Интерпретация текста “Doctor in the House” by Richard Gordon

In our world, full of difficulties and various problems I am sure no one can say that he is free from spoiling his nerves and health in order to overcome some important destiny barriers. As a matter of fact, who can agree that life is more interesting, when it flows as a calm river of constantly and monotonously changing events? 

A person becomes experienced and strong only having felt the whole disgrace of the world he has a chance to live in. And what an amazing quality our memory has; it specially chooses the worst recollections and with the sense cruelty reminds us our past mistakes and annoyances, making us feel that awful feelings again and again.

The fact that nothing can be as memorable as our misfortunes was remarkably proved by Richard Gordon in his novel under the title "Doctor in the House". 

Having a great medical practice, the author reveals his own recollections of the old days, when he was just a student, stumbling through the most scaring trial in his life – the finals. He colourfully describes all the sides of his extremely important event. Cheating is practically impossible, all the knowledge is an inseparable mass in the heads of young and full of hopes students. Oral and writing examinations become some kind of a “judgment day”. And not everyone becomes that lucky, who will take the diploma from the professor’s hands. With an irony the author gives us the description of students’ feelings and behaviour. Some of them have “superiosity in their faces”, others were trying to complete the last brilliant sentence, “dissatisfied with the period allowed for them to express themselves”.

Richard Gordon describes in details the examiners too, people, who were maybe the most scaring ones for poor students. All the professors were calm and steady. For most of them the finals were just a point in their schedule, and their calmness seemed to the narrator to be the act of real cruelty.

“One doesn’t fail exams. One comes down, one muffs, one is ploughed, plucked or pipped”. In this amplification the author shows the real significance of the exams, and for somebody the failure can be a synonym of “dying”. The hopelessness of the situation is supported by the day, when the results are published. The past can’t be changed, and everything a person can do is just waiting, the most annoying thing for people, who practically won through the circles of hell. Fortunately, the narrator reached the finish line with success.

After years such event seems to be extremely funny. The author showed us the atmosphere people sometimes have to be in. Recollecting my own experience I can say that in many cases my feelings were the same. Everything, which happens to us sooner or later turns into the simple recollection. Of course it puts a trace in our mind, and not always pleasant one. Richard Gordon gives us a way to understanding of such things. It is humour, the best “cure of the injures” the life gives us. Remembering this rule a person is able to overcome many life trials, becoming stronger and wiser. In this case even the best professor can’t be compared with the teacher we all have – our past.


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Другие интерпретации текстов на нашем сайте:

• Art For Heart's Sake by Reuben Goldberg
• A Canary For One by Ernest Hemingway
• The Eyes Of The Dragon by Stephen King

One Stair Up by Campbell Nairne

The book “One stair up” was written by a Scottish novelist Campbell Nairne in 1934 and describes the life of a working-class family from Edinburgh. The great advantage of this novel is that it shows the life with great realism, fine style and good sense of humour. 

It the short fragment of this novel the scene takes place in one of the Broadway cinemas. Two young people – Andrew and Rosa – decided to watch some movie. Andrew supposed some comedy, not a big film, but very fun, in his opinion. It was some kind of sitcom, and all the fun was when somebody appeared in any foolish situation, for example, had an egg broken on his head or was all covered with custards. Andrew really enjoyed this comedy, but Rosa was very unsatisfied. In order not to hurt Andrew she just said that she had another sense of humour.

The composition of the story can be divided in 4 parts: coming to the cinema, Rosa and Andrew sitting in the circle before the comedy, the comedy itself and the final part, when Rosa says her opinion about the movie. The culminating point of this story is the moment when Andrew says in excitement, “Good, isn't it?”, but receives the answer, “I don't see anything funny in that”. In this scene we can see how different Rosa and Andrew are. 

From this fragment we don’t know anything about their origin and social status, but we can guess that Rosa was from richer family than Andrew, that’s why she had better taste and didn’t like the foolish comedy. We can also easily understand it from one sentence: “It pleased her to be seen in the dress circle, even with Andrew”. She hoped to see some of her friends to spend more pleasant time with them, but as she couldn’t see anybody, she had to stay with Andrew. There is one more evidence for it: “Is he really so stupid, she wondered. Yes, I suppose he is”. All these facts show us that Andrew and Rosa had very different social status. 

So, we can say that the main idea of this small fragment is to show how difficult it is for people from different classes to understand each other. What is fun for one is absolutely fool for another. Some habits, like talking in the cinema, are absolutely normal for one and unacceptable for another. I think that the moral of the story can be very well illustrated with two proverbs: “Tastes differ” and “A place for everything and everything in its place”. 

