"Style Mapping"

      In Neil Gaiman's Stardust, the rocky terrain and harmonious forest create a high sense of tranquility as one observes the town of Wall.  Gaiman describes the lustrous old town as being, "Built of rough, square lumps of hewn granite, and it comes back from the woods and goes back to it once more."  The melodic feeling one infers from the town of Wall is merely a reaction to its physical beauty and awing presence.  In contrast to Stardust, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian suggest a low energy, and expressively depicts an open prairie during the night.  The language used is dark, harsh, focused, and descriptive.  McCarthy describes the starry night sky as, "Scarcely space of black at all," and "They fall all night in bitter arcs."  His ominous description depicts feelings of loneliness and isolation.  Similarly, in Sarah Dessen’s Dreamland, the story is told with a rather low energy, and the inferred emotions are depression, grief, and loneliness.  One line in particular depicts a confused mother as she discovers a note from her run away daughter, “She can’t just leave. She can’t.” Dessen’s raw low- key language precisely augments the conflicting feelings and tragic events of her story.