Comparison of Language through Formality

Looking at the stories of Daisy Miller and Super Sad True Love Story, they both had similarities and differences in the event of words being used, a sense of time and place through tone/diction, and the formality or lack of formality with how they spoke. In my own opinion, I believe that the authors did this so they could give readers a better perspective and understanding of the characters. Keeping all this in mind, the authors were able to transition from speaking formal to informal or switch to short/long sentence variety through the stories while using the elements of tone, diction, and style.

The main similarity that I had come across was how the style of writing went back and forth from being formal to informal. In Super Sad True Love Story, the way that Eunice responds to letters and emails is in a more casual way with a lack of formality. Her responses would consist of saying things like, “Sup, my little Busy Bee-iotch?” (Shteyngart, 112) or the other would reply back saying, “Welcome back, sticky bun!” (Shteyngart, 114). Through analyzing her character and viewing dialogue like this, I can definitely see how Eunice’s honest persona is a more relaxed and unpretentious type of person. As she becomes closer and gets to know Lenny better, these traits are clearly shown and the reader can understand the type of character Eunice is. In comparison to Daisy Miller, Daisy is more formal in the way she speaks due to the fact that she is putting on a persona and is embodying being a true “lady”. By putting on this type of mask, Daisy was drawing away from this lack of formality and was embracing the idea of being formal/reserved to grab in or attract Winterbourne. “I like a gentleman to be formal!” (Daisy Miller). Daisy’s formality is what drew in Winterbourne and made him fall for her. To contrast the stories, I would personally say that there is a consistent pattern of being formal to acting nonchalant that is distinctly used between the characters in each story.

Despite the differences in narrative construction, I was still able to see a wide range of similarities between both relationships. However, one aspect that I found most noticeable was the fact that both men were romantically drawn in right when they first met the women and truly accepts them for who they are. “He had a great relish for feminine beauty; he was addicted to observing and analyzing it” (Daisy Miller). Through this, it reveals that Winterbourne didn’t judge but loved the formal and independent woman he saw in her. “I told her my work was my life, but I still had room for love. She told me love was out of the question” (Shteyngart, 24). Even though forms of communication and narrative construction were different, both stories were still able to reveal similar aspects.