In order to describe the scene properly author uses different stylistic devices. On the whole he describes the movies that the heroes watched in details, so the reader can easily imagine everything that happened on the screen. For this aim the author forms his speech into short sentences that follow one after another like the scenes of the movie. But to make the story more artistic he uses, first of all, different epithets: “shadowy faces”, “looped curtain”, “hardest hearts”. 

Epithets make the speech more artistic and interesting; what is more, they help the reader to imagine everything in details. Secondly, we can see here a personification: “voice rise above another voice and sink again into voluptuous stillness”, which transforms the reality of the cinema in some kind of illusion. The hall was dim, so everything could seem absolutely unreal. Also there are similes: the carpet “yielded like springing turf”, “a hard-worked dog, for you saw it, or another like it, in dozens of these comic films” and other to recall some associations in the readers’ mind and to make the images more “visible”. What is more, similes help the reader understand the way of thinking of different characters and the author, too. For example, the comparison of soft carpet and springing turf must have belonged to Andrew, as he was a member of a working family and knew what the turf was like. As we can guess, Rosa could associate it with something else.

But the main device that the author uses is irony and parody. It is very visible at the moment, when the writer describes the announcement of the “Mothers of Broadway” movie. Here he uses different set phrases that were very common for that time: “The film seemed to have smashed all records. It drew tears from the hardest hearts. It sent thrills down the spine” and others. It is described even with some kind of sarcasm as a sample of bad taste. Also there is an oxymoron: the main part in the “mightiest drama of Broadway” has a “bewitching” actress named Minnie Haha. Also the author uses book and high lexicon for usual things, for example: “to-night he would resist that awful temptation to explain the story in a whisper”, so it’s a burlesque.

The description of the sitcom is also very interesting. It is really neutral, so we can’t see whether the author likes it or not. But then we can see very clear two absolutely opposite points of view. So, we can call it contrast that shows us how different Andrew and Rosa are. 

As for me, I liked this story, but I feel pity to Andrew. From different books we know about life in America in the 30-s (for example, Theodore Dreiser’s “American Tragedy”) and we know that young people from lower classes wanted to have better social position and dated with girls from rich families. But the chasm between them is so big and so deep that it’s really difficult for them to be equal. The one thing can have opposite estimations. So, I think that Campbell Nairne had shown everything really truly, without any embellishments.

Стилистический анализ “My Watch” by Mark Twain

The story under the title "My watch" by Mark Twain tells us about one man, whose watch broke at once and how he gave it to different watchmakers and had no success. He suffered very much, as he believed his watch very much and he appeared out of time, he was usually late or too early and his life became a complete trouble. Finally he understood that the best thing was to get rid of this watch, because it "ran away once".

The main idea of this story is that we shouldn’t try to repair or return that was once lost for us, and this idea repeats in uncle William’s words, that a good horse was a good horse until it had run away once. The message of the author is to make us think about the choices and decisions we make in our life and what we prefer: to look forth or back, to choose something new or not let go something old. 

The culminating point is the murder of the last watchmaker who appeared to be just a steamboat engineer of other days. At the moment main hero’s vicious reached its culmination and he couldn’t keep calm.

The moral of the story is not to trust unknown people too much and not to entrust our precious things to others. 

Mark Twain uses different stylistic devices to describe the hero and his watch. First of all, there are a lot of similes, such as "it ticked like a tolling bell", "it kicked back like a musket", "shut together like a pair of scissors" , "seemed a delicate spider’s web over the face of the watch" and some other.

All of them show us how terribly the watch worked and that they worked in the most inappropriate way for watch, as watch should have nothing in common with a musket or a tolling bell. Secondly, there are several epithets like "beautiful new watch", "fair and square average", "plain truth". They help us imagine the whole situation, items and what happened to them.

Finally, there are many personifications and metaphors, there are few of them: "it sickened to a raging fever, and its pulse went up to a hundred and fifty in the shade", "it was a recognized messenger and forerunner of calamity", "I danced around him in anguish, and implored him to let the watch alone". 

The first two let us compare the life of the watch with human life, as this watch really was something alive for the hero. The last one also is some kind of irony.  

As for me, I liked this story, as it’s short, but very substantial. It gives us a chance to think about our actions and our values.



