Your attitude towards the things described.
Источник: журнал "Иностранные языки в школе"
Exercises on the use of stylistic devices
Вы можете поупражняться с этими предложениями. Попытайтесь найти стилистические приемы и объяснить их.
The laugh in her eyes died and was replaced by something else.
For every look that passed between them, and the word they spoke, and every card they played, the dwarf had eyes and ears.
"If there's a war, what are you going to be in?" - "The Government, I hope," Tom said. "Touring the lines on an armoured car, my great belly shaking like a jelly. Hey, did you hear that? That's poetry."
Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old.
The girl gave him a lipsticky smile.
The silence as the two men stared at one another was louder than thunder.
There comes a period in every man's life, but she is just a semicolon in his.
"I'm going to give you some good advice." - "Oh! Pray don't. One should never give a woman anything she can't wear in the evening."
Up came the file and down sat the editor, with Mr. Pickwick at his side.
Gentleness in passion! What could have been more seductive to the scared, starved heart of that girl?
Poor boy ... . No father, no mother, no anyone.
It were better that he knew nothing. Better for common sense, better for him, better for me.
The coach was waiting, the horses were fresh, the roads were wet, and the driver was willing.
There are so many sons that won't have anything to do with their fathers, and so many fathers who won't speak to their sons.
The mechanics are underpaid, and underfed, and overworked.
I hear your voice - it's like an angel's sigh.
He held the cigarette in his mouth, tasting it, feeling its roundness, for a long time before he lit it. Then, with a sigh, feeling, well, I've earned it, he lit the cigarette.
And then in a moment she would come to life and be as quick and restless as a monkey.
The sky was dark and gloomy, the air damp and raw.
"Our father is dead." - "I know." - "How the hell do you know?" - "Station agent told me. How long ago did he die?" - "About a month." - "What of?" - "Pneumonia." - "Buried here?" - "No. In Washington."
She had her breakfast and her bath.
... whispered the spinster aunt with true spinster-aunt-like envy ... .
A team of horses couldn't draw her back now; the bolts and bars of the old Bastille couldn't keep her.
I have only one good quality - overwhelming belief in the brains and hearts of our nation, our state, our town.
It was you who made me a liar, - she cried silently.
I looked at the gun, and the gun looked at me.
England has two eyes, Oxford and Cambridge. They are the two eyes of England, and two intellectual eyes.
Источник: журнал "Иностранные языки в школе"
Main notions
When discussing stories or extracts there are certain aspects which are supposed to regard. It's useful to know them and to be able to use them. They can make it easier for you to talk about novels, stories and other literary work.
If you deal with an extract, begin your discussion with same a few words about its origin, naming the writer and the title of the story or the novel it's taken from.
PLOT refers to the sequence of events or actions in a story.
CONFLICT is at the heart of the plot. It's the up position of the characters or groups of characters to each other or something.
Plot plus conflict comprise THEME. The theme of the story is its central idea or message.
TONE of a story shouldn't be forgotten while speaking on characters or objects. Tone shows the author's attitude and helps us to understand if the writer takes it seriously, ironically, comically, bitterly, humorously or otherwise.
MOOD is the dominant impression the story makes on you. It can be gloom, sad, optimistic, pathetic, cheerful, melancholic and so on. Mood like tone may be revealed through the choice of words, figures of speech, dialogues, short or long sentences and even phonetic devices.
STYLE OF LANGUAGE
When a writer resorts to the language of every day life neither rich nor refined and which is especially typical on dialogs we call this style COLLOQUIAL.
When a writer resorts to the language which is not widely used in everyday life and isn't typical of spoken English because it's "too correct" we call this style BOOKISH.
When there are many scientific words in a story we speak about SCIENTIFIC STYLE.
When there are words typical of this or that profession we speak about PROFESSIONAL WORDS in a story.
"A & P" BY JOHN UPDIKE
The story "A&P" was written by a famous American writer John Updike. The events take place in a supermarket "A&P". Here is the connection between the title of the story and the story itself, which begins with the description of three girls. It was very surprising for the customers and shop-workers to see half-naked girls in bathing-suits walking along the supermarket, which was rather far from a beach.
The author presents the events from the point of view of the one of the characters - Sammy, a nineteen year-old boy. We should admit that Sammy always tries to come in contact with the reader, he waits for his response.
# ...do you really think... but do you got the idea... If it hadn't been there you wouldn't have known...
Sammy describes the girls with admiration:
She just walked straight on slowly, on these long, white prima donna legs.
So high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders
her chest down from the shoulder bones, like a dented sheet of metal tilled in the light
So all this epithets amd similaes reveal Sammy's positive attitude towards the girls. But the other customers on the contrary are described negatively.
The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle... The metaphor sheep stands here for the customers.
She's one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones. The metaphor "witch" is standing for the cashregister watcher.
So we can arrive at a definite conclusion that for Sammy the girls were a gulp of fresh air. He was tired of his boring job which gave him no satisfaction at all. And Sammy enjoyed spying upon the girls, he liked them.
In the first part of the story the greatest emphasis is given to the description of the girls. Sammy describes them in details and admires their beauty. His attitude towards the girls presupposes the existence of another attitude.
