I'm not
sure that there are any rules set in stone, as it were, regarding "effective" word
choice. Different writers tend to have different ideas about what qualifies as
"effective." George Orwell, for example, was a very economical writer and argued that
one should never use a long word when a short one would do just as well. Stephen King has argued
that one should avoid adverbs and that an adverb is only employed when one can't think of the
correct verb.
If we look at some quotations from The Boy In The
Striped Pajamas, we may be able to infer what rules or ideas about language and word
choice the author may have had in mind. For example, let's look at the following
passage:
He looked up at the skies, and although they were
still very dark he thought the day had probably had enough rain.
In this quotation, Boyne's use of the word "rain" is certainly effective
because it has a clear metaphorical meaning. The "rain" here metaphorically represents
misery. The word "dark" is also effective in much the same way, as, although it refers
ostensibly to the skies, it also alludes to the dark and troubling times that lie ahead. One
might also speculate that Orwell would have considered the word choices in this example to be
effective. Boyne uses simple vocabulary, like, for example, the phrase "very dark,"
where he might have used longer words, like "especially" or "exceptionally"
in place of "very."
But still there are moments
when a brother and sister can lay down their instruments of torture for a moment and speak as
civilized human beings and Bruno decided to make this one of those moments.
In this second example, Boyne's word choice might be considered
effective because the language is playful and thus convincingly evokes Bruno's perspective. The
phrase "instruments of torture" is a playfully exaggerated reference to the usual
teasing and provocation that takes place between a brother and sister. By using language like
this, Boyne evokes Bruno's childlike attitude toward his sister, an attitude which is at once
combative, playful, and affectionate.
From just these two examples, we might
infer that Boyne considered "effective" words to be those which lend themselves toand
simplicity and which effectively evoke the 's perspective.
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