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Другие стилистические анализы текстов на нашем сайте:

• Up The Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
• A Canary For One by Ernest Hemingway
• The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham

Анализ текста "Can-can" by Arturo Vivante

The story under the title "Can-can" was written by Arturo Vivante. Born in Rome in 1923, Arturo Vivante graduated in 1949 and practiced medicine in Rome until 1958 when he ended his medical career and moved to America to pursue a career as a professional writer. 

Vivante has since been on the faculty of several American universities and is now retired and living in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. 

Though Vivante writes in English and has lived in America for much of the last 35 years, his Italian heritage has an undeniable presence in his fiction. His short stories often read like reflections or memories of a distant and foreign past that a reader of Vivante cannot help but link to the life of the transplanted author himself.

The plot of the story under the discussion is quite interesting and I dare say close to our reality. A man is going to the secret meeting with the other woman, leaving his house, wife and children. Suddenly it occurs to him that he wants to stay, but the date is already arranged. So, having arrived to the summer cottage he finds himself thinking of his wife and that surprises him greatly. 

The problem raised by the author is quite clear: the husband intends to have a love affair and is already unfaithful to his wife. However some feeling of upset, comprehension of the fact his wife is still a sweet cherry, not broken by a small stuff, a woman able to give him love and firmness – doesn’t let him stay calm. 

Awaiting the woman at the café he hopes she wouldn’t come and he would return home easily and happily: "How strange he should be hoping for her absence." Even spending time with the lover he misses his wife and thinks of her. How is that possible? 

Let’s characterize the wife. First of all we should say she is fairly a wise woman. We see she loves her husband and wants to have a happy family as any woman does: "she felt safer with him at home, and he helped look after the children, especially the baby." 

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Другие стилистические анализы на нашем сайте:

• The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
• Widow of Ephesus by Petronius
• What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien

Стилистический анализ текста "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 her aspiration in career. And the idea of this short story is that ambitions often ruin a human being.

As for the composition of the text, it is not chronological, for it deals with the foreshadowing at the beginning of the story. This part of the story displays Dreiser'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 Dreiser'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".

Другие лингво - стилистические анализы произведений:

• The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov
  
  
• The Escape by Somerset Maugham
  
  
• An Error in Chemistry by William Faulkner

Стилистический анализ текста “A Very Short Story” by Ernest Hemingway

The story under the title “A Very Short Story” was written by one of the most world-famous American writers – Ernest Hemingway. Himself a great sportsman - Hemingway liked to portray soldiers, hunters, bullfighters - tough, at times primitive people whose courage and honesty are set against the brutal ways of modern society, and who in this confrontation lose hope and faith. His straightforward prose, his spare dialogue, and his predilection for understatement are particularly effective in his short stories.

Analyzing the text "A Very Short Story" we observe that the author makes use of the colloquial style avoiding professionalisms and pompous bookish words and phrases. Hemingway resorts to the language of every day life and surely it is a deliberate choice of vocabulary. Such a laconic and neat narration demonstrates the talent of the author and makes us aware of the genre of this literary creation – a novel. It tells us about war and peace, about senses and disappointments, about lie and truth.

So, the subject matter of the story under discussion is love of a man and a woman, which was lost because of the ruined dreams and awkward misunderstanding between them. Realizing all this we can for sure read between the lines the message of Hemingway, as if saying – reach your goals by all powers and opportunities, stay firm on your way and be persistent in your attempts.

Indeed, how often people surrender, go back and leave their dreams when just a step divides them from what they were looking for.

Here we can say that a little unnecessary quarrel became the point of couples’ parting. If just one of them could concede to another… Perhaps it could be a great history of love, who knows? The following sentence confirms the message mentioned above: “She hoped he would have a great career, and believed in him absolutely”. The truth is that everything turned out vice versa, not the way she imagined.

The stylistic device – antithesis – skillfully used by Ernest Hemingway proves the same could be said about her: “and she expected, absolutely unexpectedly, to be married in the spring.” We know she never did.

What concerns the text itself, it is told in the 3rd person narrative. The narration is not interlaced with descriptive passages and dialogues of the personages. It is extraordinarily poor for colorful emotions and vivid actions. Only dry, concrete and taciturn facts are present in here.

It is important to note, however, that such a dull narration, as by mistake it would seem, can give us no new idea, but the author displays a mastery in rendering the subtleties and contradictions of life. Hemingway pursued his own purpose by composing the narration this way, and he was a success in it.

