AIM: How does a writer create effects through the connotations of words and images?
DO NOW: What if life had a RESET button?
Do you ever wish you could redo a moment in time? Have you ever done something only to look back with regret? The class commenced in an open discussion to share our own personal experiences with regret. Responses varied from stressing about school work, to slamming the door on their cousin’s toe, and even to wishing they ate and slept more in hopes of being taller. I shared a story from when I was in the fourth grade: my first fight with my best friend. Despite having known each other since we were four years old, we never made up after that fight and inevitably drifted apart, rarely talking to each other from then on. In Mrs. Peterson’s sharing (a cautionary tale from her youth), she related the time she had grabbed her cousin by the back of the neck, shoved her cousin’s head beneath the surface of their grandmother’s pool, and refused to let her come up for air.
DENOTATION VS CONNOTATION
Every word has a denotation, a literal meaning or dictionary definition (“d” for “dictionary”), and many words have a connotation, an idea, feeling, or association that is connected to a given word (“c” for “connection”). Writers often keep in mind a word’s connotation in order to convey a certain effect or image to the reader. A word’s connotations, whether positive or negative, aid readers in drawing inferences about the characters, tone, and meaning of a text. For example, Randy observed that in the Do Now discussion, many people chose words with a negative connotation, including “slamming,” “shoved,” and “refused,” when describing something they regretted.
While two words may have the same or similar denotation, they may have different connotations. The venn diagram below that I created illustrates this distinction. For example, both “youthful” and “childish” describe the state of being young or like a child. However, “youthful” has a positive connotation (often used to mean vibrant, lively, and energetic), while “childish” has a negative connotation (often used to mean immature, juvenile, and foolish).
For more practice with connotation and denotation, you can watch this short video or use this safe website that has plenty of practice examples.
PARENTHESES: A Mini Lesson
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this quick mini lesson on the parenthesis.
Parentheses (always used in pairs) are utilized to hold parenthetical information, or extra details that are nonessential to the basic meaning of the text. Although parentheses are often overlooked by many, they can provide a further explanation and enhance the reader’s overall understanding of the text.
TEAMWORK AND PRACTICE: SPEAK
We continued to practice analyzing connotation and denotation with our teams, using examples from Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak (the class read an excerpt from Speak two sessions ago on February 25 when we discussed narrative voices).
We separated into breakout rooms with our respective teams for fifteen minutes to answer the questions and met back in the main room to discuss the groups’ findings. The questions and discussion were as follows:
Consider the following sentence from Speak: “I dive into the stream of fourth-period lunch students and swim down the hall to the cafeteria.”
What connotations do the images of diving into and swimming through other students have here?
My group agreed that the connotations of diving into and swimming through the other students gave a negative connotation. It was as if the hallway was tightly packed, creating a stressful environment, and she had to push her way through, almost aggressively, as noted by Francisco. Randy’s group had a similar response and additionally described the crowd of students as hard to move through.
Now rewrite the sentence, trying to keep the same denotative meaning but changing the connotations to make them neutral.
When I originally read the question, it sounded like such a simple task. However, as I began to think of an idea to pitch to the group, I found myself stumped. As my group shared different sentences, we realized it was a bit tricky to stick to the criteria. For example, Francisco’s sentence, “I pushed through the crowd of students and made my way to the cafeteria,” had a very similar denotation to the original quote, but it had a negative connotation by using the verb “pushed.” In turn, James suggested, “I passed by the crowd of students and made my way to the cafeteria.” While this was more neutral, it slightly changed the denotation of the quote, which implied that she went through or with the crowd rather than simply passed by them.
I began to first ask myself what the original sentence was truly saying, or what its denotation was. Taking this first step made writing a neutral sentence much easier. By breaking down the sentence, I concluded that it simply described how the speaker walked with the other students down the hall to the cafeteria. With a bit of tweaking to keep as much detail as the original sentence, my end result was, “I join the fourth-period lunch students and walk down the hall to the cafeteria.” Jack also suggested, “I went along with the crowd of students going to the cafeteria.” In the main room, Ayah shared her group’s sentence, which said, “I walk past the hallway and make my way to the cafeteria.” Mrs. Peterson also advised that when making a sentence neutral, try to eliminate any elements that suggest speed, amount, degree, convey emotion, or answer the question, “How?”
Now consider what is conveyed by Anderson’s diction (particularly the verbs) in this sentence: “I ditch my tray and bolt for the door.”
Based on the verbs, what inferences might you draw about the speaker’s feelings at this moment?
My group resolved that the speaker was most likely embarrassed and in a state of panic, based on Anderson’s diction, particularly her choice of verbs. “Ditch” and “bolt” convey a sense of panic and emergency and strong desire to urgently rush out. In the large room, MeiQi shared that Anderson’s word choice was revealing of an uncomfortable situation for the character.
Now revise Anderson’s sentence to be more neutral.
