How I Lost The Junior Miss Pageant Style Analysis
Ty Morris
English IV DC
09/09/2013
“How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” Stylistic Analysis
Cindy Bosley’s “How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” contains numerous literary elements that, if left undiscovered, prevent the reader from truly understanding and appreciating the work as a whole. For example, Bosley’s use of connotation, such as “My mother had secret hopes. Finally divorced for the second time from the same man, my father, she sat with me and gave me her own commentary about who was cute, who smiled too much, who would find a handsome husband,” (3) gives the reader subtle background information and insight into Bosley’s mother’s way of thinking. Saying that her mother had
“secret hopes” is a negatively connotated way of describing her mother’s hidden agenda and wishes for her daughter. Although most parents would want their children to participate in the activities of their choosing, Bosley’s words indicate that her mother had a selfish desire to see her daughter succeed, despite her daughter’s own desires or aspirations.
Bosley also uses imagery and diction, such as “From my viewing seat on a green striped couch in my parents’ smoky living room where the carpet, a collage of white, brown, and black mixedshag, contrasted so loudly with the cheap 70’s furnishings that it threatened my attention to the television set” (1) gives the reader additional understanding into Bosley’s own background and raising, and also prefaces the cultural references and allusions that are to come later in the narrative. By providing this information, Bosley places the reader into her own situations and circumstance.
One element the author uses to convey her messages to the reader is allusion. In order to “set the stage” for her audience, Bosley writes about such things as “[the] Kmart down the road” and the “Target all the way across town” and mentions that “This was the
Ty Morris
English IV DC
09/09/2013
era of Flashdance”
English IV DC
09/09/2013
“How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” Stylistic Analysis
Cindy Bosley’s “How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” contains numerous literary elements that, if left undiscovered, prevent the reader from truly understanding and appreciating the work as a whole. For example, Bosley’s use of connotation, such as “My mother had secret hopes. Finally divorced for the second time from the same man, my father, she sat with me and gave me her own commentary about who was cute, who smiled too much, who would find a handsome husband,” (3) gives the reader subtle background information and insight into Bosley’s mother’s way of thinking. Saying that her mother had
“secret hopes” is a negatively connotated way of describing her mother’s hidden agenda and wishes for her daughter. Although most parents would want their children to participate in the activities of their choosing, Bosley’s words indicate that her mother had a selfish desire to see her daughter succeed, despite her daughter’s own desires or aspirations.
Bosley also uses imagery and diction, such as “From my viewing seat on a green striped couch in my parents’ smoky living room where the carpet, a collage of white, brown, and black mixedshag, contrasted so loudly with the cheap 70’s furnishings that it threatened my attention to the television set” (1) gives the reader additional understanding into Bosley’s own background and raising, and also prefaces the cultural references and allusions that are to come later in the narrative. By providing this information, Bosley places the reader into her own situations and circumstance.
One element the author uses to convey her messages to the reader is allusion. In order to “set the stage” for her audience, Bosley writes about such things as “[the] Kmart down the road” and the “Target all the way across town” and mentions that “This was the
Ty Morris
English IV DC
09/09/2013
era of Flashdance”