Question

Read the excerpt from "Surrendering” by Ocean Vuong.

Little moments of ice hurled themselves against the window as the boys and girls, my peers, stared, their faces as unconvinced as blank sheets of paper.

How does the author’s diction contribute to the tone of the excerpt?

Informal diction creates a passionate tone.
Colloquial diction creates a regretful tone.
Poetic diction creates a perturbed tone.
Scholarly diction creates a serious tone.

Answer 1

Poetic diction creates a perturbed tone.

The line’s figurative language (personification: “ice hurled themselves”; simile: “faces as unconvinced as blank sheets of paper”) is lyrical yet unsettling, conveying unease and disturbance.