polite.

“Okay, okay,” I said.

The dialogue that Alexie incorporates throughout the book is very casual. This informal dialogue is realistic to how young adults speak to one another. Alexie will shape a character’s sentence length and vocabulary to match the intelligence or confidence they display. The characters at Reardon tend to speak with more sophisticated words and in round about ways whereas the characters on the reservation speak shorter sentences that are blunter. This particular example is a conversation between Junior and Rowdy, his best friend on the reservation. This example displays the casual language and content of which the people on the reservation speak. Here, we are able to see the friendship between Rowdy and Junior, particularity how Junior depends on Rowdy for protection and Rowdy’s determination to provide it.

Use of Italics/Caps

Italic/Caps excerpts on pages 50 and 73:

                Those kids were magnificent.

                They knew everything.

                And they were beautiful.

                She looked at me and sniffed.

                SHE SNIFFED!

                LIKE I SMELLED BAD OR SOMETHING!

                Alexie uses italics and all-caps throughout the book when Junior either feels very strongly about something or he wants to emphasize what it is he’s experiencing, thinking, or feeling. In the example with italics, we see just how envious Junior is of the students at Reardon and how exceptional he finds them. The three words ‘magnificent,’ ‘everything,’ and ‘beautiful’ are all strong words he uses to describe them, further putting weight on those words by italicizing them so they stand out to the reader. In the example with all-caps, we see how indignant Junior feels at the reaction a girl had when meeting him. Here, we see the difference between the action, which is in lower case, and his reaction to the action, which is in all-caps. The all-caps give the reader a stronger sense of how Junior is reacting. This particular use of all-caps gives the illusion to the reader that they can hear Junior shouting those statements in his head, which is more expressive than simply using exclamation points.