In the second part of the story Lengel appears, resenting the girls' behaviour. He considers them to be indecent. There is an external conflict between Lengel and Sammy. Lengel seems to be the representative of the society full of rigid, time honoured rules. As for Sammy, he is a boy with an artistic soul. It's very hard for him to survive in this world. There is also the internal conflict, which takes place in Sammy's mind. He wants to get rid off the bounds with that society. He wants freedom. And those girls served as impulse for him to make the right desicion. The climax of the story coincides with the moment when Sammy took his courage into his both hands and quitted.
The message sounds like this: "we shouldn't be afraid of taking initiative in our hands and showing it". In this sense Sammy is a round character. He is a unique individual and developes in the course of the story. As for Lengel he is one sided, constructed round a single trait.
The author symphathizes with Sammy. Updike chose him as the narrator, consequently Sammy represents the author's point of view. Here one can easily discover Updike's attitude towards women, he considers that it's enough for women to be beautiful but not to have brains. He says: "You never know for sure how girls' minds work / do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar".
Besides, Updike's accuracy while choosing words, using different stylistic devices - all that draws our attention. The language is very metaphoric:
"a few houseslaves"
my stomach rub the inside of my apron ...
and it's very difficult to read and understand the author's message. In conclusion I'd like to point out that story wasn't to my liking.
"Departure" by sherwood anderson
NB: Это не полный анализ, а небольшой набросок.
The story for analysis is called "Departure". It's written by Sherwood Anderson, famous in literature as the author, who used implication, wrote in the style of sober realism and depicted strange characters.
The hero of "Departure" is young George Willard, leaving his native Winesburgh in search of new life. He is excited and concerned, worried, his thoughts are devoted to the future, for he doesn't have any command of what is expecting him. Since 2 o'clock he had been awake thinking of the journey he was about to take, and wondering what he would find at the end of the journey.
I'd like to dwell on the following sentence, as it is a part of the setting:
"It was April and the young tree leaves were just coming out of their buds."
That is a compound sentence, both clauses of the sentence are directed to one aim - to show that a new life begins for George Willard, for April is a spring month, and "buds coming out" are used symbolically.
Idea - departure is a period when you feel ambivalent: on the one hand you dream of your happy future, on the other - you remember your past to say good-bye to it.
But at the same time he returns to his past, for without it there is no future. He visits the places with which his recollections, his everyday life are connected:
"The land becomes a wide green billiard table on which tiny human insects toil up and down."
George Willard had been in the habit of walking on Trunion Pike. So the use of lexis of great importance, "the habit" is the evidence of his life being routine.
"Drawing back the curtain" by denis healey
The text under the title "Drawing Back the Curtain" by Denis Healey begins with the description of Russia in the early years after the war. The author speaks about the changes in looks at the Soviet Union, about its generation which analyzed the nature of totalitarianism. Mr. Healey believes no power could destroy national traditions which were rooted in centuries of history. After Stalin's death the author says Soviet Communism carried the seeds of its own destruction, but it was no reason for laying beneath the surface.
The author shares his views saying he was fascinated by Russia being a schoolboy. Compared to their Western rivals Denis Healey admits that the great Soviet people seemed much superior, calling them film-makers of those days. The author says he was introduced with some examples of Russian Literature and Culture by his friend. But, he says, after the war his friend had disappeared, in all probability during the great purges. In the face of Mr. Healey it increased the bitter hostility for Soviet policies and made him feel animosity to the Soviet government which prevented the creation of genuine masterpieces in various cultural spheres.
The author goes on to describe his visits to Russia. The way he values the sightseeing deserves attention. He took the air in the Hermitage in Leningrad and the magnificent summer palace of Peter the Great overlooking the Gulf of Finland, its fountains sparkling in the autumn sun, its rococo buildings gleaming with white and gold.
As the say goes butter never spoils the porridge, so Mr. Healey found the Kremlin not as a grimly functional building where the Party housed. To his great surprise he found the heart of old Russia as the mediaeval splendour of its palaces and churches, scattered among copses of birch and lilac.
Mr. Healey continues to tell he got a kick out of personal contact with the sixth formers in Leningrad school. He also called some members of creative intelligentsia, such as Sakharov, with his strong opposition to using hydrogen bomb, Solzhenitsyn, exposing the life in a labour camp, Yevtushenko with his poem Babiy Yar - people of unbending spirit, which could give a headache to the authorities for all that was done against them.
It seemed too good to last, but it was a simple truth that the signs of cultural thaw were everywhere. Lots of theatres, circuses and music halls were at people's disposal. Anyone could visit them to their heart's content. Mr. Healey wasn't an exception to the rule. He swallowed them on the wing.
Later the author assumes that the atmosphere got better when he came in 1963. He learned much from these visits to Russia, restricted though they were, and was to learn more still from later visits. He was buried in thought how much changes could affect all the aspects of life, and how useful were short visits when made annually.
While reading the text we come across many stylistic devices used by the author to make his speech more emotional. Striking example of this are such sentences as:
"I had been fascinated by Russia...", "I was impressed by pre-war Soviet culture..." showing a tender attitude of Mr. Healey towards everything connected with our homeland.
Lots of metaphors are also used:
"The Russia of Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and Herzen..." - this means Russia isn't a simple country, but motherland of many outstanding people.
