the seat beside him." In this line, Cormier uses ambiguity (somebody) and a verb often attributed to slyness (slipped) to make the effect of a line that uses syntax which makes it sound as if it were happening. 26) Theme is the general idea expressed by a literary work. The theme of the work is the unifying idea for that work. Examples: In The Human Comedy, The Unvanquished, and Night, the primary theme is that growing up takes place quickly in a time of war. In The Human Comedy, Homer had to fend for himself after his brother, the man of the house, went off to war. The reader experiences Homer's having to take care of his family and his transition from boyhood into manhood. In The Unvanquished, the reader sees Bayard's growing up in the time of the Civil War. Lastly, in Night, the reader experiences a stunning reversal of roles-from a son growing up in a normal family, with a father mother and sibling, to where the son has to take care of his father in the concentration camps of WWII Europe. 27) Tone is the author's attitude toward the reader. It makes the reader form an opinion of the author outside the bounds of the literary work she is reading. Example: In Lord of the Flies, the tone is gloomy, depressed, melancholy and most of the time-forcing the reader to see that as the author's general state of being. 28) The vernacular used in a literary work is the characteristic of colloquial (everyday) speech that is used in the work. The vernacular is established by using the setting of the literary work. Example: In The Unvanquished the vernacular is the speech used by most of the characters in the novel-stereotypical modern-day Southern speech for the whites, and stereotypical modern-day ebonics for the blacks. ...
