Use the passage from Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind below to answer questions 1 and 2. Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes - each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands. Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs. From the time I was really little - maybe just a few months old - words were like sweet, liquid gifts, and I drank them like lemonade. I could almost taste them. They made my jumbled thoughts and feelings have substance. My parents always blanketed me with conversation. They chattered and babbled. They verbalized and vocalized. My father sang to me. My mother whispered strength into my ear. Every word my parents spoke to me or about me I absorbed and kept and remembered. Question Write a RARE response in which you explain how the author's word choice impacts the tone. What can you tell about how the narrator feels about words?
The author's word choice in the passage creates a tone of appreciation and reverence towards words. The narrator describes words as delicate, sweet, and valuable gifts that she treasures and consumes eagerly. The imagery of words swirling like snowflakes and piling up like drifts conveys a sense of abundance and importance. The use of metaphors such as words being like lemonade that she drinks and being able to taste them adds a sensory depth to the narrator's relationship with words. This shows that the narrator sees words as essential to giving shape and substance to her thoughts and feelings. The repeated mention of how her parents surround her with conversation and fill her with words also highlights the importance of communication and connection in her life. Overall, the narrator's tone reveals a deep love and dependence on words, showing that she values them as sources of comfort and understanding.