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Другие лингво-стилистические анализы рассказов Эрнеста Хемингуэя:

• Canary For One
• Cat in the Rain
  
• On the American Dead in Spain

Стилистический анализ текста "An Error in Chemistry" by William Faulkner

The story "An Error in Chemistry" is written by William Faulkner who was the master of psychological analysis and the works of whom are characterized by the use of implication, stream of consciousness, peculiar graphics, metaphorical language etc.

The plot of the story centers around Joel Flint, a Northerner, who kills his wife and her father - old Wesley Pritchel, who were the inhabitants of the South. After the murder Flint plays the role of the old man and tries to make the profit from it. But his contempt for local traditions becomes his undoing.

I believe the author worked in two directions in this story, that's why I'd like to define the following subject matters:

1) a murderer who tries to evade penalty

2) an outlander in the society

So we come to the following ideas:

- lies have short legs;

- a person is a prisoner, locked up in jail of customs and traditions, and those who are reluctant to live in it, are sure to remain lonely and misunderstood.

At the beginning of the story "An Error in Chemistry" the narrator describes Joel Flint and his opposition to the southerners.

At the sentence "He was the foreigner, the outlander, the Yankee, who had come into our country" the synonymic repetition is contrasted with the personal pronoun to stress the external conflict, which exists between the Southerners and Northerners. The origin of the conflict is in the war between the South and the North, in the reluctance of people to accept representatives of the contrary camp as a part of their society.

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Другие лингво-стилистические анализы произведений:

• Departure by Sherwood Anderson
  
• The Wedding Gig by Stephen King
• The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Интерпретация произведения "Departure" by Sherwood Anderson

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 the story "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.

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Другие стилистические анализы текстов на нашем сайте:

• The Eyes Of The Dragon by Stephen King
• Anthony in Blue Alsatia by Eleanor Farjeon
• Astronomer's Wife by Kay Boyle

Стилистический анализ текста "The Ormolu Clock" by Muriel Spark

The story under the title "The Ormolu Clock" was written by Dame Muriel Spark, who is perhaps best known for her novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and for her autobiography "Curriculum Vitae".

Over her long career Muriel has received countless literary tributes and honours. In 1971 she was awarded an honorary degree in literature from Spathclyde University and has been similarly honoured by University of Aberdeen, St. Andres, Edinburgh and Oxford.

In 1993 Spark was made a Dame of the British Empire and in 1977 she received the David Cohen British literature Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

The story under discussion begins with the description of two hotels standing side by side and separated by a narrow path - the Hotel Stroh and the Guesthouse Lumblonitsch. The first one is a disappointment for its visitors, what can't be said about the second.

The story goes on to tell that the author had a chance to get acquainted with the owner of the Guesthouse - Frau Lublonitsch, who was a very hardworking woman. Once he saw her bedroom and was moved by the sight.

The room was richly established and there was a large ornamental clock known as ormolu. The story ends with the scene when Herr Stroh seemed to be meditating upon Frau Lublonitsch ...

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Другие стилистические анализы текстов на нашем сайте:

• The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham
  
• Wild Swans by Alice Munro
• Ms. Found In A Bottle by Edgar Poe

Стилистический анализ текста "Running for Governor" by Mark Twain

NB: набросок анализа

The story "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.

Другие стилистические анализы текстов на нашем сайте:

• Thursday Evening by Christopher Morley
  
• Dangerous Corner by John Priestley
  
• One Stair Up by Campbell Nairne

Стилистический анализ текста "Art For Heart's Sake" by Reuben Goldberg

The story "Art for Heart’s Sake" was written by Reuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970), an American sculptor, cartoonist and writer. 

After graduating from the University of California in 1904 he works as a cartoonist for a number of newspapers and magazines. He produced several series of cartoons all of which were highly popular. Among his best works are "Is There a Doctor in the House?" (1929), "Rube Goldberg’s Guide to Europe" (1954) and "I Made My Bed" (1960). 

The plot of the story under discussion is intricate. It centers around an old man Collis P. Ellsworth who has troubles with his health when his financial transactions end in failure. 

In order to find for him a new interest Doctor Caswell offers him to take up painting, just for pleasure. And it was a great surprise when Ellsworth’s awful painting was not only accepted for the Show at the Lathrop Gallery, but took the First Prize! 

At the end of the story the protagonist says that art is nothing, that he bought the Lathrop Gallery, what surely doesn’t coincide with the reader’s expectations. 

The problems raised in the story "Art for Heart’s Sake" are urgent nowadays – money can buy everything, art is eternal, but everybody values it from one’s own point of view, at the same time not everyone is allowed to realize what real art is. 

The controlling idea of the story conveyed by Goldberg sounds like this – you can buy the gallery, but you cannot buy the art itself. 

