Throughout “The Color of Grass”, negative diction is

used to create a dismal mood that reflects the

unhappiness people feel in two different towns.
The author creates this mood through the use of
words like forlorn, hopeless, longingly, and
exasperated. By using the juxtaposition of this
negative diction in describing New York City and
Leroy, seemingly opposite places, it shows people in
both locations who are unhappy and wish they
were somewhere else. The use of the same dismal
diction of each “somewhere else”containing the
same people who are just as unhappy, highlights
the irony of their situations.