 |
Sample III. Stylistic analysis of THE ANGEL OF THE BRIDGE. by John Cheever
|
|
|
|
Sample III
Stylistic analysis of THE ANGEL OF THE BRIDGE
by John Cheever
The text given for lingo-stylistic analysis is written by a prominent American writer John Cheever. The growth of the novelistics of famous American writer comes to 50-60 years of the XX century. In the stories of that period (“The country husband”, “The swimmer”, “The Angel of the Bridge”, “The day the pig fell into the well”) the author has showed himself as a successor of the best traditions of American literature, reflecting the tragedy of every-day life of “small person” in the world of art. John Cheever is a brilliant master of laconic, limpid and capacious prose.
The title of the given text is “The Angel of the Bridge”. This story was firstly published in the magazine “The New Yorker” in October 1961. The story is written in belles-lettres style. By form of narration it is author’s narrative, who is also the main protagonist of the story and we see everything through his point of view. The story is wholly narrative which is rather dynamic and gives continuous accounts of events, but there are also elements of dialogue and description which is rather static and represents a verbal portraiture of the main characters. The setting is laid in America, the main character is very active, he likes to travel and also he has his own business affairs in different American cities, such as, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Albany and Troy.
The main idea of the story is to show that we all are people and everyone has his own phobias and it is difficult to say how they appeared and how they should be treated, but we should try to find the reasons and get over them. The author shows us the main idea through the problems of his own family and, perhaps, he wants to say that this can happen in every family, with every person in this life.
The protagonist has to fly a great deal because of business affairs in different American cities. He has a lot of companions and a lot of errands which he finds humble and terrestrial. One evening his brother calls him and the author invites him for a dinner. It occurs that his brother has fear for elevators. He suffers from this phobia over a year. When the firm he works for moves to the 52nd floor of a new office building, he has to resign. So, he finds another job. One day the protagonist is on his way home with his family, but when they approach a bridge, he feels fear and tries not to show this. Therefore, he has a phobia for bridges. He goes to a doctor who advises him to take hold of himself.
In the end of the story, the main character drives over the bridge feeling fear, as usual, and sees a young woman hitchhiking. He stops the car and the girl gets into it. They have a talk and the girl sings with her beautiful voice. He drives over the bridge and forgets about his phobia. This charming girl is something like an angel who has appeared suddenly in his life on that bridge and has helped him to overcome his fear.
|
|
|
The given extract can be divided into 3 parts:
1) The narrator and his business affairs
In this part the author gives some important facts about his business affairs and describes nature which he admires. The topic- sentence of this part is: “I liked all eastward flights where you can see from the ports the edge of night move over the continent and where, when it is four o'clock by your California watch, the housewives of Garden City are washing up the supper dishes and the stewardess in the plane is passing a second round of drinks”. In this sentence the idea of travelling by business deals is expressed. In this part of the extract the tone is mostly lyrical while describing and admiring the nature.
2) The protagonist’s brother and his phobia for elevators
In this part the author describes his brother, their relations and also gives some information about his brother's problems and phobia. The topic-sentence of this part is: “I’m afraid of elevators - he said miserably”. In this part of the extract the tone used by the author is mostly nervous and sometimes ironical.
3) The protagonist’s phobia for bridges
This part the protagonist devotes to his own problems and it turns out that he has phobia for bridges. The topic-sentence of this part is: “I would be wasting time and money, but, yielding to his obligation to be helpful he gave me the name and address of a psychiatrist, who told me that my fear of bridges was the surface manifestation of a deep-seated anxiety and that I would have to have a full analysis”. At first he has known about his phobia, when he was driving his car, he suddenly felt bad, imagined a disaster, his legs got weak, it became difficult to breathe, his blood pressure was affected and he began to feel a darkening of his vision, and felt fear. In this part of the extract the tone used by the author is mostly depressing, nervous but optimistic at the same time.
The exposition is the moment when the author begins his narration about his life, business, about his family and brother. The key-sentence of the exposition is: “At the time of which I’m writing, I flew a deal myself”. So, this is the moment when the story begins.
The climax is the moment when the main character himself begins to feel bad and understands that he has fear for bridges. The key-sentence of the climax is: “Fear has always seemed to me to run a course, and at its climax body and perhaps the spirit defend themselves by drawing on some new and fresh source of strength. I was afraid both that the bridge would fall down and that they might observe my panic”. But it must be noted that the climax of the given extract doesn't coincide with the climax of the whole stop. In the extract the most important moment is when the main protagonist faces problems himself and after that his life changes, he sees that he is a common person, and as his mother and brother, he has some fears, but his fear is fear for bridges. In the whole story the climax is the moment when the author drives over the bridge and meets a beautiful young lady. She sings to him and he forgets and overcomes his fear for bridges. So, she is an angel, who has appeared on the bridge and helped him.
The denouement of this extract is the moment when the author goes to the doctor and asks for his help. The key-sentence of the denouement is: “I drove back from Albany by some route, and next morning I went to the family doctor and told him I was afraid of bridges”. Though he goes to the doctor, he understands that only he himself can help him or... may be something mysterious.
|
|
|
The characters of the story are: the author himself, his brother, mother, his wife, children, doctor and a young girl. The author is a very interesting person, he is an experienced man, he likes to travel very much, and he has a business. He has a family - a wife and children, whom he loves very much. He is on good relations with his brother. As for his brother, he is a well-bred, intelligent person. He has some problems, and also is afraid of elevators. He has to give up his job because of his phobia and finds another job that suits him. The doctor, whom the author applies, doesn't give advice and, in my opinion, he is not a professional, because he has said that we all are people with our problems and fears, but he didn't even try to help his patient and to find the reasons of his phobia. That's why the author decides to try and muddle through.
