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A Defensive Diamond

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The short story under analysis written by Saki and entitled 'A Defensive Diamond' begins with a description of Treddleford, a member of a club who wants to spend a bleak October evening reading an interesting book. However, Amblecope, another member of the club, wants to involve him in a typical club conversation, which Treddleford finds boring. Amblecope starts talking about three different topics, and every time Treddleford interrupts him with a fantastic story on the same theme. Finally, Amblecope gives up and leaves him alone. After half an hour of reading Treddleford comes across Amblecope at a doorway. Amblecope tries to go first, but Treddleford waves him back, because he thinks he is superior now.

At the beginning the mood of the text is rather dull and monotonous, but peaceful, which is achieved by using suitable epithets like 'easeful arm-chair', 'slumberous fire', then the sound of the rain outside is added with the help of alliteration: 'the rain was dripping and pattering with persistent purpose'. Besides, a repetition 'a chill, wet October afternoon was merging into a bleak, wet October evening' enhances the monotony, adding also a humorous note. First two sentences contain antithesis: the rainy weather outside and the cosy atmosphere of the club smoking-room as well as a boring real life and a dreamlike life in the book of verse are contrasted to show us that at that moment there is nothing more desirable for Treddleford than to immerse himself in reading. Even the metaphor 'he had already migrated to Bagdad' shows that.

The general atmosphere is rather humorous. The author achieves it by using metaphors, antithesis, understatement. For example, when Amblecope comes to Treddleford to start a conversation, he holds a magazine in his hand (he 'was armed with a copy'), which makes us think that for Treddleford this magazine is like a weapon which is going to kill his beautiful evening with a book. This metaphor, probably, gets a continuation after the first story by Treddleford, when Amblecope says that 'some birds take a lot of killing'. In this case Treddleford is considered a bird which takes a lot of killing, or rather involving in a conversation. In fact, we can track some resemblance of all the main animal characters in Treddleford stories to Treddleford himself. He is similar to the giant trout flapping and twisting on bare mud at the bottom of a waterless pool like in the club amoung all its idle members with their meaningless conversations. He is alike to the magnificent Turkestan camel which cannot be forced to 'kneel down in orthodox fashion'. At the end of his last story Treddleford somewhat warns Amblecope that if he does not leave him alone, he may as well get Hagenbeck heart, and Amblecope goes away, defeated.

The author also uses some graphical devices. He capitalizes the word 'beautiful' in a phrase 'from London the rain-swept to Bagdad the Beautiful', which is a common way of writing such constructions, but he does not capitalize the word 'rain-swept' to show the contrast, the abyss between this and that world.

There are also cases of antonomasia in the story. At the end Trebbleford calls Amblecope the club Bore, and himself - the club Liar. By doing this he gives them the titles, the ranks, he arranges who of them is supreme and who is inferior, and all this because of the creative skill of lie, which Trebbleford has and Amblecope does not.

Moreover, there are several cases of understatement such as 'When I say she can't hit a thing, I don't mean to say that she doesn't occasionally endanger the lives of her fellow-guns' and 'without an atom of success', which make the story more expressive and ironical.

The next important thing is the title of the short story. It reflects the nature of Treddleford. Just as diamond refracts the light making it sparkling, Treddleford, defending his right to spend his time as he wants, refracts the boring conversational topics proposed by Amblecope and turns them into shining pieces of art.

In this story Saki expresses his dislike to meaningless club conversation culture, exaggerates the habit of club members to talk only about themselves and shows that lie can be a form of art.
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