The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Literary Analysis Essay Example

Throughout the novel Alice Sebold uses many diction words along the lines of a mournful, sad, and somber tone.

Chapters 1-4

Diction word such as "contempt" (Sebold 5), "murderer" (Sebold 6), "frozen" (Sebold 9), and "dark" (sebold 9) were all words with strong diction found in this first section to gave a tone to the novel. In this first section these words are describing the horrible tragedy Susie Salmon went through. The words not only give a better understanding of what Susie is going through but make a reader feel as if you were Susie or  feel a certain hurt in your heart.

Other diction words with a completely different tone are also found, possibly the feeling of hope. The words ``love" (Sebold 9) and "beautiful" (Sebold 6) are leaned towards the hope of Susie's loved ones. These words show the love of A beautiful family still in hope of their oldest daughter's reappearance.

Chapter  5-9

Numerous amounts of diction words used to describe they way a murder such as George Harvey feels after the murdering of Susie Salmon and the way Susie feels about Mr. Harvey are found, these words include "vengeance' (Sebold 58), "guilt" (Sebold 58), "poison" (Sebold 58), "dead" (Sebold 59) and "dark" (Sebold 63).

Also word like "lovely" (Sebold 60), "remarkable" (Sebold 63), "heaven" (Sebold 66), as well as, "love" (Sebold 70) and "beautiful" (Sebold 73) were  found in this second section of the novel The Lovely Bones. These words gave a more happy tone, representing Susie's family although they were losing hope and afraid that they may never see their loved one again.

Chapters 10-14

In this section there was an overall sad tone, word like "murder" (Sebold 121), and "dead" (Sebold 124) were use to give this section its tone. More words include, "death" (Sebold 114), "alone" (Sebold 117), "lonely" (Sebold 123), and "killed" (Sebold 125)

Although the overall tone said there were some words of diction that brightened the section up such as "perfect" (Sebold 122), and "heavens" (Sebold 119).

Chapters 15-19 including Snapshot

Diction words such as "love" (Sebold 188), "blood" (Sebold 193), "murder" (Sebold 195), "greif" (Sebold 195), and "death" (Sebold 200) are located in this section and give mournful tone. When you are in grief, usually you are  mourning over a death of a family member or the loss of someone close. So just imagine death of your sibiling or daughter by a bloody murder which just makes daeth so much more unbearable. Authors use certain types of words to get a reader to feel a certain way, the words above are used to make you feel sad or mourn for the loss of Susie's family.

Chapters 20-23 including Bones

As the novel is coming to a resolution the author Alice Sebold uses word such as "heaven" (Sebold 276), "beautiful" (Sebold 273), and "love" (Sebold 277) to give a happy ending to a tragic story. The happy ending of The Lovely Bones includes a family that is closer to one another than ever before, but lets not forget the happy ending that Susie receives. George Harvey dies, Susie gets one more chance to say goodbye to Ray Singh before she's gone forever, and Susie lives in graceful and amazing heaven.