"No power could destroy its national traditions...". The author proves it's impossible to clear out all the habits and traditions in people's minds, gathered for centuries day after day.
"...were giving headaches to the authorities..." - persons making some troubles to those ruling our country.
Mr. Healey uses the epithets to show the variety of his creativity and vividness of his language:
"errate illusions", "the bitter hostility", "remarkable purity", "grimly functional building", "hair-raising obscenity".
Examples of the contrast are present at the text not to concentrate on ordinary things and to feel the differences:
"as sad comedy rather than as tragedy with humour", "a handsome vigorous young prophet of a better future, rather than as the wrinkled cynic".
"Kompository Verdi" and "Socialist Realism" are inverted commas, proving an interest of the author to the Russian Language and understandable words playing perhaps an important role for international community.
Such stylistic device as hyperbola is also used in sentences: "like hurricane", "a library of sense - impressions".
It seems to me the main thing Mr. Healey wanted us to understand is that people have much in common and have many differences but each race is extraordinary.
"Ernestine" by theodore dreiser
The story for analysis is called "Ernestine" and written by Theodore Dreiser, who shows what the female success conceals.
The plot of the story centers around a woman who sacrifices her career in theatre for the existing world of cinema, where she hopes to win great fame. But her initial success leads her total failure.
So the subject matter is a person and his aspiration in career. And the idea is that ambitions often ruin a human being.
As for the composition it is not chronological, for it deals with the foreshadowing at the beginning of the story. This part of the text displays the author's attitude to his character, who is sure to make mistakes or to be lead to some degradation. The use of such phrases as "eventually and perforce", "via related compulsions" and the use of the passive construction in the sentence "If anyone or anything is to be indicted, let it be life" are aimed at the attempts to persuade the reader that a person is not a ruler of his/her destiny, but a product of the society and circumstances.
As for me, I don't share the author's point of view. At first I'd like to attract your attention to the epithets used by the narrator to describe the girl: "very young and not very sophisticated" and the verb to condescend in "Hers was a person who condescends to take notice of a domain offered for her inspection". These epithets and the verb serve as proofs of the fact that she wasn't a naive girl, she was young, but had some experience of life and knew her own worth (had a high opinion of herself).
The following sentence is also of great importance "The first time I saw Ernestine she was coming down the steps of the Sixth Avenue Elevated Station". The title "Elevated Station" and the phrasal verb "to come down" are symbolic here, for they are the evidence of the fact she didn't cognize all negative sides of "the joyous profession", but she has taken the road of it, and the use of the Past Continuous proves that.
In due course she starts to realize her own power: "Her temperament as well as her beauty was focal and she knew it". Her fame gives her an opportunity to have a high opinion of herself, that's why there is no wonder she becomes "too cool and too rain".
"LUCK" BY MARK TWAIN
Analysis 1.
The story "Luck" is written by Mark Twain who takes the part of a satirist there.
In the text the framed composition is used, as the author makes us acquainted to a clergyman, who will tell a story of one of the heroes of England.
The writing is about a silly person who managed to achieve the top of his fame, making blunders, and about an instructor of the military school who contributed to the elevation of the first in life.
In the title the bitter irony is implied, for such luck doesn't fill us with positive emotions, it makes the reader consternated, for he becomes conscious at any moment the population of the whole country can become a victim of hasty and thoughtless decisions of powerful people.
So sarcasm is felt in the affected admiration: "What a fascination there is in a renowned name!" The use of adverbs "suddenly" and "forever" in the sentence "…his name shot suddenly to the zenith from a Crimean battlefield, to remain forever celebrated" is also the evidence of the feigned delight.
The author raises a social problem and exposes the stupidity of society in which "not wisdom, but luck rules over our lives." (Cicero)
The plot of the story begins with the assertion: "he's an absolute fool", then come series of complication:
"He went through on that purely superficial 'cram' ";
"he took the first prize at Maths";
"He was actually gazetted to a captaincy";
"down went our colonel … Scoresby was next in rank".
The climax is likely to be: "An entire and unsuspected Russian army in reserve". And the denouement is supposed to be the clergyman's conclusion: "Every one of them is the record of some shouting stupidity or other; and, taken together, they are proof that the very best thing in all this world that can befall a man is to be born lucky".
Analysis 2.
Mark Twain is one of the most important figures of American life and generally of American culture. By invisible threads he is connected with the process of his country's development, with its national peculiarities and social contradictions and this deep contact goes through the whole of his creation.
One of his short stories named "Luck" centers round a man who had a success to be born lucky and then it helped him to get to the top of the tree. That's why the subject matter of the story is a role of luck in a human life.
The story made an impression on me to have taken place in real life and the use of proper names and some historical facts contribute to this realistic effect:
Woolwich, London, the Crimean battlefield, the Crimean war, the Russian army.
And the detail that the author withheld the real name and titles of the main character gives the reader the idea that such a person exists in the history.
From the very beginning the major character Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby is portrayed by the author as a very prominent person and he conveys this idea using a synonymic row: "illustrious, renowned".
Generally, the first paragraph of the story describes the significance of the main character, his sublimity over other common people. That is the purpose why the author adheres to periphrases: a demi-god.
