Sajeda Ahmad 

March 22, 2019 

 
Prose Passage 
 
Author of ​All the Living,​ C.E. Morgan, portrayed the development of a character in that 

novel, a character in the of Aloma. Aloma grew up to be different than most children, and after she 

turns twelve, it was as if she had the chance to experience the real world and freedom. Growing up 

through an extended family was not a real chance for Aloma to process her young life together, so 

after she moved away from her family into the mission school, that is where her journey truly 

began. Aloma was finding herself, Morgan uses literary elements of syntax, and diction to convey 

Aloma’s responses of being different and having that changing environment for her be a source 

where she can express herself freely. 

Aloma certainly was not able to find her true self while living with her extended family, it 

was as if she was stuck cramped in a space and was not able to get out, and through Morgan’s 

syntax, one is able to view Aloma’s ever so clearly. “She wondered what kind of luck was required 

to be someone other than the person you were born to be” (lines 31-33). Morgan depicts syntax 

through this line to show the strong impact of Aloma’s view of the world and who she wanted to 

be. Morgan’s syntax illustrates the type of life Aloma has been having and how she technically 

wishes to be born as someone else who was open to the real world and had the chance to 

experience things she had never experienced. “Aloma lived in this dark place, a dark country in a 

dark state, and it pressed her ceaselessly as a girl until she finally realized in a moment of 

prescience that someday adulthood would come with its great shuddering release and she would be 

free” (lines 49-53). Morgan also portrays a powerful source of syntax in this line by showing how 

Aloma’s whole world is nothing but darkness, and she is waiting for adulthood to be free. Moving 
away from her family into the school was a chance for Aloma to experience “adulthood” of being 

independent and finally free.  

Aloma’s perspective and responses to her changing environment and how she is now finally 

free and able to express herself was also presented with Morgan’s word choice. “That was what she 

wanted. That more than family, that more than friendship, that more than love. Just the kind of 

day that couldn’t be recalled into premature darkness by the land” (lines 57-60). Definitely one of 

the most impactful sentences that represented Aloma, as if a newborn child was born into a new 

world it was meant to be in. Morgan portrays her use of diction when stating the “premature 

darkness” seen by Aloma. The school finally represented the light where the darkness would not 

be. Her new perspective about the world she lives in has changed once she had gained her freedom 

and independent way of life. She no longer had to go by the rules of the life she was born into, and 

that to her was the best experiences she ever had. “It was always dissonance that she liked the 

best” (lines 74-75). This sentence gave me the whole meaning of the excerpt itself. Morgan’s use of 

diction when describing that the lack of harmony is what Aloma liked best, conveys Aloma’s 

character. Aloma loved the difference of being one of nine family members, separated into her own 

world. Yes, it did bring her to tears, but then she realized the reality of it all and it was what she 

wanted for her life all along.  

Morgan’s use of syntax and diction in this excerpt of the novel gave such a strong and 

powerful meaning to convey Aloma’s complex responses to her changing environment. Throughout 

it all, Aloma was finding who she truly is and was given the opportunity to finally understand 

what she wanted most and how she wanted it. Aloma wanted the sense of freedom and being 

independent at such a young age. She was able to find that maturity in her life to know what she 
wanted to go after of. Just like the saying “they grow up so fast”, Aloma was a perfect example 

and she was the difference everyone, including herself, needed.