Language

Style of language

The choice of words in the narration of the short story “The Music Room” by Stephen King indicates a formal style of writing. The narrator uses complex words and phrases to describe the action: “Mr. Enderby applauded and called for an encore on that one, and when the last notes died away, the thumps and cries from the soundproofed and specially reinforced closet had ceased” (p. 124, ll. 8-10). However, the dialogue features informal expressions, such as “buck her up” (p. 122, ll. 23-24), “sort of” (p. 122, l. 7), and contractions such as “that’s”, “it’s”, and “he’d”. They are used in the dialogue to mimic a natural speech pattern, giving it authenticity, and to convey a feeling of familiarity between the characters. This familiarity is further highlighted by the repeated use of the word “dear”, whenever the two characters address each other.

Numerous words are written in italics to show emphasis or to reflect the name of a publication: “what the Journal-American had taken to calling the Great Depression” (p. 122, ll. 20-21), “ ‘People claim to root for the hero’ ” (p. 121, l. 1).

Metaphors and similes

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which something i...