Vanderpool Language Analysis

Vanderpool used her choice of diction to create a pensive mood in the story. “Hearing Gideon tell about it was like sucking on butterscotch. Smooth and sweet. And when he’s go back to not saying much, I’d try recalling what it tasted like. Maybe that was how I found comfort just them, even with him being so far away. By remembering the flavor of his words. But mostly, I could taste the sadness in his voice when he told me I couldn’t stay with him for the summer while he worked a railroad job back in Iowa.” (Vanderpool, 1-2) Vanderpool was relating her feelings to food. She symbolizes the happiness of Gideon’s stories with butterscotch, and begins to contrast that feeling of happiness with the remembrance of the flavor because you can
no longer taste the happiness in Gideon’s stories. This word choice impacts the mood because we can all relate to missing a food or having it be just out of reach. Like when it's sitting in front of you but you're not allowed to eat it. These sentiments are relatable and therefore creates a more elaborate mood because the feeling is specific to each and every reader. Vanderpool started the book this way because the sad mood contrasts well with the happiness later in the book. If Abilene had been happy throughout the whole book and had never felt sad about leaving her father, then there wouldn’t be any point to the story. The point of the sadness in the beginning is to make her happiness in the end of the book stand out.