Speaking about the meaning of the title, art’s aim is to eradicate human shortcomings, but in this particular case its effect was quite contradictory. 

The story's subject matter – the passion of the old man for large buyings... 

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Другие лингво-стилистические анализы произведений:

• The Escape by Somerset Maugham
• Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
• Dangerous Corner by John Priestley

Интерпретация текста "The Eyes Of The Dragon" by Stephen King

The extract under the title “The Eyes of the Dragon” was written by one of the outstanding American writers in the modern literature – Stephen King, known for his huge contribution in horror fiction, compared with such names as Balzac and Dickens.

The extract under the study begins with the description of a young boy called Peter destined to be a king. It comes as no surprise he had a great number of servants to take care of him, but the most tender and vigilant of all was surely his mother – Sasha. She took it for granted to bring up her child in a manner worthy for kings only. Naturally she used all her talent, all her love and all her wit to raise the heir as well-bred and smart as possible. She was the only perfect teacher for him. To the boy’s mischief she died when he was only five and couldn’t realize everything properly, but those lessons she gave him stayed in his heart for ever.

They say “the child’s soul is blank as a white sheet of paper, what you write there will be kept till the end.” I guess this statement suits the text precisely and comes as the controlling idea of the whole narration.

Indeed, who knows better teacher and mentor for a child than its mother? Who knows all the specks and all the sores on a young body better than the woman who gave birth to the infant? No human creature. Small wonder that mothers love their children with all their heart, no matter what kind of child it is. The child is their flesh and blood, that’s the only sufficient reason.

So, the semantic arrangement of the text helps to bring the message out, which notes that we should never forget the people involved in our birth, having given us all warm feelings and letting us live. It notes we should treat them with profound respect and show unconditional obedience, be eternally thankful for all they do for us. Such a usual but extremely important moral among the lines of the author appears to be quite urgent and necessary nowadays.

Sasha’s every word and deed brings out the character's essential nature. Even reading the hero’s first recollections of his mother we start admiring her: “her remembered her dearly… he thought her sweet, tender, loving, full of mercy”. Everything proves she was so: “She wanted him to show up well, and to be mannerly.” Though many of the events and descriptions in the extract are seen through the main character's eyes, it is obvious she thought of him more than of herself.

The fact that Stephen King dedicated almost the whole passage to her wishes and responsibilities is the true evidence of his respect to the character as well: “…above all else, Sasha wanted him to be good. A good boy, she thought, would be a good King.” That’s why perhaps the author didn’t deprive her of wit: “…by the time the things degenerated to the food-throwing stage, she and Peter would long since have retired.” She first complimented him lovingly on his behaviour and then corrected where he went wrong.

To crown it all, she is the exact character worthy of the author's positive estimate. She enjoys all the sympathy of the readers and the author.

Reading on the extract we find more details attracting our attention.


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Другие интерпретации английского текста на нашем сайте:

• Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway
• Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
• Wild Swans by Alice Munro

Stylistic analysis "W.S." by Leslie Hartley

NB: набросок анализа

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!"

Stylistiс analysis "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy

The extract under the title is taken from the trilogy “The Forsyte Saga” written by the English novelist and playwright, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932 John Galsworthy. Galsworthy became known for his portrayal of the British upper middle class and for his social satire. His most famous work is THE FORSYTE SAGA (1906-1921), an English parallel to Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks (1901). Galsworthy was a representative of the literary tradition, which has regarded the novel as an instrument of social debate. He believed that it was the duty of an artist to examine a problem, but not to provide a solution. Before starting his career as a writer, Galsworthy read widely the works of Kipling, Zola, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Flaubert. 

The extract under the study begins with the description of the protagonist – Mr. Jolyon. He feels bad and stays at bed, hiding from the light. But when with lunch he gets the telegram from Irene saying that she comes back, he feels excited and is looking forward to seeing her as earlier as possible. In order to meet her, he leaves his room without somebody’s knowledge and intends to wait her in the coppice, but the heat outside forces him to sit under the oak tree and wait just there. He admires the beauty of the nature, the allure of summer and gradually becomes asleep. Later his faithful dog notices that its master has gone, fallen in the eternal sleep. 

While reading the extract some unusual items strike the eye. The first thing we should pay our attention at is the inner condition of the character. We see that in the beginning of the extract he is rather sick and weak, a hopeless old man: “He spent the morning languidly with the sun-blinds down…” 

After reading Irene’s telegram, however, he transforms so quickly and easily, as if never being ill: “Coming down! After all! Then she did exist – and he was not deserted. Coming down! A glow ran through his limbs; his cheeks and forehead felt hot. … Coming down! His heart beat fast, and then did not seem to beat at all.” 

