Practice Diction Analysis

 In the excerpt from Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, Baker’s figurative yet scholarly language depicts the elegant workplace in which he describes. Baker describes the appearance of the lobby of his work as a place with “towering volumes of marble and glass,” and he also uses figurative language when he mentions the escalator “as the handrails slid on their tracks, like the radians of black luster.” This refined depiction of the setting in which the main character works enhances the visual image. The lobby also has an ominous feel to it considering much of it is described as being “black.” Even though the lobby leading to the office seems boring and cold, Baker suggests that it is warm and inviting.