Use of Style to Convey a Central Idea in “Where Nothing Says Everything”

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Use of Style to Convey a Central Idea in “Where Nothing Says Everything” An author can use various styles to convey a certain idea or message, some styles being more useful and fitting than others in a given situation. The style of a writer is the devices that the writer uses to add to a certain effect, meaning, or purpose or to convey an idea or message. The article “Where Nothing Says Everything” by Suzanne Berne appeared in the New York Times travel section on April 21, 2002. This article was meant to attract tourists to the area while making a point that even though it has been about seven months since the tragedy, the effect of said tragedy is still heavily present in the everyday lives of those around the scene. Berne makes effective use of imagery, cumulative sentences, and figurative language in order to emphasize the main idea of the article. Imagery is noticeably present throughout the article and it is very important in Berne’s style because it further emphasizes the effect of the tragedy. Berne makes a point of describing her surroundings in detail, starting with “Standing on the sidewalk, pressed against aluminum police barricades, wearing scarves that flapped in their faces and woolen hats pulled over their ears, were people apparently from everywhere…”, which goes on to list many people from different nationalities from all over the world. Berne clearly notices many of the small details of her surrounding and she notices how crowded the scene is. This contrasts with her next idea in the paragraph, which is “…they were all craning to see across the street, where there was nothing to see”. This points out the emptiness of the place where the tragedy occurred, which directly contrasts it with all of the liveliness and busyness around her. This helps to convey the main idea that the impact of the tragedy is still heavily felt because even with the level

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