The given extract is rich in stylistic devices.
Cases of anaphora: “I’m writing... I flew... I sometimes travelled... ” reveal that the main hero is a successive person.
Enumeration “... in Rome, New York, San Francisco... ” shows that he travelled in different places and knew many interesting things.
In parallel constructions with cases of anaphora is felt gradation: “I liked the flying. I liked the incandescence of the sky at high altitudes”.
In the next sentence the author opposes different people and their professions with the help of antithesis: “... the housewives of the garden City are washing their dishes and the stewardess in the plane is passing a second round of drinks”.
Metaphors and epithets: “stale air”, “the gold thread in the upholstery scratches your cheeks”, “... a momentary feeling of forlornness”, “a sulky and childish sense of estrangement” – help the author to describe his inner feeling through the nature.
Epithets “humble and terrestrial errands” reflect author’s attitude to his business affairs.
Cases of detachment “…flying over the North pole, ... ”; “... flying westward one dark night... ” give us additional information about travelling of the author.
In the sentence “... we had crossed the Continental Divide, but we were still an hour out Los Angeles and had not begun our descent, and were at such an altitude that the sense of houses, cities, and people below us were lost …” polysyndeton and suspense show that the author has a lot of things to say and tries to give as much information as possible.
Gradation and simile “... I saw a formation, a trace of light, like the lights that bum along a shore” help us to see everything through author's eyes and to feel the way he feels.
Catch-repetition “... along a shore. There was no shore... ” is used by the author to connect different sentences and ideas at the same time in the text.
Metaphors “this hoop of light”, “a gentle hint at my own obsolescence”, “the lateness of my time of life” show the inner world of the main character and his troubles.
Simile and detachment “... and at that velocity and height – like the emergence of a new world” show the beauty of the nature and the way the author admires it.
Detachment and metaphor “... a pleasant feeling, completely free of regret, of being caught in some observable midpassage... ” reflect the spirit of the author at that moment.
Cases of detachment “my older brother – her darling – who has... ” “my brother – I had not seen him for a year or so – called.. . ” give us additional information about the relations in the author 's family between two brothers.
|
|
|
Enumeration and zeugma “... who was to inherit her resoluteness, her stubbornness, her table silver, and some of her eccentricities” reveals that mother loved author’s brother more than him and she has some hopes for him and this fact the author finds ironical.
Cases of simile “... he gaped like a runner”, “... his vision of the buildings of New York banging against one another like ninepins as they fell to the earth”; detachment “I laughed... I guess... ” and oxymoron “terribly funny” show the way author’s brother felt himself because of his phobia and the author's thoughtless attitude to it.
Cases of metaphor “a strain of jealously in our feelings”, “... I had taken a stunning lead in the race for honors... ”, “... at the bottom of our relationship” and polysyndeton “... another and I am aware... more money and has more... than I and to see him... at the same time and in spite” give the real picture of relations between two brothers, they compete with each other.
Epithets “he is the oldest, he is the favorite, my poor old brother”, “an intelligent, civilized, and well-dressed man” and cases of anaphora “He is... he is... He stopped... he had been suffering... He was going... he said” help us to imagine his brother.
Epithets “prosperous fear exaggerated scrutiny; morbid nervousness clear and windless dag a small, old-fashioned bridge, senseless and invisible barriers” are used to describe author’s feelings and his attitude to the things happen around him.
Metaphors “a ruin of absurd delusion”, “the street might appear to be a torrent and the approaching cab driven by the angel of the death”.
Cases of anaphora “I could feel... I thought... I felt the roadway... I could see no signs of a collapse... I was convinced.. I was not sure... I could break the car... I needed to... I seem able... I began to feel... ” show the state in which the author was while driving his ear and how terrible he felt himself because of his fear for bridges.
Elliptical sentences “You, of all people. You’d better take hold of yourself” make the speech between the main protagonist and doctor true-to-life and easy to understand.
The vocabulary used by the author is mostly neutral (time, day, month, floor, world, watch, etc. ), but there are words belonging to business sphere(business, deal, money, office, companions, errands, etc. ), travelling (flight, plain, trip, travelling, car, paths, ticket, apartment, etc. ), nature(rocks, sky, shore, desert, bluff, mountain, light, obscurity, etc. ). Toponyms (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Albany and Troy). Words describing psychological state of person and the way it can be treated (feeling, forlornness, estrangement, anxieties, fear, phobia, strain, composure, suffer, delusions, scrutiny, nervousness, memory, attack, analyst, doctor, psychiatrist, analysis, methods, etc. ).
As for my opinion, I think that this story is the brilliant example of the author’s genius. Through his own problem and the problems of his family he tries to carry to the readers the idea of human strength and ability to cope with problems. The writer leaves the surface comparatively bare; the meaning is clear and simple. The impression of simplicity which strikes the reader from the first is brought out not only by the plain dialogues and interesting plot but by the expressiveness and beauty of the language itself.
