Language

Style of language

In the story “The Boogeyman” by Stephen King, the third-person narrator uses a formal language. There are no slang words or abbreviations, and the vocabulary is fairly advanced, for instance: “non-commitally” (p. 2, l. 31), or “sardonic brilliance” (p. 4, l. 11). This advanced style of language may be a way to show that the first part of the story is told partly from the perspective of the psychiatrist Dr Harper.

The style of language used by Lester in his first-person account is informal, using contractions and a lot of slang words. There is also a lot of emotional language and exclamation points. For instance:

Some back-country fuckhead with a stethoscope and a black bag full of Junior Mints and a sheepskin from some cow college. Crib death, he called it! You ever hear such a pile of yellow manure? The kid was three years old! (p. 4, ll. 13-15)

Lester's narrative also contains a lot of graphic descriptions, which are meant to create an emotional response in the readers. ...