Besides, the reader grasps the idea about the narrator's attitude towards this man. This is admiration and worship, so deep and sincere that no more was required to the narrator but to keep silence and have a chance to see this person.
The use of a synonymic row: "scanning, searching, noting" and repetition with polysyndeton "to look, and look and look" - demonstrates the attitude. Moreover, describing the qualities of the major hero the narrator adheres to abstract nouns with a very positive connotation which create an image of a very pleasant and respected person: "the quietness, the reserve, the noble gravity, the simple honesty".
To say more, Scoresby was so unassuming and modest, that couldn't realize his greatness, and to underline this fact the author makes use of anaphoric repetition: "the sweet consciousness of his greatness, unconsciousness of the hundreds of eyes, unconsciousness of the worship".
These stylistic devices and also the use of epithets "noble, simple, deep, loving, sincere, admiring, sweet" help to arouse in the reader the same feelings, emotions, attitudes that the narrator has. But on the other hand, the image of Scoresby seems rather ideal, hyperbolized that can make us suspend, doubt its reality.
And really the author destroys all our illusions concerning this man with the words "Privately - he's an absolute fool", which sound as anticlimax. But we are inclined to believe them as the author convinces us that it's true. The choice of words contributes to this effect: "a man of strict veracity…and his judgment of men was good, beyond doubt or question".
So according to the Reverand's words Scoresby is the embodiment of stupidity which under some lucky circumstances can seem to be genius and exceptionality, rareness.
On the one hand, the narrator demonstrates a correct, true image of Scoresby. The use of synonyms helps to bring the idea out: "stupidity, ignorance"; the repetition: "he didn't know anything"; ordinary repetition of a word "blunders"; periphrases "a wooden-head, this immortal fool, the supremest ass".
But on the other hand his stupidity was compensated by a great deal of luck that it shocked the Reverand who knew Scoresby's abilities exactly, and he couldn't believe this fact. The use of anaphoric repetition: "he went through with flying colors on examination day, he went through on that purely superficial cram" - contributes to describing that emotional state of the Reverand.
With the same purpose the author makes a choice of words: "it was made reel".
He couldn't believe that a person can be so lucky in life because it looked rather incredible. The author brings this to the reader's notice using antithesis "by some strangely lucky accident - an accident not likely to happen twice in a century" and using epithet "this phenomenal and astonishing luckiness".
We can say that the character of Scoresby enjoys the sympathy of the Reverand and the reader. At the beginning the narrator says about him, using epithet "He was evidently good and sweet and lovable and guileless". And the use of polysyndeton contributes to the effect that nothing negative can be said about this person. The narrator repeats this sentence at the end of the story and we grasp that his attitude towards Scoresby didn't change at all.
Such a person can arouse only a feeling of pity, a desire to help him, to support and the Reverand wasn't an exception. He even tries to justify his actions by these feelings: "it was exceedingly painful to see him, a harmless act of charity, I resolved to make his death as easy as I could".
But at the same time he felt guilty and miserable and the allusion to Frankenstein completely explains his emotional state: he felt as if he created a human creature dangerous for other people and that country.
"Nobody knows" by sherwood anderson
The story under the title "Nobody Knows" was written by an outstanding American writer Sherwood Anderson, well-known for using implication, the style of sober realism and depicting strange characters in his works, the most famous from which is his book "Winesburg, Ohio".
The main character of the story is George Willard, a man who tries to court a young lady - Louise Trunnion. The whole story depicts a short period of time, so the author lets us trace all the events.
From the very beginning we see that George wasn't in love with Louise, though it may seem so. He wanted to visit her, but doubted: "all day he had been trying to make up his mind to go through with the adventure". A number of nouns and adjectives like "in the darkness", "pitch dark" convey his state of being nervous, and intensify his doubts, preparing the reader for further events. "There had been no decision", "He didn't dare think" - those short sentences show his fear and confidence, and the author proves it: "In his mind there was a fear". Even when he met her, his fear didn't leave him.
The sentence given by the author makes everything clear: "The whispered tales concerning her that had gone about town gave him confidence". She was a mere prostitute and George wanted nothing but her: "He became wholly the male, bold and aggressive". Love was out of the question: "In his heart there was no sympathy for her".
Realizing all this we can formulate the problem tackled by the author - in their wishes people are contemptible, though desiring to stay clear face to face. To prove it we can mention the fact that George Willard thought over his adventure the whole day, but on his way to Louise he tried to avoid all people passing him in the street.
So, summing up all we know about Sherwood Anderson and his characters we can say that the controlling idea of the story conveyed by the author sounds like this - people want to get rid of their loneliness, want to find support and warmth in others, but the discrepancy between their dreams and reality is too large.
If to speak about the story, it's told in the 3rd person narrative and interlaced with descriptive passages. The prevailing mood of the story is rather pessimistic, as we for example come across the town drunkard lying asleep on the ground, and there's nothing bright in the life of town inhabitants.
The composition of the story isn't complicated. The introduction lets us enter in the course of events and acquaints us with the character. The development of the plot is seen in the meeting of George with Louise. And the culminating point begins with the sentence "A flood of words burst from George Willard". In the denouement the pair walks along narrow bride sidewalks, as if nothing has happened.
It would be wise to mention here that even the title of the story helps us to draw the conflict between a man and society - nobody knows what's going on in my inner world, nobody cares what I am in this world.