Sample IV
Stylistic analysis of THE WRYSONS
by John Cheever
The text under study is an extract from the story “The Wrysons” written by the world known writer J. Cheever who is believed to be an unsurpassed expert on human soles and a real master in the sphere of creating true-to-life portraits of typical representatives of our society.
|
|
|
The given text, a short story by genre, embodies all the peculiar characteristics of Cheever’s manner of writing. The same can be definitely said about the central problem raised by the author – the problem of human blindness, reluctance to see farther than one’s nose, the problem of social estrangement, thus combining both social and psychological slants. The author with all his skillful manner manages to create the image of the family, quite ordinary at first sight, all the members of which have completely gone into their shell, being disinterested in the outer world, other people, their problems or hardships, concentrated fully on their own little world, trying to avoid any interference which can ruin the fixed way of life (“The Wrysons wanted things in the suburb to remain exactly as they were; their dread of change was acute”, etc. )
There is no doubt that the action depicted by the author in the story takes place in America in the suburb of Shady Hill as there are direct indicators of place throughout the narration (Proper names: Shady New York, Middle West etc. prove the fact).
The story runs about the typical family that can possibly live in any corner of the world. The members of the family seem to lead a restricted way of life trying not to let a stranger or just an unknown person enter the little world of their own. Being shallow and quite narrow-minded people by nature, they take no interest in the intellectual life of the community they live in. Nevertheless under the mask of visible commonness each member of the family conceals some oddness of his own. Thus the mother of the family lives with a constant fear of a hydrogen bomb exploding by mischance in their neighborhood, while her husband can’t get rid of his childish emotional experiences connected with his mother’s heightened concern for him. So in the daytime these people lead their habitual way of life hiding their fears even from each other while at night they continue fighting with dreadful fears.
As it has already been mentioned, the author manages to create the characters of the story with a great vividness and fidelity to life. Such a realistic portrayal of human beings, combining at the same time with the author’s consummate mastery of sarcasm in depicting people’s vices, contributes to the fact that each reader is sure to recognize some features of his own or people he meets in his everyday life.
The very title of the text suggests the idea of its contents. It’s clear right from the start that the protagonist of the story is not a single person but a family (The Wrysons) taken as the whole. The author’s attitude towards the Wrysons is obvious; he doesn’t sympathize with these people at all, considering them shallow, narrow-minded people, concentrated completely on their everyday needs and concerns, taking no part in the intellectual life of the community. They are people who have closed completely in their own shell and are dreadfully afraid of any changes, which can ruin a habitual way of life. The sentences employed by the author to characterize his heroes prove the fact:
“Wrysons wanted things in the suburb to remain exactly as they were”; “their dread of change–of irregularity of any sort –was acute”; “The Wrysons’ civic activities were confined to upzoning”; “There was hardly a book in their house”.
Cheever skillfully interlaces sarcasm and cases of irony with the narration, thus expressing his own attitude to the family described: “In a place where even cooks were known to have Picasso reproductions above their washstands, the Wrysons’ taste in painting stopped at marine sunsets and bowls of flowers”. The Wrysons’ dread of change of any sort is underlined by means of the following sentence: “They seemed to sense that there was a stranger at the gates – unwashed, tirelessly scheming, foreign, the father of disorderly children who would ruin their rose garden and depreciate their real estate investment, a man with a beard, a garlic breath, and a book”. With the help of such an ironical description of a hypothetical stranger who is a symbol of fearful changes in the Wrysons’ usual way of life, the author again attracts the reader’s attention to the unattractiveness of these characters (the Wrysons). Besides, the very structure of the sentence, in which we see such words as a beard, a garlic breath (usually creating an unsympathetic image of a person) and the word a book (deserving a high evaluative mark) being combined in one phrase, prompts us the idea of the Wrysons’ ignorance and intellectual backwardness.
|
|
|
Even the very description of the members of the family, Donald and Irene, is given by Cheever in such an ironical, sarcastic and laughter-provoking manner, that a reader can’t help admiring the easiness with which the main characters’ inner world is revealed. In the following sentence: “Donald Wryson was a large man with thinning fair hair and the cheerful air of a bully, but he was a bully only in the defense of rectitude, class distinctions, and the orderly appearance of things” Cheever employs a case of epithet “a large man with thinning fair hair and the cheerful air of a bully”, by means of which we get a pretty good idea of Donald’s appearance and his attitude to life. The whole sentence can be regarded as a bright case of irony (“but he was a bully only in the defense of rectitude, class distinctions, and the orderly appearance of things”). So he is considered to be a rather narrow-minded man who regards any sort of change ruinous.
The double negation in the sentence describing Irene Wryson “Irene Wryson was not a totally unattractive woman... ” contributes to the author’s sarcastic view on this personage. As for the Epithets used in Irene’s description (shy, contentious) and a case of detachment (“but she was shy and contentious – especially contentious on the subject of upzoning”), these devices again contribute to the idea that Irene is a shallow person whose outlook includes a very narrow circle of questions connected mostly with practical economic interests. The same idea is rather vividly indicated by means of the following sentences, describing the Wrysons’ way of life: “They led a limited social life; they seemed to have no ambitions or needs in this direction, although at Christmas each year they sent out about six hundred cards. The preparation and addressing of these must have occupied their evenings for at least two weeks”. So through such a bright sarcastic description, the Wrysons are depicted as the slaves of conventions, who try to observe proprieties under any circumstances.
