Practice Diction Analysis

In the excerpt from The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker’s elevated and figurative diction express a sense of uneasy resignation. Baker describes the escalators the narrator takes up to his office, as “free-standing” and “without struts or piers to bear any intermediate weight.” This suggests that the day to come might be a little overwhelming and bleak. Sunlight is shining onto the handrails “formed by intersections of the lobby’s towering volumes of marble and glass.” The description of the building and the escalators creates a mood of apprehension for the readers.