So who is Holly Bacchus? She is a punchy and confident woman who chooses to go against the grain, acknowledge the qualities that make her unique, and says whatever comes to mind. And how do I know this? I actually don’t; I merely base all my assumptions about her personality on the voice in her writing.
Right off the bat, the reader is hit with a one-sentence paragraph around which Holly structures her entire post. This introduction sentence-paragraph is forceful and convincing – the reader has no choice but to agree with her. I for one am not going to disagree with a sentence like, “Bullying is a bitch”, especially when written in bolded lettering.
Holly tends to use these short, punchy sentences throughout her pieces, which give off a sense of confidence. She claims, very matter-of-factly, that people who are “different” will one day “rule the world”. She quickly adds, “Here’s why”, as if anticipating the reader’s curiosity or objection, and then explains her reasoning, giving the reader no time to form an argument. Her rebuttal comes out strong, and the reader is given no choice but to agree with her logic. In this particular moment, I get the sense that Holly is bossy – she cannot accept any opinion but her own. She doesn’t allow the reader any time to formulate an opinion that contrasts hers. These short, confident sentences also convey seriousness. The subjects Holly discusses (i.e. getting bullied for being different, not fitting in, etc.) are matters she doesn’t take lightly; and her voice complements the seriousness of these issues. Holly has opinions about how people should act, and as the reader, if you find yourself doing otherwise, she will make you feel guilty about your actions.
Holly’s consistent use of conjunctions at the beginning of sentences adds to this perception of Holly’s dominating attitude. She often starts sentences, and even paragraphs, with words like “and” and “but”. She even goes so far as to begin a sentence with “because”, violating every rule about writing ingrained in us since the third grade. Beginning sentences with words that tend to come in the middle of a sentence calls the reader’s attention. It’s a red flag – an order requiring you to really pay attention in the next few seconds.
These blog posts seem very casual, but not quite colloquial, written in the voice of a college student giving a lecture to her peers. Holly refrains from using words or phrases that make her blog sound academic. Instead, she uses her own jargon, including words like, “kooky”, “weirdness”, and “urbane sophisticate”. I know the last term can seem a bit professional and academic, but she uses it mockingly, bringing us back to her casual style. She also uses grammatically incorrect sentences and sentence fragments, such as, “It feels real good”, and, “What a sick and pathetic display”, adding to the casualness of her writing.
Despite the laid back attitude Holly personifies, she uses descriptive phrases, such as “venom-tipped words”, “cookie-cutter bully”, and “scrappy underdog” to give the reader some substance to what might otherwise be considered a lecture about how to live your life. She creates imagery while remaining casual when she says,
“No longer is being the strange one a sentence for a lonely life with many, many cats.”
We can all visualize the stereotypical old, unmarried lady surrounded by cats in her tiny, musty home; and we can own up to the idea that we thought this lady was “strange”. Holly also writes,
“I found myself swimming upstream, often without any sort of boat, or even water wings.”
After reading the first half of this sentence, I got a feeling that Holly was saying something inspirational – like something you might hear in a sermon; but when she references water wings, I immediately pictured neon colored inflatables, causing the seriousness of this image to dissipate. Again, when she writes something that might be taken as academic or professional, she brings it back down to the college-student voice.
Lastly, Holly uses punctuation to accent her casual, non-academic speaking voice. The reader can essentially hear her speak to them when she says, “Don’t. Drink. Beer” (I envision hand gestures and a serious expression), and see her take a second to gather her thoughts when she writes ellipses in the middle of a sentence.
Holly’s confident, casual, punchy personality is consistent throughout her blog posts, as is her word-to-the-wise, lecture style of writing – in my opinion.
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