The author also employs a case of Similie “Donald had a laugh like a jackass.. . ” in order to reveal Donald’s inner unpleasantness through some outer manifestations of his appearance or behavior. The whole idea of the Wrysons’ comes to two bright Epithets: stiff and inflexible in the sentence “the Wrysons were stiff; they were inflexible”. With a help of these cases of Epithet, the Wrysons are described as the people of old formation, whose views on life are so stiff and inflexible that anything which contradicts these views or brings something new and totally unknown, is regarded by them as dangerous and ruinous: “They seemed to experience not distaste but alarm when they found quack grass in their lawn or heard of a contemplated divorce among their neighbors”. So the Wrysons are presented as quite ordinary representatives of human society until the author starts to dwell on their oddness: “They were odd, of course. They were not as odd as... But why go on? They were odd”. Cheever describes in details Irene and Donald’s oddness; he mentions the fact that each of them keeps his oddness in secret, though this costs much energy and effort. In the middle of the day both of them, Irene and Donald, wear their masks of unruffled calm, while at night each one struggles with his fears. Such behavior testifies to the deep estrangement, which exists between Donald and Irene. The following sentence, given by the author in the form of the Rhetoric question, proves this fact: “And how could she lean across the breakfast table and explain her pallor to her husky husband with this detailed vision of the end of the world? He would have laughed his jackass laugh”. Besides, the sentence presented in the form of Irene’s inner speech “He would have laughed his jackass laugh” contributes much to the idea of misunderstanding in the Wrysons’ family.
In order to stress Irene’s fear of the dream she sees every single day, the author describes her dreadful dream in details, employing largely numerous cases of Epithet “The sky was gray – lightless; the gray air; brown water, etc. ”, some very bright cases of Simile and Metaphor «like those charming vapor trails we see in the air after the sun has set”, “as if the door of medicine cabinet had been a window opening onto some dazzling summer of the emotions”, a number of cases of Enumeration “There were outboards, excursion bouts, yachts, schooners... ”, “cough syrups, calamine lotion, aspirin, and physics”. All these devices intensify the dread of the dream, making it surprisingly true-to-life and therefore even more frightening.
The author also pays much attention to Donald’s dream, describing it in every single detail as well. Right from the start Cheever points out that his terrors were connected with the childhood. The author goes back to Donald’s early days, when he and his mother were abandoned by the father of the family and led a very hard life. This idea is vividly put forward by means of the following sentence: “The most she could do was to keep body and soul together”. The author calls their life “a life of unmitigated melancholy and need”. So the abandoned woman put all her love and care to her only son, developing in him some complexes: “never forgot the horrors of her abandonment, and she leaned so heavily for support on her son that she seemed to threaten his animal spirits». Then the author describes a rather strange pursuit to which the mother and her son devoted their evenings “the only way of evoking these lost times was by giving her son baking lessons”. In order to underline the strangeness of such an occupation for a boy, the author resorts to his favorite device – that is his unsurpassed irony: “Donald would put on an apron... ”, “he learned the contents of every cupboard”. A case of Enumeration “She taught him how to make cookies and muffins and banana bread and, finally, a Lady Baltimore cake” embodies the same idea. Besides, it becomes evident that “a Lady Baltimore cake” becomes a symbol for it serves later as a console for Donald especially at times when he feels depressed and desperate.
Donald’s understanding of his own oddness is expressed with a help of the following case of Detachment: “He went out and bought the ingredients – deeply ashamed of himself – and sifted the flour”. Donald’s emotions are brilliantly manifested in the given sentence: “It was not until he had put the cake in the oven... that he realized how successful he had been in summoning the ghost of his mother and the sense of security he had experienced as a child in her kitchen on stormy nights”. So the complexes brought to life by Donald’s mother excessive care, resulted in the situation when Donald, a grown-up person, the father of the family, couldn’t cope with his depression by himself. The description of Donald’s oddness ends in Rhetoric question: “And how could he at the breakfast table explain that he looked silly because he had been up until three baking a Lady Baltimore cake, which he had hidden in the garbage? ”. By means of this question, the idea of deep estrangement between Donald and his wife is prominently outlined.
Summarizing it all up, Cheever gives his own direct characteristics of the Wrysons, using an eloquent case of Epithet “these not attractive people”, thus making his attitude to the people described in the story quite evident.
Speaking about the peculiarities of the narration, it should be mentioned that the narration consists mostly of the description. So the main distinctive feature of the narration is the absence of any dialogues. Thus the only ways of communication between the characters of the story are the Rhetoric questions. This peculiarity of the text is surely intentional as it contributes to the idea of estrangement between the Wrysons. They seem to live together for a long time and to know each other, but in reality they are complete strangers to each other, they have no idea about each other’s real thoughts, feelings and that, which troubles them. In the description of the Wrysons’ oddness (things that trouble them and make their lives unbearable), the author resorts to the inner speech of the characters to make the narration more intensified and emotional:
“And how could she lean across the breakfast table and explain her pallor to her husky husband with this detailed vision of the end of the world? He would have laughed his jackass laugh”; “And how could he at the breakfast table explain that he looked silly because he had been up until three baking a Lady Baltimore cake, which he had hidden in the garbage? ”
The general tone of narration is sarcastic, as it most expressively signifies the author’s attitude towards the people described, their actions and deeds. The sarcastic tone gets the highest degree when the author dwells on the Wrysons’ passion to upzoning: “The Wrysons civic activities were confined to upzoning, but they were very active in this field, and if you were invited to their house for cocktails, the chances were that you would be asked to sign an upzoning petition before you go away”.
