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CONTENTS
180
VI. SAMPLES OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
Text 1
Her high heels, clacking across the marble foyer, made her think of ice cubes
rattling in a glass, and flowers, those autumn chrysanthemums in the urn at the
entrance, if touched they would shatter, splinter, she was sure, into frozen dust; yet the
house was warm, even somewhat overheated, but cold, and Sylvia shivered, but cold,
like the swollen wastes of the secretary’s face: Miss Mozart, who dressed all in white,
as though she were a nurse. Perhaps she really was; that, of course, could be the
answer. Mr. Revercomb, you are mad, and this is your nurse; she thought about it for
a moment: well, no. And now the butler brought her scarf. His beauty touched her:
slender, so gentle, a Negro with freckled skin and reddish, unreflecting eyes. As he
opened the door, Miss Mozart appeared, her starched uniform rustling dryly in the
hall. “We hope you will return,” she said, and handed Sylvia a sealed envelope. “Mr.
Revercomb was most particularly pleased.”
(from
Master Misery
by T.Capote)
Stylistic Analysis
The possessive and objective personal pronouns “her” in the first sentence of
the passage indicate that we deal with a typical “inmediasres” beginning of the story.
The name of the main personage (Sylvia) appears only five lines below; and though
the narration is told in the third person, it is full of in-sets of the inner and represented
inner speech of the character. The change of the types of narrative is marked by the
change of tenses (from Past to Present), the use of the second-person pronouns
(you/your) and the direct address (“Mr. Revercomb, you are mad, and this is your
nurse”). It is also marked by repetition (“but cold ...but cold”), parenthetical phrases
181
and conversational words (somewhat, perhaps, well, no). Structurally detached
attributes (“his beauty touched her: slender, so gentle, a Negro...”) are used as if in
imitation of the process of Sylvia’s making observations. The description of the
marble foyer produces an effect of a frozen, almost lifeless atmosphere of Mr.
Revercomb’s place. The effect is heightened by the use of the antithesis: “the house
was warm, even somewhat overheated, but cold”. The sound-denoting and sound-
implying vocabulary add to the general impression: the sound of the high heels,
“clacking across the marble foyer” is compared to “ice cubes rattling in a glass”; the
flowers in the urn, if touched, “would shatter, splinter ... into frozen dust.”
The metaphoric picture of this cold place is also created by the use of the
simile: the house was cold “like the snowy swollen wastes of the secretary’s face.”
The semantics of the word “wastes” in this metaphoric description contributes
to the illusion of lifelessness. The alliteration (s/w sounds) -traced also in the whole
passage - and the monotonously rhythmical structure of the phrase (plus the rhyming
elements of the assonance “wastes” - “face”, and later - “nurse”, “was”, “of course”)
convey an ominously frozen atmosphere of the marble hall. The cold, unfriendly
(despite Miss Mozart and the butler’s dutiful politeness), almost lethargic aura of the
house is enhanced by the deliberate domination of the white colour in the description
of the place and the secretary (ice, snowy, dressed all in white). It is intensified by the
implication of coldness and unfeelingness suggested by such lexis as “marble foyer”,
“her starched uniform rustling dryly.” This cold whiteness is foregrounded by being
contrasted with only two colourful and beautiful “details”: the bright autumn flowers
and the black butler. However they both, too, seemto be lacking in warmth and life:
the chrysanthemums are ready, if touched, “to shatter, splinter into frozen dust” and
the Negro’s reddish eyes are “unreflecting”. The general symbolic, menacing
atmosphere of this strange place (where people come to sell their dreams) is
emphasized by the character’s thoughts, guesses and doubts expressed explicitly: “Mr.
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Revercomb, you are mad, and this is your nurse; she thought about it for a moment:
well, no”.
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