Style Mapping

Frequently, the point an author is trying to make in a work shines brighter through how he says it, rather than what he actually says. In The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris, each chapter has a different main character, although always in 3rd person omniscient, and the style changes dramatically to accentuate the character traits of each. The second chapter centers on Vince Thompson, a crazy, homicidal, psychopathic drug dealer. Fittingly, the first page of this chapter is written with extremely lowbrow vulgarities. There are nine swear words in less than a paragraph of text. Furthermore, the sentences are long, rambling, and nowhere near grammatically correct. It is written like an infuriated tirade, with no hint of class. Again, as Vince is hardly the most intellectual man, his rant lacks figurative or imaginative language, and aside from an obvious tone of hatred, it is mainly denotative. It is rather harsh, from the cacophony of f***s. Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried also jumps from main character to main character, but the style remains essentially the same. The whole work is symbolic and metaphoric, a "noble lie" in which the denotative meaning of the story isn't always true persay, but reveals a deeper truth, transcending the literal meaning. The language is essentially middle of the road, and is somewhat conversational, like someone telling a story around a campfire. It is neither particularly melodic nor particular dissonant. Finally, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian exhibits his typical disdain for punctuation, but also his unique style. Words like "thunderclap" "gnashing" and "hobbled" create a harsh feel to emphasize the bitterness. Most of his description of the setting is imagistic and connoatitive.  Words like "nigger" and "raggedyman" contribute to the mild coarseness of the tone, illustrative of the rough diction of the Wild West. All authors write with a distinctive style, reflecting their distinctive themes and purposes.