The numerous cases of Irony contribute much to the tone of narration: “In a place where even cooks were known to have Picasso reproductions above their wash stands, The Wrysons’ taste in painting stopped at marine sunsets and bowls of flowers”; “They led a limited social lives they seemed to have no ambitions or needs in this direction, although at Christmas each year they sent out about six hundred cards. The preparation and addressing of these must have occupied their evenings for at least two weeks”, etc.
Gradually as the author passes to the description of Irene’s oddness, the tone accordingly transforms into a tense one and the cases of epithet, skillfully employed by the author in order to create the tense and dangerous atmosphere of Irene’s terrible dream, help to achieve the desired effect – that is the effect of horror and constant fear with which the woman lives: “The sky was gray –lightless; the gray air; brown water, etc. ”
The tension of the atmosphere and the tone accordingly arises when the Wrysons’ daughter appears in Irene’s dream: “The force and purity of the love that she felt toward this fragrant child was an agony”. The cases of epithet: “fragrant child”, “the trusting child”, “gentle lie” add to the tone of narration some notes of sympathy, making it highly emotional. But when the dream transfers to reality, the tone again becomes a sarcastic one. A case of metaphoric epithet: “his jackass laugh” contributes to it. As the author begins to dwell on Donald’s past, which effected greatly on his present-day oddness, the tone changes, first to matter-of-fact “He had been raised in a small town in the Middle West... ” and then transforms to sarcastic again, especially at time when the author describes Donald’s secret passion to baking in detail “Donald would put on an apron…”, “he learned the contents of every cupboard”, “He went out and bought the ingredients–deeply ashamed of himself – and sifted the flour... ”. Generally speaking, the sarcastic tone is preserved throughout the narration due to numerous cases of irony, so brightly employed by Cheever now and then in the story.
In my opinion, the given text touches upon a rather widespread problem in our society that is the problem of human estrangement. The author skillfully manages to reveal this problem, using a store of expressive means, stylistic devices and mostly due to his own original manner of writing. Depicting quite unattractive personages Cheever still manages to make a potential reader sympathize with them, owing to his magnificent talent of story-telling. Besides, Cheever, being known as a good psychologist and a master of human souls, succeeds in creating his characters in such a way that everyone is sure to find something of his own even in such unpleasant people as the Wrysons.
Sample V
Stylistic analysis of Regret
by Kate Chopin
This text is a sample of literature written by an American writer Kate Chopin. Her writing is classified in the literary movement known as Realism. Realism is based on everyday events, stories that depict ordinary people dealing with society.
Kate Chopin’s literary talent would have never been so strongly founded if it were not for the circumstances surrounding her life and upbringing. Her father died when she was only four years old, which left her mother and grandmother to raise, and shape her desires and ideologies. Having been raised primarily by strong willed feminine role models, Chopin developed a taste for more of an unconventional role for women in society. She is considered to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 19th century.
She was widowed and left with six children to bring up on her own. This situation developed more of her strong will to write about the passion and strength that women have. For several years she lived on plantations. These facts from her biography are very important for understanding the life of the main character in her story “Regret”, who also lives on the farm.
Much of her writing portrays women. Being herself a woman with a difficult life she managed to give a vivid portrayal of her characters’ living, emotions and sufferings.
In the story “Regret” Kate Chopin depicts a woman whose values and perceptions of life radically changed after the events described in the story. The author gives a coherent account of a significant emotional experience of the main character.
The protagonist of the story is a 50 year-old woman who lives on the plantation and is quite satisfied with her life. One day her neighbor, having to visit her ill mother, asks her to look after her four little children. The task turns out to be a difficult one as Mamzelle Aurlie has no experience in such things. But by the end of two weeks she gets used to the children and feels regret when their mother returns. After the children and their mother leave the farm, she sits in her room crying.
The story is the third person narration. The choice of this form of narration helps the author to be objective while presenting the story. The advantage the writer has over any character is that she can be omniscient in the story. The writer is not in the story and she is not writing about herself. It gives the readers the opportunity to form their own opinion about the character. She can tell what characters think, to show their innermost secrets. In this story we can see limited – omniscience, as the author doesn’t tell about the thoughts of each character, but only about the main character’s reflections, emotions. The story is an account of events given by someone outside the action, not as some character sees it. But as any writer she cannot be neutral or impersonal. Though she doesn’t impose her personal views one can feel the author’s attitude to the main character, especially when she tells about her life. (“She was quite alone in the world... ”; “She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul”)
All the characters in this story are women. It is a gallery of women portraits. Three women, with three different lives. Of course, the main character is Mamzelle Aurlie. She is brought to the foreground in the story.
The title of the story is highly symbolic. It gives much in understanding the main idea of the story. The word “regret” means “sorrow, distress”. Even without reading the story, without knowing the main character one can presuppose that it deals with some emotions, disappointment experienced by the protagonist.
But in the opening paragraph of the story where the author introduces the main character we can observe quite an opposite picture. The main character is depicted as a strong resolute woman.
“MAMZELLE AURLIE possessed a good strong figure, ruddy cheeks, hair that was changing from brown to gray, and a determined eye”.