As for me, I find the story quite deep and thought-provoking, making us reestimate our values in this life.
"One stair up" by campbell nairne
I've engaged in the interpretation of the text "One Stair Up" written by Campbell Nairne, a Scottish novelist. Though admittedly the function of prose is to entertain, the author explicitly conveyed a message about the life of Edinburgh working-class families. At the beginning of our century readers had unflagging interest to the subject matter, which was brought here into sharp focus. The writer gave the detailed delineation of cinema-world, as a favourite pastime of representatives of the working-class. I'm thoroughly persuaded that the title of the story is suggestive and thought-provoking. I shaped the idea in words: some people are not content to live in obscurity, and Rosa's aim was to go even one stair up in the world by hook or by crook.
To my mind, two methods of character-sketch were employed in the text: direct and indirect. It goes without saying the indirect way of character drawing predominates here. The author didn't pass judgements on his figures, but let them speak for themselves and they became clear through their own actions. Several times we came across the protagonists' stream of consciousness. These passages written in non-personal direct speech give us the opportunity to know for sure what main images really thought and in what way they did it, in other words, they help the reader to get psychological insight into main characters' inner world. [#1 p99] Here I grasped the idea, that Andrew was shy, diffident, was afraid of being offended and was accustomed to Rosa's being hard on him. If the author is unintrustive, doesn't impose his views on the reader, but lets him form his own attitude, Rosa traced into Andrew's inner world, passed judgements on him which showed signs of bias against him. [#2 p101] But we couldn't trust her version, because subjective opinions are unreliable.
Campbell's books are characterized by realism and a fine style, a peculiar lay-out of the language can take the reader's fancy. While reading the extract we can point out incalculable instances of usage of learned words, professionalisms and colloquialisms and on this account we draw a conclusion, that the author selected words with respect to their subtle and delicate shades of meaning. The writer applied to professionalisms such as: a salon, the bull's eye, circle, the stage apron - in order he might give the fictional world of cinema a concrete visual quality. We must confess he succeeded in it. The writer's choice of vocabulary is admirable and precise. The employment of different formal words as "treading, dim region of luxury, voluptuous stillness" conveys the idea that Rosa was unaccustomed to richness, her nerves were strained, sensation-acute, she adored that world. In order the reader might grasp this idea, the author applies to the periphrases [... , the e..., and the s...]. Besides they assist him to create just that picture which Rosa perceived. In addition, we can say that the author laid emphasis on her social background in a way. As well as colloquialisms, elliptical phrases in speech of both characters draw the reader's attention to the fact that they were illiteral, inhabitants of slums. So non-standard language was used to add depth to all this and we can say lexis suggests something about the nature of the subject matter.
In the text we come across the piece of advice. The author shows in what way films were advertised in order to hold the picture-goer with a firm grip. The use of metaphors and epithets is dictated by nothing other but considerations of maximum expressivity. [#3] This extract proves the idea that clever advice are temptations to spend money. Nairne Campbell possessed a sense of humor. The reader feels that this passage is permitted with irony. Parallel constructions, anaphora lay certain cadence. [#4 p100] This and case of anticlimax [#5 p100] lead to ironical effect.
The extract consists of the explosion, the story, the climax and the denouement. I consider the delineation of the cinema-house to the scene setting paragraph. I think the sentence [#6 p101] is the moment of the highest tension, a real landmark in the story. And the passage where Rosa shared her impression can be regarded to my mind as the denouement.
"Running for governor" by mark twain
"Running for Governor" appears to be an excellent example of Mark Twain's talent of a humorist and satirist.
Electoral tricks that can be accepted as a subject matter, throw light on situation in American politics, where everything can be done to achieve one's aim and every service is involved in the dirty game. Get elected tends to be the goal for the sake of which one can overstep one's principles, lives at others, buy everything and everybody.
Surely, Mark Twain doesn't underscore the corruption of the politicians pointblank, but it's his satire that concentrates the reader's attentions on the filthy ways of how to get round the law and to remain a good reputation at the same time.
Right from the beginning we get involved in the preelectoral race where the narrator is the main aspirant to the post. The narrator and the author coincide, this and the fact that the story is told in the first person narrative bring us close to Mark Twain and we take his point of view and believe him or at least sympathize with him.
Thus, when he comes across unfair charges with numerous crimes such as perjury, wholesome bribery, theft, corruption, we appreciate the events from his viewpoint.
Moreover it's clear as a day - accusations are exaggerated. [Hyperbole - "to rob a poor native widow and her helpless family of a meager plantain-patch, their only stay and support in their bereavement and desolation", "they have been endorsed and re-endorsed by his own eloquent silence"].
Surely, there are hints that remind of some bits of truth, "three long years had passed over my head since I had tasted ale, beer, wine, liquor of any kind." But the point is who has never been mistaken? Moreover, let bygones be bygones.
As a result, such a great stream of charges washed away all the grounds on which Mark Twain was running for Governor, and what's more important, his wish and self-assurance to go on in politics.
Thus, his opponents got rid of him.
