II. Questions and Topics for Analysis

1. What unusual visitor did Dixon have?

2. What was the subject of their conversation?

3. How does Bertrand’s conversation with Dixon characterize them both?

4. Why did the news broken by Michie pain Dixon?

5. Read and translate the paragraph “When Michie …. evening” (p. 240-241).

6. What kind of audience attended Dixon’s lecture?

7. Speak of Gore-Urquhart and his attitude to Dixon and the people present.

8. Read and translate the paragraphs “Gore-Urquart looked … hiding?” (p. 245-246).

9. Whom did Dixon speak about before giving his lecture?

10. How did Dixon feel before the lecture? Why?

III. Focus on Writing

1. Write a brief comment on the paragraph “Dixon … game” (p. 250).

2. Write the summary of chapters 20, 21.

3. Define the plot of the chapters, their tone, settings and characters.

IV. Focus on Text Analysis

Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. Asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a laboured account (e.g. He was a good friend, person, man, companion, human being).

Polysyndeton is structurally opposite of asyndeton, as it is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, clause. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton is similar to that of asyndeton, the former gives a feeling of energetic enumeration, multiplicity, building up emotions (e.g. They read and studied and write and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked).

Parallelism is a recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equally important. Parallelism adds balance and rhythm as well as clarity to the sentence. It should be noted that any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (e.g. To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals).

Chiasmus is called “reverse parallelism” as the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced/ paralleled by the first part, but in reverse order. Thus, the structure A, B is chiastically followed by B, A. The parallel sentence “What is now great was at first little” can be transformed into chiastic sentence “What is now great was little at first”.

Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it (e.g. What behaviour, then, is uniquely human? My theory is … (H.J. Cambell).

Rhetorical question (erotesis) differs from hypophora in that it is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually a yes or no. Rhetorical questions are used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand (e.g. … For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the good of living on? – Mark Aurelius).

Speak on syntax peculiarities of the chapters. Define the effect its specificity produce on the text perception.