The epithets “good, strong, determined” give an expressive characterization of the protagonist. Though they may sound a bit ironical in the description of a woman. To have a good figure for a woman means to be slim, delicate, but not strong, of course. But the main character’s way of living demanded it. She was the owner of a plantation and worked from morning till night. “Ruddy cheeks” are the indication of good health, “the changing color of her hair” – of her age, which is mentioned by the author later, and besides it shows that she doesn’t pay much attention to her appearance, as women usually try to hide the age and to dye their hair.
But a stronger emphasis is laid on the last words of this sentence and it is achieved with the help of zeugma . The beginning of the sentence is the description of the protagonist’s physical stature and “a determined eye” implies some features of her character. She is a woman possessing a strong figure and strong character.
“She wore a man’s hat about the farm, and an old blue army overcoat when it was cold, and sometimes top-boots”.
She was a manlike person not only in her character but also in the way she dressed. And the case of polysyndeton used in the sentence intensifies the impression produced on the readers by the first sentence. The life on the farm shaped her character as she had to run it alone, and such a way of living requires the features possessed by the main character.
From the description of her character the author goes to telling about her private life.
“Mamzelle Aurlie had never thought of marrying. She had never been in love. At the age of twenty she had received a proposal, which she had promptly declined, and at the age of fifty she had not yet lived to regret it”.
One can see that these sentences are very interesting from the point of grammar. Their distinguishing feature is the use of Perfect Constructions. Perfect Tense denotes a completed action viewed in relation to the time of speaking. By using this tense the author points out the events in the past that influenced the protagonist’s present day living.
The first two sentences reveal another Mamzelle Aurlie. The use of parallel constructions , especially the repetition of the word “never” adds additional emotiveness to the meaning implied in the sentence. Another case of parallel construction is used in the next two sentences which are also characterized by Perfect Tense constructions. She had a chance to change her life but refused to use it and to marry at the age of 20 and 30 years later being 50 she doesn’t regret it. The word “regret” in the sentence arouses some contradictory feelings a person experiences after reading the title of the story and understanding the main character’s position in life. She doesn’t regret anything. But there is a word in the sentence which indicates that something is going to change, it is an adverb “yet”. One of the meanings of this word is “up to now, so far (but it will not be so later)”. The author warns her readers, drops a hint that they should wait for something that will completely alter the protagonist’s way of living.
In the second passage the author continues speaking of the main character. But here we can feel the change in the author’s tone which sounded quite dry in the opening paragraph. She begins to express some sympathy for Mamzelle Aurlie and the readers can observe here the transition to a sympathetic tone.
“So she was quite alone in the world, except for her dog Ponto, and the negroes who lived in her cabins and worked her crops, and the fowls, a few cows, a couple mules, her gun (with which she shot chicken-hawks), and her religion. ”
The word “so” sounds as if the author summaries her previous observations of Mamzelle Aurlie’s life. The sentence is also interesting from the point of view of its length and structure. Though it is simple, it is very long. The enumeration the author resorts to while telling about M. A. ’s possessions contributes to it. The beginning of the sentence sounds like a case of hyperbole as how a person can be alone in the world with such a long list of things she had. The tragedy is in the fact that the rest of the sentence is more like an answer to the question: “What do you have or possess? ” and not “What is the most important thing in your life? ” All these are things she owns.
On the first place is her dog Ponto and only then Negroes living on her plantation. Negroes mentioned here help to define the time of narration as the middle of the 19th century. It’s difficult to say whether it was before or after the slavery was abolished, but the fact that they are put in the same list as a dog, cows, etc. shows that they were treated like some working force or domestic animals. The author uses in this sentence another case of zeugma which is often used for achieving an ironical effect. But we can feel here no irony. The last thing in the list is her religion. One may be puzzled by the fact that religion is put in the end and how one can compare such different things. But at the same time it proves the idea that M. A. outside differed from M. A. inside. For everyone who looked at her she symbolized a manlike strong woman, while inside there was a person full of emotions.
This is the only glimpse the readers get into Mamzelle Aurlie’s character, however there is much revealed through these two passages.
In the first two passages the author makes an introduction of the main character for the reader to understand how her life will change after certain events, what will happen to this strong determined woman. The author divided the character’s life into “before” and ‘after”.
The next passage may be regarded as the exposition of the story. Here the author acquaints the readers with other characters that will play a crucial role in her life: the mother and her four children.
“One morning Mamzelle Aurlie stood upon her gallery, contemplating, with arms akimbo, a small band of very small children who, to all intents and purposes, might have fallen from the clouds, so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome. They were the children of her nearest neighbor, Odile, who was not such a near neighbor, after all. ”
In this passage Kate Chopin tells about Mamzelle Aurlie’s attitude to their coming, which the readers can see even in the position of her body, in the way she stood when the children came. It is a kind of body language, “with arms akimbo”, that can tell much about a person’s mood and feelings. Mamzelle Aurlieis not glad to see them and is waiting for their further actions.
The word “band” makes the narration a bit ironical, as it is usually used while speaking about robbers, animals or at least musicians, not about children. We can presuppose that for the main character the children were like a pack of wild animals.
The case of metaphor “might have fallen from the clouds”, case of inversion and detachment, the case of polysyndeton “so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome”, intensify the effect of suddenness and irritation, caused by it. Negative prefixes “un” in the words indicate that she doesn’t want to see them on her farm. She regards their coming as interference in the routine of her life. These sentences show that she was not a very hospitable woman. She is quite used to be alone.