New bright colors of inspiration and excitement start playing in his heart. His imagination draws clear and vivid pictures of Irene’s appearance in their place. Suddenly he feels as if much younger. He wishes he were much younger. How many things he could do then, how many mistakes he could avoid then… 

The second curious thing captivating our mind concerns the whole extract itself. I guess one can’t help noticing that the author informs us of the death while illustrating the beauty, the loveliness of the summer, of the nature, of everything around. In fact, death is a horrible and awful notion for most human beings. What we observe here – the author rejects this common idea and demonstrates the last way of the man in a fascinating, extraordinary manner, avoiding all unpleasant and sorrowful words. This can be the evidence of his pleasing and worthy life. To some extent this can as well prove his being good to others. 

In order to express those feelings of Mr. Jolyon, to demonstrate those views one never would have noticed Galsworthy makes use of the certain stylistic devices assisting him to convey gorgeousness of the situation. 

Let’s have a look at them. In the first instance, the neat epithets “burning afternoon” and “delicious surge of slumber” clearing how exasperating the heat was, bereaving his strength, and explaining to us the hero’s flaccidity and weariness are worth of our observing them. 

Besides, exquisite metaphors provide the extract with magnetism and magnificence: “a violet-grey figure passing over the daisies and dandelions and ‘soldiers’ on the lawn—the soldiers with their flowery crowns”, “And he was happy—happy as a sand-boy, whatever that might be.” 

The case of personification completely astonishes the reader: “A ray of sunlight struck through and lodged on his boot.” 

The doubled case of exciting reversed parallel construction, chiasmus, even rouses the reader’s sympathy to the personage: “They were excited—busy, as his heart was busy and excited. Drowsy, too, drowsy and drugged on honey and happiness; as his heart was drugged and drowsy.”  

The parallel construction underlines his sudden emotions and observations: “What a revel of bright minutes! What a hum of insects, and cooing of pigeons! It was the quintessence of a summer day. Lovely!” The pleasurable expectance makes him notice every little movement around. This is also proved by the repetition: “passing over the daisies and dandelions and ‘soldiers’”. 

The other repetition marks the fidelity of the animal to the master: “and that dog would lick her hand. That dog knew his master was fond of her; that dog was a good dog.” No wonder it was the one discovering Mr. Jolyon’s death. 

Once we come across the protagonist’s stream of consciousness: “Ah! that was why there was such a racket of bees!...” It continues the theme of adoration and observation. 

Not once reading the extract we come across the author’s exclamations: “Summer–summer–summer!” 

Perhaps Galsworthy exposes it deliberately as if revealing that in any other season the death wouldn’t be hidden in the glamour and beauty as in the summer. 

If to speak about the text itself, one should mention that it’s told in the 3rd person narrative. The narration is richly interlaced with descriptive passages. The prevailing slant of the extract is very optimistic and emotional. The composition of the story is not complicated, though it’s not a fast moving one. The climax comes when the dog, Balthasar, notices the master doesn't budge any more. 

All in all, the protagonist enjoys all the sympathy of the reader. We feel it and we can’t help agreeing the author. The fragment made a great move in my heart and the author’s style and language impressed me extremely. I still see the image of the old man sitting under the oak tree and I believe he was a happy one.

Анализ "Crooked House" by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is considered to be the queen of detective stories. Unlike all other detective stories her ones are called "intuitive", as the exposure of murder is revealed through psychological perspicacity of the main heroes. The main accent is made not on the investigation of evidences and arguments, but on the observation of behaviour of the main heroes, the content and structure of their dialogues. Everything in her stories is adjusted, the details are meaningful, the scenes from family life are trustworthy and expressive.

"The Crooked House" is an assemble of her prose. As the extract under study is the beginning of the story, it is a piece of description which can be considered as an exposition that introduces to the readers the main characters and their relationship.

The plot of the extract centers round the close friendship between the soldier Charles and the worker of the Foreign Office Departments Sophia. They spent together their free time and amused themselves. Their acquaintance was broken up by the order that Charles should go to the East, and in spite of this during two years they had been writing letters to each other.

The main theme of this extract may be identified as the process of development of relationship of the young people in the postwar period. On having read this extract the readers can grasp the idea that the author's message sounds like this – the feelings between young people should be tested by time and hardships, as marriage is a serious step in anybody's life. It can't be decided at once...

