Blog Post #5 (3rd Trimester)

In my current book, The Lone Survivor, I really like how the author describes each and every scene using various literary techniques. The author, Marcus Luttrell, uses connotation and denotation to display the feelings of the main character, himself. For example, when describing the difficulty of the knot in the test, "In my case, I decided to hastily that the knot in my line was impossible, gave them the signal, ditched my tanks over my shoulder, and floated up to the surface." This line from the text shows negative connotation, using the word "hastily". This gives a negative feeling because it gives the impression that he was rushing and didn't think through exactly what he was doing. Luttrell also uses the word "ditched" to emphasize how quickly he decided to leave the test. Instead of using a general word like "left", he used the word "ditched" to give the reader a feeling of how Marcus quit his test. The use of connotation gives the reader a sense of feeling in the book. This in turn adds to the reader's overall experience in reading the book. Luttrell uses this literary device because he wants to make his book more interesting, and he succeeded. The book makes you want to keep reading because it tells a fascinating story of a Navy SEAL and a difficult mission.