In the next sentence, as an omniscient author, Kate Chopin shows what Mamzelle Aurlie thinks about her neighbor. The adjective “nearest”, used in superlative degree, indicates that they lived on the neighboring farm, but the other “ near”, used as an epithet in the end of the sentence, symbolizes their real relations, Mamzelle Aurlie’s real attitude to her neighbor. It means that there was no friendship or at least common communication natural for good neighbors. These words sound as if Mamzelle Aurlie herself utters them.
Odile is a young woman. She is another character in the gallery of women described by Kate Chopin. She has four children. When she appears at the farm with her children we can notice the use of a demonstrative pronoun in the following phrase:
“The young woman had appeared but five minutes before, accompanied by these four children”.
It intensifies the negative impression they produced on Mamzelle Aurlie.
At the time of narration Odile lives alone as her husband is in Texas. We can observe here a case of hyperbole, used by Odile while speaking about her husband:
“... her husband was away in Texas – it seemed to her a million miles away; ”
The use of it contributes to our understanding of her emotional state as she needed somebody’s help because her mother is seriously ill and her husband is too far away. Besides it the geographical name indicates the place of narration as the USA.
Next sentences also reveal the woman’s state.
“In her arms she carried little Lodie; she dragged Ti Nomme by an unwilling hand; while Marcline and Marclette followed with irresolute steps. Her face was red and disfigured from tears and excitement”.
If the situation were not so tragic this picture would seem to be rather humorous. The author gives here some information about children. The epithet “unwilling” reveals Ti Nomme’s character. He was not an obedient child and his further behaviour will prove it. He didn’t like the idea of spending several days at this farm, that’s why his mother had to drag him.
Another epithet “irresolute” shows that children were scared to be left alone with such a strange person as Mamzelle Aurlie, they didn’t want their mother to leave them. This adjective may also be the indication of the fact that they were very small.
In the next passage we can judge about Odile through her speech.
““It’s no question, Mamzelle Aurlie; you jus’ got to keep those youngsters fo’ me tell I come back. Dieusait, I wouldn’ botha you with ‘em if it was any otha way to do! Make ‘em mine you, MamzelleAurlie; don’ spare ‘em. Me, there, I’m half crazy between the chil’ren, an’ Lon not home, an’ maybe not even to fine po’maman alive encore! ”– a harrowing possibility which drove Odile to take a final hasty and convulsive leave of her disconsolate family”.
She is speaking very quickly, making mistakes. Her speech is a mixture of English and French words. She is not a very educated person and we can presuppose that she has spent all her life on the farm. French words indicate her origin. And we know that the author herself was of French origin.
The excitement of the mother and the children before parting is clearly observed through the epithet “disconsolate” to the noun “family”. The tone of narration here is very emotional. But it is suddenly transformed into an ironical one. A case of anticlimax can be found in this passage.
“She left them crowded into the narrow strip of shade on the porch of the long, low house; the white sunlight was beating in on the white old boards; some chickens were scratching in the grass at the foot of the steps, and one had boldly mounted, and was stepping heavily, solemnly, and aimlessly across the gallery. There was a pleasant odor of pinks in the air, and the sound of negroes’ laughter was coming across the flowering cotton-field.
Mamzelle Aurlie stood contemplating the children. She looked with a critical eye upon Marcline, who had been left staggering beneath the weight of the chubby Lodie. She surveyed with the same calculating air Marclette mingling her silent tears with the audible grief and rebellion of Ti Nomme. During those few contemplative moments she was collecting herself, determining upon a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty. She began by feeding them”.
The author deliberately gives in this passage the description of children and chickens, as if she wants to compare them. We can feel irony when she tells about one of the chickens. “. .. was stepping heavily, solemnly, and aimlessly across the gallery”
I think she wants to compare it with one of the children, the disobedient Ti Nomme. Even after the mother’s departure he didn’t change his behavior. Of course, the word “rebellion” is a kind of exaggeration, especially when it is implied while speaking about a little boy. The character of the boy is significant if to remember that the author in her home town of St. Louis, she became known as the town’s “Littlest Rebel. ”
One can notice that while speaking about Mamzelle Aurlie the author uses such synonyms as ‘to survey’, ‘to contemplate’ and its derivatives. The meaning of these words is ‘to look at carefully, to examine, and to think about seriously’. She was thinking of her further actions. The only thing she could do was to feed them, as she would do with chickens or pigs.
But the author stresses “little children are not little pigs”.
The description of her first days with children is given in a very humorous tone. We can find here cases of irony:
“How could she know that Marclette always wept when spoken to in a loud commanding tone of voice? It was a peculiarity of Marclette’s. She became acquainted with Ti Nomme’s passion for flowers only when he had plucked all the choicest gardenias and pinks for the apparent purpose of critically studying their botanical construction, a case of simile: At night, when she ordered them one and all to bed as she would have shooed the chickens into the hen-house, they stayed uncomprehending before her”, a case of anaphora and parallel construction: “What about the little white nightgowns that had to be taken from the pillow-slip in which they were brought over, and shaken by some strong hand till they snapped like ox-whips? What about the tub of water which had to be brought and set in the middle of the floor, in which the little tired, dusty, sun-browned feet had every one to be washed sweet and clean? ”.
