Question

hroughout the essay, the author uses connotative words and phrases such as “treasure hunt” (line 13) that suggest a contest or competition is taking place in the desert. Find several other examples of language that suggests competition. Explain how these discrete, or separate, word choices work together to shape the overall meaning and tone of the essay.

Answer 1

One of the words in the text that are connotative is the word Male
He uses it to describe the rain. A male rain connotes a thunderstorm that is loud and occurs in an unlikely scenario such as during the summer period. He also makes use of the word Female to connote light rains and drizzles.

Answer 2

Firsty, in lines 58-59 from Barbara Kingsolver's essay, we found the following sentence: "the object of the game is persistence”. By this, Kingsolver is giving us the idea that plants are competing directly against each other. Secondly, in lines 85-87 she says plants “outwit every peril” and “lie in wait”, which means  plants depend on the soaking female rains for the water to grow, hence male rains are too inconsistent to benefit plant life.  

In conclusion, the use of these kind of connotative words and phrases let the readers to realize that there is a miystery in predicting when the plants will bloom, even though experts understand the science behind the flower of desert plants.