Highly-emotional style - the word choice (a lot of colloquialisms)
Contrast b/n his replicas and the articles
Graphical means of emplaning some facts
"The girls in their summer dresses" by irwin shaw
The American writer Irwin Shaw is known as a bright connoisseur of stylistics. His style is called conscientious and resembling. Hemingway's one, that is concerning realism, method of iceberg when the message is contained in simple forms, simple syntax and so on. The short story "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" is a vivid example of Irwin Shaw's style of writing. The plot of the story centers round a young couple who once touched upon the topic of sex relations and this talk could change their life. The subject matter of the story is relationship of men and women / man's position to the way of living.
First and foremost I want to say that to me the story is marked with realistic description of the events. And an extensive use of proper names contributes to creating a realistic atmosphere: "Fifth Avenue, Washington Square, Eighth Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Radio City, Fourty Fourth Street, Ohio."
So, in other words, the story makes an impression to be a concrete representation of actual life in New York City.
Besides, the setting is important for an additional effect. It symbolizes the emotional state of the major characters, Frances and Michael. Revealing a bright, vivid day full of hopes and dreams, the author adheres to the repetition of a noun "sun" and its derivatives: "Sunday, sunlight"; and the choice of words: "mild wind, warm, shining quiet"; that help to see a psychological parallelism between the characters and nature around them. It shows that this couple feels at this moment nothing but happy, joyful, serene, as they have an opportunity to be a part of this wonderful life. Besides, such a stylistic device as alliteration of the sound [w] produces the effect of infinite peace of mind, tranquility, characteristic for absolutely happy, pleased people and such were the major characters:
"they walked toward Washington Square, walking slowly, quiet"
But from the very beginning the author proves to reader that these relationships are more important, more significant for a wife, Frances. The reader grasps the idea that Frances really feels a deep and pure love toward her husband. The use of anaphoric repetition and parallel constructions serves to convey to the reader woman's attitude, emotions:
"I want to go out with my husband all day long. I want him to talk only to me and listen only to me."
And Frances' emotional state, her feeling of happiness to be near a dearly loved person predetermines the romantic mood. The writer conveys this dreaming romantic atmosphere using a gradation:
"First let's go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... We can take the bus down to Radio City ... And later we'll go down to Cavanaugh's ... and after that there's a French picture ..."
But then the phrase "say, are you listening to me?" (anticlimax) destroys this thrilled mood as if coming down to earth. This phrase is considered a crucial moment when the author reveals the change of the atmosphere, from pleasant to a tense one. And Michael tries to return the previous state of things to hush up that unpleasant moment. The author brings this to the reader's notice using polysyndeton:
"God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field."
But nevertheless the situation is different: gloomy, tense and disillusioned. The choice of words helps to bring this idea out: "said flatly, walked without talking, her tone a good imitation".
Moreover, the author reveals the essence of the hidden problem gradually, step by step. The first step was to show that Frances doesn't believe in Michael's serious attitude toward her and their marriage. The repetition of the phrase "All right!" underlines that Frances got tired of some unnecessary explanations of her husband.
The second step is Michael's phrase "I remember the hat" which, to tell the truth, stuck me, because I expected a phrase "I remember the look". But this only sentence points out, in my opinion, that Frances was only one of the girls Michael liked and she didn't signify anything special for him.
At the third step the author reveals Michael's attitude to women in general. First of all it is admiration: he says about them in the superlative degree: "the best furs, the best clothes, the handsomest women."
Then it is their significance in his life. The use of anaphoric repetition "I like the girls/ women" demonstrates properly that women took a great place in Michael's heart and that he lived in order to see the girls and nothing or nobody could change his nature.
Special thanks for analysis to: Сафиуллина Гульнара /г.Набережные Челны/
"The two faces" by henry james
The story under consideration is called "The Two Faces" written by Henry James. It describes the life of a high society and its members, who are hypocritical and artificial under their beautiful clothes.
One of the members of its society is Mrs. Grantham, the main character of the story. She is introduced as a woman of an extreme beauty and clever mind. The author compares her with "prima donna assoluta".
Shirley Sutton, her lover, said to her: "You are looking lovely for him… But that's enough. Don't be clever. These words prove the fact that beautiful women aren't supposed to be clever. Mrs.Grantham had the combination of these two features and was well aware of it. She was shrewd enough to revenge herself upon her ex-lover, Lord Gwyther, who had come to her on an errand to ask Mrs. Grantham to introduce his wife to the society. Lord Gwyther, in his turn, put his wife at stake. He longed for being admitted in the society with the help of Mrs. Grantham. But she turned out to be not that of silly beautiful woman. She made use of her position and made Mrs. Gwyther look awkward in the society. To emphasize this the author uses simile: "overloaded like a monkey in a show".
Shirley Sutton, perhaps, was one of the few who noticed the innocence of Mr. Gwyther and "the face which went to the heart". For the first time he was able to see the inner beauty of the woman, but not only the inner magnificence, which he used to admiring in the society and saw in Mrs. Grantham.
The title of the story is symbolical. Under "The Two Faces" are understood on the one hand Mrs. Grantham and her outer beauty, and on the other hand Mrs. Gwyther, a young, inexperienced, pure girl, who possessed the heart and soul and didn't suit the society of hypocrisy.
To my way of thinking, the idea of the story is the following: only some people can be admitted to the society, where the inner world of the man means nothing, but the beauty and the clothes are valued.
