Messenger: 10/1/14

Prompt: Choose a section of what you have read in your book this week and analyze the writing techniques used by the author. Explain the affect the technique has on the writing. 
Pages: 1-169 (end)

     This book is about a boy named Matty who carries messages for the people of his village. He is one of the few people who has not gotten a warning from the forest that is between each village. The people of his village have traded parts of their personality to the Trademaster in exchange for things the want. This has caused them to want to close the village to outsiders. Matty wants to tell someone who lives across the forest that the village is closing and that they must come back with him to her father. The village is becoming evil and once you receive a warning you could be killed by the forest.

     One of the writing techniques the author uses to develop the theme and meaning of the story is style. She uses words with negative connotation when she is describing the forest and Trade Mart. When She is talking about the Trade Mart she tells about what a woman who used to be very kind did to her crippled husband after she traded. The author says "She made a sneering face at him and she imitated his way of walking. She made fun of him." Negative word choice helps to describe the effects of the Trade Mart. Also when the author is telling about how Leader described the forest she writes, "I was going to say like a clotting of blood. Things turning sluggish and sick." Words with negative connotation help to better describe the forest. Both of these quotes show how word choice with negative connotation develop the story. 

     A technique the author uses to develop the feeling of the story is tone. The author uses a dark tone when she is talking about the forest and Trade Mart. An example of this is when the author is writing about the Trade Mart. She writes "There was an intentness to everyone, and odd seriousness, and a sense of worry-unusual in Village-pervaded the atmosphere." This gives a dark tone to Trade Mart. This makes Trade Mart seem like a bad thing and affects the story. Another example of this is when the author is describing the forest. She writes, "Once clear and cool, the water was now dark brown, clogged with dead insects, and it smelled of kinds of filth he could only guess at." This gives the forest a dark tone and helps provide imagery.