Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Asyndeton:
Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, asyndeton speeds up the flow of the sentence.

Example:
"Anyway, like I was saying, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That--that's about it."
(Bubba in Forrest Gump, 1994)



Explanation:

Asyndeton is seen in this every time Bubba says the type of shrimp. He does this in order to make the  sentence choppy, upbeat and fast, without any pauses or hesitations. This helps set the character and how he acts, all because of the comma usage; also known as asyndeton. Bubba crams it all in as fast as he can, which shows the enthusiasm and eager tone that Bubba has. 

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