"Unlighted lamps" by sherwood anderson
NB: Анализ не полный, нет заключения, также можно заменить идею, и разобрать имеющиеся примеры из текста.
The story under the title "Unlighted Lamps" was written by an outstanding American writer Sherwood Anderson, known for his deep and thought-provoking stories, the most known from which is his book "Winesbourgh, Ohio".
The story "Unlighted Lamps" describes a crisis which was breaking out in the family of the Cochrans. Doctor Lester Cochran, the father, told his daughter Mary that he was a victim of heart disease and might die at any moment. And it was time for her to begin thinking seriously of her future.
The idea conveyed by the author is that having your own family you must take care of it, show all your tenderness and love for the members of your family, because they are a part of your heart. The conflict of the story lies between the father and the daughter: their calm relationships, their inability to say to each other tender words.
Even the title of the story "Unlighted Lamps" makes us think that there left unlighted lamps in the street of their life, that there're things which aren't finished, the words which aren't said. We can prove this idea mentioning lots of arguments. The first is that her father told her about his disease without any preliminary talk and quite suddenly and abruptly - he wasn't accustomed to telling his daughter tender words, it was a difficult step for him.
Besides, the author gives a sentence "a hunger to be touched by a man's hand had come to Mary many times before, and returned at the same moment her father made the announcement" - strikes the eye.
Thus the author gives us one more argument proving the idea of her lack of tenderness and love.
Reading the story we come across such phrases of bookish style as - made the announcement, pronouncements on the part of the experts, dread took possession of her, etc.
Such epithets and metaphors as "the hushed murmur of the town's Saturday night life", "the hotel bus came rattling", "a cloud of dust floated on the quiet air", "street was lined with buggies", "the evening of shopping and gossip" used by the author replace us from the Cochrans to the evening town. These descriptive passages let us follow the author's point of view. He showed that the life in the town went on with its pace, and Mary really had to think of her future.
- Dr. Cochran told his daughter of his approaching death in a cold quiet voice. To her it seemed that everything concerning her father must be cold and quiet.
- He wanted to put his arm about his daughter's shoulder, but never having shown any feeling in his relations with her he couldn't sufficiently release some tight thing in himself.
- In all her life there had never been anything warm and close.
Even Duke Yetter who was a man in the street couldn't be aware of the dread and scare in Mary's heart. Thus the author showed the loneliness of Mary in the whole world, though her father loved her, and of course she did as well.
"What was it?" by fitz-james o'brien
The story "What Was It?" was written by Fitz-James O'Brien, who combined elements of mysticism and real facts in his books.
In the story we also deal with other questions: What do you consider to be the greatest element of terror? What might it [a King of Terrors] be?
They bring us to the subject matter - fear, which is the fruit of our mind, imagination. So the narrator highlights the man-against-himself conflict, when a person's mind gives birth to his/her fears against his/her own will.
As for the structure of the work, it begins with the exposition, for the author gives background information about the house, which "has enjoyed … the reputation of being haunted". This image is supported owing to the garden, "which is now only a green enclosure used for bleaching clothes", "the dry basin", "fruit trees ragged and unpruned".
The movement of Mrs. Moffat's company to the house is also a part of the exposition, then series of complication come: "Our dinner conversation was supernatural", thus its participants live in the presentiment of evil.
The second complication is "What do you consider to be the greatest element of terror", as this question provokes reflection. A case of comparison in the sentence "I feel as if I could write a story like Hoffman", who is famous for his fairy-tales, increases the mysticism of that evening.
The examples of intensifier in the sentence "The room was in total darkness", "of personification in "The confounded themes touched on by Hammond in the garden kept obtruding themselves on my brain" and "They still crowded upon me", of comparison in "I was lying still as a corpse…" and the unusual graphic writing in "A something dropped" lead the reader to the moment of heightened tension.
So the climax is: Then I turned to look at my captive … I saw nothing! "I saw nothing!" is the cry of the terror-stricken soul.
There is one more sentence which is rather interesting from the point of view of form and content: "This thing has a heart that palpitates - a will that moves it - lungs that play and inspire and respire."
This parallel construction hints that this thing lives inside a human being.
The story ends with the denouement: "At last it [the Mystery] died."
So the idea is that everything depends on a person if he/she gives birth to his fear or "manacle" it and becomes free from it. And the narrator's answer to Mrs. Moffat proves that: "We decline taking this creature [fear] with us. Remove it yourself if you please. It appeared in your house [mind, imagination]. On you the responsibility rests.
"Wild swans" by alice munroe
The story for analysis is called "Wild Swans" by Alice Munro. The plot centres around a girl who travels to Toronto and loses her virginity. The main characters of the story are Rose, Flo and the Minister.
Flo is nearly middle-aged woman. We learn this fact owing to the phrase "Special stockings for Flo's varicose veins". She isn't well-educated, that's why there are colloquial words in her speech: "whores", "men egged them on" etc. But she is very experienced. "She worked as a waitress in a coffee-shop in Union Station. That was how she knew all she knew. She never saw sunlight... But she saw plenty else. She saw a man cut another man's stomach with a knife, as if it was a watermelon... She saw two bad women, running the two words together like badminton... She saw a child die of a fit, too. Its face was black as ink."