The author resorts to these stylistic devices to show that Mamzelle Aurlie really did not know that little children demand a lot of attention and she didn’t know such elementary things that even children are aware of. And a case of hyperbole used by Mamzelle Aurlie while she speaks with her cook proves it.
“... I’d rather manage a dozen plantation’ than fo’ children”
Here the author introduces another character: Aunt Ruby, the cook. Nothing is said about her life except:
“Mamzelle Aurlie certainly did not pretend or aspire to such subtle and far-reaching knowledge on the subject as Aunt Ruby possessed, who had ‘raised five an’ buried six’ in her day. She was glad enough to learn a few little mother-tricks to serve the moment’s need”.
She gives Mamzelle Aurlie some advice on how to look after children, as she is an expert in this sphere. Gradually, the tone of narration changes as alters Mamzelle Aurlie’s attitude to children. From humorous it transforms into sentimental.
“Ti Nomme’s sticky fingers compelled her to unearth white aprons that she had not worn for years, and she had to accustom herself to his moist kisses – the expressions of an affectionate and exuberant nature. She got down her sewing-basket, which she seldom used, from the top shelf of the armoire, and placed it within the ready and easy reach which torn slips and buttonless waists demanded. It took her some days to become accustomed to the laughing, the crying, the chattering that echoed through the house and around it all day long. And it was not the first or the second night that she could sleep comfortably with little Lodie’s hot, plump body pressed close against her, and the little one’s warm breath beating her cheek like the fanning of a bird’s wing”.
She doesn’t regard Ti Nomme as a rebellion, but enjoys his kisses, she still compares them with birds as in the following case of simile: “the little one’s warm breath beating her cheek like the fanning of a bird’s wing”, but it doesn’t irritate her.
When the mother of the children comes back, the author uses in the case of detachment the same word to describe her coming as in the beginning of the story: unexpected.
The same negative prefixes, the same meaning, the same case of detachment, but another character. If in the beginning the word “unexpected” showed that she didn’t want to see the children on her farm, now she is not glad to see their mother. The protagonist of the story gets used to the children, but realizes that she has to part with them.
“But this coming, unannounced and unexpected, threw Mamzelle Aurulie into a flutter that was almost agitation. The children had to be gathered. Where was Ti Nomme? Yonder in the shed, putting an edge on his knife at the grindstone. And Marcline and Marclette? Cutting and fashioning doll-rags in the corner of the gallery. As for Lodie, she was safe enough in MamzelleAurlie’s arms; and she had screamed with delight at sight of the familiar blue cart which was bringing her mother back to her”.
The author reveals Mamzelle Aurlie’s state through her behaviour. Her excitement may be seen with the help of elliptical sentences the author uses while describing her actions when she notices Odile.
The last two passages of the story disclose the emotionally colored individual attitude of the writer toward the main character. The emotional tone of narration is achieved first of all with the help of such device as capitalization in the spelling of the article, as if the author wants to attract the readers’ attention to these two passages.
“THE excitement was all over, and they were gone. How still it was when they were gone! ”In these two sentences we see a case of epiphora. It creates a kind of gradation as the second sentence sounds much more emphatic then the first one. The second sentence may be regarded as an instance of the so called represented speech, which is often characterized by the use of exclamatory sentences. It renders the character’s thoughts which were not uttered aloud.
Another stylistic device used in the passage is a case of parallelism.
“Sheсоиld no longer see the cart; the red sunset and the blue-gray had together flung a purple mist across the fields and road that hid it from her view. She could no longer hearthe wheezing and creaking of its wheels. But she could still faintly hear the shrill, glad voices of the children”.
In the sentences analysed parallel constructions are accompanied by the repetition of words. The sameness of the structure and vocabulary accentuates her feelings after the children’s departure.
But the most important in understanding the title of the story and its main idea is the last passage.
“She turned into the house. There was much work awaiting her, for the children had left a sad disorder behind them; but she did not at once set about the task of righting it. Mamzelle Aurlie seated herself beside the table. She gave one slow glance through the room, into which the evening shadows were creeping and deepening around her solitary figure. She let her head fall down upon her bended arm, and began to cry. Oh, but she cried! Not softly, as women often do. She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul. She did not notice Ponto licking her hand”.
In the beginning of the story the author told that she was quite alone in the world, in the end she is still alone. Nothing changed, except her inner world. We see another woman. She looks more like a grandmother whose grandchildren went home than the resolute Mamzelle Aurlie she used to be in the beginning. She regrets their leaving. We can prove it by a case of epithet “sad” to the noun “disorder”. This expression may be also regarded as a case of oxymoron, as disorder arouses different feelings, but not sadness.
An instance of metaphor “the evening shadows were creeping and deepening around her... ”and especially such epithet as “solitary” to the noun figure which can be observed in the next sentence create an atmosphere of a tragic tone.
And the exclamatory sentence: Oh, but she cried! sounds as if the author herself is surprised to see her character crying.
We can notice the same comparison of the main character with the man, but here we don’t see the same determined woman as in the beginning of the story: She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul.
And a case of metaphor “sobs that seemed to tear her very soul” show that she doesn’t try to hide her emotions as she has done before.
The author doesn’t tell directly that Mamzelle Aurlie begins to regret something as she did in the beginning of the story but the feeling of regret is implied in her behavior and feelings. The only thing she had and has now is her dog Ponto.
|
|
|