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Анализ "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

The story of an hour is a dramatic destiny of Mrs. Mallard. The title of the story speaks for itself. The story begins with introduction of main characters to the reader and with description of key events. Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble and her sister Josephine, her husband's friend Richard did their best to break to Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. 

The first passage appears to be exposition, 'cause it contains a short presentation of time, place and characters of the story. Besides, from the very beginning the absence of Mrs. Mallard's name draws our attention. 

Further, the author describes Mrs. Mallard's state, how she accepted the news. He writes: "She didn't hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance". So this makes us think that she didn't accept her husband's death as a fact, but realized its significance for her, perhaps she imagined her further life without her husband, she started thinking of the way her life would change. 

"There stood, facing the open window..." There's a slight hint in this sentence, that those changes will be closely connected with the improvement of her life and "the open window" the description of awakened nature in spring suggest it. 

Here we should admit the beauty of the language the author uses. "The delicious breath of rain... There were patches of blue sky..." The epithet and metaphor are employed for the expressiveness while describing nature. 

The decisive moment comes when ... whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "Free, free, free!" It's the climax of the story. The metaphor "escape" reveals Mrs. Mallard's state. She was unconscious of her dream to be free. Every inch of her body wished that freedom and now she realized it. She was even glad that her husband died. 

But the oxymoron "a monstrous joy" suggests that her reaction was abnormal. She was unhappy in her family life. Her husband "never looked save with love upon her. And she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely...she would live for herself..." 

The antithesis in the sentence "And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not." makes us arrive at a definite conclusion that all her love towards her husband was just an illusion. But still in spite of all this she shouldn't react in this way, it wasn't correct. She was too joyful. The metaphor "she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window", the climax "spring days and summer days and all sorts of days"; the epithet "feverish triumph in her eyes" are employed to emphasize her state and unnatural behaviour. 

The denouement isn't less unexpected than Mrs. Mallard's reaction. The crucial moment came when Mr. Mallard, which was said to be dead, safe and sound opened the front door. Mrs. Mallard was shocked and died of heart disease. The doctors said that it was joy that killed her. But it wasn't joy, it was despair. All her dreams about free life were broken by her husband and she couldn't live with him any more. She hoped that she had got rid of him, that the destiny made her a present and all her dull life was very far. And when her husband ruined all this she couldn't forgive him. For just an hour she was born again, lived in the world of her dreams and died. She wanted freedom and reached it, but was dead.  

A number of messages are conveyed in this story. A human being is born to be free, but he couldn't just rely on destiny and wait for freedom, he must fight for it and then he'll deserve that freedom. 

It's a sin to be glad for somebody's death, and one will be punished for it. It is quite difficult to forgive a man, but one should do his best to forgive and give a man another chance.

Анализ "To Sir, With Love" by E. R. Braithwaite

Dr. Edward Ricardo Braithwaite is internationally known author of the bestseller "To Sir, With Love" based on the author’s experiences as a teacher in a tough section of London. The best seller book was later made into a popular movie starring Sidney Poiter and whose title song was sung by the 1960s pop star, Lulu. Today, the book is still popular with a new reprint edition along with a release of the movie on DVD. 

In his work Braithwaite reflects on the dynamics taking place in classrooms and the important role teachers play in the development of students. His early work could be characterized as one of the first reflective memoirs on teaching to receive international attention. This early work is still considered one of the best. Although Dr. Braithwaite has published many other novels and books, "To Sir, With Love" remains to be currently cited as containing important tenets relevant to today’s youth and our educational institutions. 

Besides, the book covers much more detail than the movie. It tells of the hardships faced by the author, a well educated black man in post-war Britain, and how he was forced to become a teacher at a run-down school at London’s East End. Most of his students were ruffians off the streets, and the story of how he gradually overcame them with his love and also earned their respect with his knowledge, makes for riveting reading. 

The problem addressed in the story is acute nowadays. It is children’s misbehaviour, their unwillingness to study. It examines the growth of the relationship between student and teacher through personal understanding of each other, which is the inspirational foundation of their education. The story reflects the author's preoccupation with the moral self. 

So, the controlling idea of the story under analysis is the following – one cannot lead children using just love or strength, one should apply all his talents and skills to make children respond and be interested. That needs much patience and strong will. 