The parallel constructions "I saw..." are used to prove Flo was not young. She experienced the negative sides of our life and the similes emphasize cruelty of our world. Flo doesn't cherish an illusion that viruses exist. She says to Rose: "Watch up for people dressed up as ministers. They were worst." And "The police would be the first ones to didile you".
"Well, I'm not scared," said Rose provokingly. She didn't believe anything Flo said on the subject of sex". Owing to the sentences it becomes clear that Rose is rather naive, she is under an illusion the good will defeat the evil. That's why she says: "There's the police anyway". The epithet "provokingly" and her reluctance to believe Flo's words say about her age. The spirit of contradiction (defiance) is peculiar to the teenagers.
As for their relationships we can say they are close, Flo and Rose are relatives. The older woman takes care of the girl, that's why she "took ten dollars and put it in a little cloth bag which she sewed to the strap of Rose's slip". Moreover, Flo tried to warn her against the dangers in Toronto. But Rose was just a self-assured teenager who believed that her swallowed dictionaries had made her ready for reality. That's why she was "extraordinary happy" when "she felt Flo receding". As any teenager she was curious and she wanted to enjoy independent life.
As for the minister, he became an entrance to the world of adults. He was a person who started to frustrate the girl's illusions, her stereotypes.
Concerning the structure of the text, we deal with exposition, where we learn about Flo, Rose and the relationships between them. The complication begins with the sentence "The train was fitting up and ... a man asked..." so something new starts to fill up Rose; a man appears in her life.
The culmination point is: "Her legs were never going to open. But they were. They were". The repetition shows the incandescence of Rose's feelings. She has just experiences the internal conflict: "She had a considerable longing to be somebody's object. Pounded, pleasured, reduced, exhausted". The climax conveys her temptation to cognize the world of adults - on the one hand; on the other hand her fear is expressed in the phrase "Please don't". The curiosity wins and we go to the denouement: "She thought it would be an especially fine thing... to enter on preposterous adventures in your own, but newly named, skin".
So we can say the story is about the metamorphosis of the cygnet who has been under her relatives guardianship (domestic) and changed into an independent (wild) beautiful wild swan.
The idea is we shouldtn't be afraid of cruel reality. If we want to live a full life, we have to do everything to gain our aim, but not wish to live in a fool's paradise.
"W.S." by leslie poles hartley
NB: Анализ не полный, нет заключения.
Leslie Poles Hartley, an English novelist and the son of a solicitor was educated at Oxford's College and for more than twenty years he was a fiction viewer for magazines. He wrote many novels and made a good contribution to English fiction. According to his novels films were casted. Hartley was a highly skilled narrator and we can see that in his literary work "W.S.".
The main character of the story - Walter Streeter - gets one after the other four postcards with messages from anonymous and starts thinking them over. At first he was glad that he didn't have to answer them as a writer should grudge time and energy for that. He even tore the first two postcards away. But later it became so important for him that he pondered over this and nothing else. He avoided making new acquaintances and had many difficulties with his work over new book. He tried to write but the words came haltingly, as though contending with an extra-strong barrier of self-criticism. The third postcard wasn't burnt, Walter kept it. And only here it struck him that the initials of the postcard sender and his were the same. An idea came to Walter that perhaps he was writing those letters to himself. There were many questions and no answers. From the fourth postcard Walter found out that the sender was coming nearer and is eager to meet Walter. We can feel sympathetic attitude of the author towards Walter. A wave of panic surged up in Walter. And we can guess here Walter Streeter was afraid of that meeting. He'd like to avoid it, because he understood from the last postcards that W.S. wasn't satisfied with his last literary work. W.S. was saying he almost lived in those novels but he didn't like them any more.
Who was that W.S.? Taking all the facts into consideration we can say there wasn't anyone except Walter. And he - Walter had a split personality. He couldn't find all the shortcomings of his novels ,so he thought someone another had to help him. And W.S. was invented. Certainly we should know that Walter Streeter didn't control himself completely, that's why he couldn't know about it.
Let's see what devices the author used. The first one which strikes the eye is anaphora. It's used very widely in order to improve emphasis on some facts:
"You have always been interested in Scotland, and that is one reason why I am interested in you."
"But the words came haltingly, as though contending with an extra-strong barrier of self-criticism. And as the days passed he became uncomfortably aware of self-division, as though someone had taken hold of his personality and was pullling it apart."
"I know you are interested in cathedrals. I'm sure this isn't sign of megalomania... I'm seeing a good many churches on my way south..."
"It was true that Walter Streeter was interested in cathedrals... And it was also true that he admired mere size and was inclined to under-value parish churches."
"And was it really a sign of megalomania? And who was W.S. anyhow?"
"They were Gilbert's, they were Maugham's, they were Shakespeare's ..."
"He tried to put the thought away from him; he tried to destroy the postcard as he had the others."
Besides we can meet such an epithet in the text:
"November fire - makes us be closer to the time everything happened"
Metaphor: "fruitful conflict" - makes us guess the words and the deeds following the conflict.
A beautiful antithesis as "perfection of ordinariness" doesn't let us calm to Walter's style.
The author uses simile with skill: "A woman, a little mouse-like creature, who had somehow taken a fancy to him!"
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