My breakout group continued to struggle with forming a neutral revision. For example, one idea that was shared included, “I throw my food in the garbage and head out the door,” which slightly changed the denotation of the original sentence by adding how or where she ditched her tray. After a couple more attempts, there was evident improvement in the group, and we were able to quickly agree upon, “I put my tray down and head for the door.” Remembering the process I used last time, I broke down the sentence to pinpoint what the sentence denotes and was able to write a neutral sentence faster and much more easily. In the large room, Kelly’s group offered another solid example of a neutral sentence, which simply said, “I left my tray and went to the door.”
INDEPENDENT WORK
We wrapped up the class with independent work. Each student read through the first paragraph of “Marigolds,” a short story by Eugenia Collier. Furthermore, to ensure active reading, we highlighted examples of diction, syntax, and imagery (which was discussed on February 25 in the lesson about narrative voice) and annotated the connotative effect of word choices, as well as what inferences can be made, using the comment feature on Google Docs. The paragraph, along with some of my own annotations, is as follows: (Note: The highlighted sections marked with subscripts in the paragraph match the annotations with the correlating number following the paragraph.)
1 - The author’s word choice in saying, “the hometown of my youth,” gave reason to believe that the author is no longer a youth, but rather an adult looking back with nostalgia at her former home town.
2 - The author stated that all she could remember was dust, using descriptive imagery that evoked the sense of sight, touch, and taste to describe the memory of her hometown. We could infer that it was not a fond memory since she described it as the crumbly, dry dust of late summer that made its way into your eyes, your throat, and the crevices between your toes. One can imagine a large amount of dust covering up the place and getting in one’s eyes, obscuring and muddying her hometown. The dust brings up the idea of a place that was neglected and impoverished.
3 - The author described the dust as “arid [and] sterile,” which gave a negative connotation. It further emphasized her dislike of this memory. Arid brings up the idea of dry, waterless, and barren, while sterile is associated with infertility. Together, they conjure up the idea that her hometown was not a place that was conducive for growth and life.
4 - This served as an example of the paragraph’s diction. The use of contractions, such as “don’t,” show that this is an informal writing style.
5 - Thinking further about this memory, the author noted that the town must have had “lush green lawns and paved streets under leafy shade trees.” The positive connotation of the words “lush” and “leafy” sets up a comparison between the thriving and productive town it may have been with the dusty and desolate town she remembers.
6 - The author used imagery and figurative language (you can read more about figurative language in the last class session on March 2) to metaphorically compare memory to an abstract painting, in the way that they portray how you felt rather than how things were.
7 - This was an example of a long, complex sentence that was used in this excerpt. The sentence starts with the phrase, “And so,” which connects the idea of this sentence to ideas in the previous sentence regarding memories of her hometown. In contrast, the second sentence was short and simple, “I don’t know why I should remember only the dust,” which made it stand out to the reader. Based on the complex and varied syntax used throughout the paragraph, the storytelling was interesting. Furthermore, we could infer that the author was most likely an adult.
8 - This description of the town was a continuation from the comparison of a memory to an abstract painting (see number 6). The author stated that she believed memories reflected feelings. We could infer from the description of her memory of the town and its negative connotation that the author disliked her hometown. Calling it a shanty town, she paints a picture of poverty, where squatters lived in slums which lacked proper sanitation and clean water.
9 - In the final sentence of the paragraph, the author described one more memory of her hometown using the words “brilliant” and “sunny yellow” to refer to Miss Lottie’s marigolds. The author cleverly hits the reader with a splash of positive connotation in the midst of the dreary hometown in her memory.
10 - The author skillfully uses color to paint a canvas of her hometown. The sunny yellow color of Miss Lottie’s marigolds stand in stark contrast to the brown, dusty town. The reader could infer that in the midst of the drab and depressing town, the marigolds symbolize a glimmer of happiness and hope.
HOMEWORK
For homework, the students read the rest of “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier and annotate the story, using the annotations rubric as a guide. You can also use the class session from March 2 for more information about annotations. This assignment did not need to be submitted on Google Classroom since the annotations were to help us break down and understand the text and would be needed for the next class’s discussion.
REFLECTION
Through this lesson, I learned that word choice is an important and essential part in writing. Authors utilize the denotations (dictionary definitions) and connotations (connected ideas and feelings) of words to shape the meaning, implications, and tone of the text. An author’s diction allows readers to understand the underlying meaning of the text past its face value, just as Lizabeth in “Marigolds” looked into the depths of Miss Lottie and truly understood her character near the end of the short story. It is important to recognize denotation and connotation while I read in order to gain a deeper comprehension of the text, make connections, and draw inferences. Additionally, it will strengthen my diction and, in turn, allow me to exercise purposeful word choice when I write. I will continue to annotate while reading, which slows me down and helps me be more intentional in noticing the author’s diction and syntax. This is an important skill to develop and practice throughout life in order to grow as a writer.
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