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Анализ "Snow" by Ann Beattie

The story under the title “Snow” was written by an American short story writer and novelist – Ann Beattie. Born on September 8, 1947 she has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a PEN/Bernard Malamud Award for excellence in the short story form. Her work has been compared to Alice Adams, J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, and John Updike. She holds an undergraduate degree from American University and a masters degree from the University of Connecticut. 

Born in Washington, D.C., Beattie grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She gained attention in the early 1970s with short stories published in The Western Humanities Review, Ninth Letter, the Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. Critics have praised her writing for its keen observations and dry, matter-of-fact irony which chronicle disillusionments of the upper-middle-class generation that grew up in the 1960s. 

In 1976, she published her first book of short stories, Distortions, and her first novel, Chilly Scenes of Winter, later made into a film. She has taught at Harvard College and the University of Connecticut and presently teaches at the University of Virginia, where she is the Edgar Allan Poe Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing. 

The story under the study is written in the form of a letter. It depicts the things happened with a couple, having had a rest in the country during a winter time. The narrator revizes every little unimportant thing happened at the place they stayed with her own estimation and value, so that everything acquires new meaning and interpretation. Though there is no mentioning names or protagonists, we realize the narrator is female writing to her lover. The author’s prompts prove this, we can easily notice it in the metaphor “like a crazy king of snow”. 

Reading the story we observe the pair enjoyed their time together, but something must have occurred and for the time being they are apart. No inclinations about how it came to be, just a letter with informative facts and recollections. 

Besides, the narrator underlines that the addressee remembered everything in his own way, not paying attention at such significant details as snow and some others, as the narrator did. In general, there is a multiple apply of the word snow in the novel: the day of the big snow, knee-deep in snow, newly fallen snow, field of snow. 

Snow plays a symbolic role of love between the two. There was snow and there was love. At the moment it’s not a time for snow and accordingly love is absent in the hearts of the two. Though this letter may be the result of a hope calling for love, an approval that one of the two hearts still beats with passion and belief. Perhaps she still loves and wants to replay those days again. 

Giving a general definition of the text under the study we should note it is written in the 1st person narrative. The narration is interlaces with descriptive passages. It comes as no surprise that there are no dialogues at all, as the letter can’t include them. The narration is broken by lyrical digressions which come like stream of consciousness. The prevailing mood of the story is quite sentimental, as it carries the memories of the loving person. 

In expressing the narrator’s thoughts the author used metaphor in the following sentences, making the language of lover more sentimental and revealing her emotional attitude: 

“In the kitchen, a pattern of white-gold trellises supported purple grapes as big and round as Ping-Pong balls.”, “…you, in white towel turban, like a crazy king of snow”. 

Among the other stylistic devices we should also mark the case of asyndeton: “the child who happened to be standing on the right corner when the door of the ice-cream truck came open and hundreds of Popsicles crashed out; the man standing on the beach, sand sparkling in the sun, one bit glinting more than the rest, stooping to find a diamond ring.” Reading this sentence we observe the narrator conveying an individual perception of the things described. 

The case of anaphora as if reflects the narrator’s warm feelings of the past, enhancing the expressiveness of the text: “You remember it differently. You remember that the cold settled in stages…” 

All in all, the story is marked with pessimism, perhaps even giving us the constant reason to hope. It is a remarkable insight into human nature still full of secrets and mysticism.

Анализ "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov

The story under the title "The Fun They Had" was written by a highly prolific American writer, one of the three grand masters of science fiction - Isaac Asimov. The story begins with the description of two kids who found a real book. 

It should be noted that all the events of the story take place in the future, in the year 2155, that's why a mere book from the past seems quite an interesting object for exploration. And Tommy (13) with Margie (11) read the book, thinking of those who used it many centuries ago. 

Reading the story we come across the problem, tackled by the author. It is a low knowledge level of children, their uneagerness to study. To prove it we should mention the fact when the County Inspector slowed up Margie's mechanical teacher to an average ten-year level. The girl was 11, but couldn't or didn't want to cover her own age level, "she had been doing worse and worse". And how strong was her hatred towards school! She hoped her teacher wouldn't be back, that "large and black and ugly" teacher! "The part she hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers." - This sentence indicates at her being a usual girl with a usual nature, because it is the thing commonly disliked at schools. 

So the idea of the story slowly comes out of all this - no matter how clever the mechanical teacher can be, machine can't replace human being and give that love and tenderness to kids. 

To prove the idea, we should mention here the fact that when Margie went home after reading the book, her thoughts were about "the old schools they had when her grandfather's grandfather was a little boy". "Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the fun they had." Even the title of the story, which underlines the idea, repeated here to intensify its message.

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