Стилистический анализ рассказа Hector Hugh Munro "Tea"

I. Preface. Hector Hugh Munro, the British novelist and shot-story writer known as Saki, was born in Burma in 1870 and brought up in England. He traveled widely and became a successful journalist; for six years he acted as correspondent for The Morning Post in Poland, Russia, and Paris.He is best known for his short stories, which are humorous, sometimes with a touch of black humour, and full of biting wit and bizarre situations. Some of his short-story collections are Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, The Chronicles of Clovis, and Beasts and Superbeasts. He also published two novels, The Unbearable Bassington and When William Came. Saki was killed in France during the First World War, in 1916.

 

II. The plan of content.

The theme. Marriage of James Cushat-Prinkly.

The idea. Attitude to marriage and the vision of a family and family relations. The causes of marriage for young men and individual criteria in selecting future life partner. For some people, it's love, and/or the unity of souls, for others - a tea ceremony. Most people living in a certain layer of society, are influenced by its traditions and customs, and obey them.

 

III.  The plan of form.

1 James Cushat-Princkly is a single man in possession of a good fortune, and his female relations and friends decide that he needs a wife. Under scrutiny and guidance of women-folk of his home circle, James, one day, decides to make an offer a girl who will make him a successful party, in accordance with the opinion of his family. On his way through the Park, James  hears clock bells warning him that he will arrive at tea time at the home of Joan Sebastable, the woman he is about to propose to. As he detests the “tea ceremony”, with its dainty porcelain and tinkling voices, he deviates from this path to drop in on his cousin Rhoda, whom he discovers having a simple, impromptu tea in the middle of her hat-making. Rhoda talks about anything but sugar, milk and hot water and James seeing the absence of detested tea ceremony, proposes to Rhoda Ellam. But at the end of the narrative they were sitting at the table behind dainty porcelain, while Rhoda succumbs to the tinkling twenty-question mode of tea that James hates.

 

2 The work is written in the genre of humorous, satirical short story.

The author keen eye in the phenomena of their comic side and reveal the contradictions in the world, and then humorously managed to reflect this in the story. Auto brightly reveals lifestyle, attitude to life and marriage, ideas about family relationships of people of his age. Vivid examples the uses of humor are: but the actual proposal would have to be an individual effort (p12), Proposing marriage, even to a nice girl like Joan, was a rather irksome business (p12), If one’s soul was really enslaved at one’s mistress’s feet how could one talk coherently about weakened tea! (p13), …if he had spoken to her about divans and Nubian pages she would have urged him to take a week’s holiday at the seaside (p13), …but, after all, it was James’s wife who was in question, and his tastes had some claim to be considered (p15).

 

 

3 The story can be divided into several logical parts:

1. in the first part we meet with James Cushat-Princkly, a young man who has always had a settled conviction that one of these days he will marry; up to the age of thirty-four he has done nothing to justify that conviction what arouse a certain amount of impatience among the sentimentally-minded women-folk of his home circle. James gets his inheritance and relatives are taking active steps to find a worthy wife for him.
2. in the second part James walks towards the Sebastable residence to propose Joan Sebasteybl, But the sound of a clock reminded him that he will arrive at the Sebastable mansion just at the hour of afternoon tea ceremony which he detests scary.
3. in the third part James terrified at the thought of the tea ceremony, visits his remote cousin Rhoda Ellam, in order to delay his visit to Sebasteybls and come to the end of the tea ceremony. Here Cushat-Princkly found that he is enjoying an excellent tea of Rhoda without dainty porcelain, silver fittings and having to answer many insignificant questions, which James hated so much.
4. the fourth part is when James returns home and announces that he is engaged to be married. But his bride is Rhoda Ellam. And then we know that one day after the honeymoon, when James comes to his new home where he is met Rhoda, sitting at a low table, behind a service of dainty porcelain and gleaming silver. There is a pleasant tinkling note in her voice as she hands him a cup asking him many little insignificant questions.

 

4 The events take place in London, England in the 19th century.

5 Compositional design.

The plot-structure of the story.

 

Exposition. We learn about James Cushat-Princkly, a young man of thirty-four years old. After receiving an inheritance, he is under more closely monitored and pressure from their relatives, who are eager to marry him.

Rising action take place when after receiving an inheritance, under the influence and weight of his female relations and friends, James decides to marry one day. James walks across the Park towards the Sebastable residence to make suggestions the girl from a wealthy family Joan Sebasteyble, which is the most suitable bride for James in the opinion of his relatives. But the sound of a clock striking half-past four makes it clear to him that he will arrive at the Sebastable mansion just at the hour of afternoon tea. However, he detests the whole system of afternoon tea, with it’s a low table, dainty porcelain, silver fittings and pleasantly tinkling voices in cascade of solicitous little questions. James dreams of tea presided over from a comfortable divan and served by a Nubian page, all in silence.

Conflict: terrified at the thought of the tea ceremony, the time of which he inevitably will come to Sebasteyble residence. He decides to visit his remote cousin Rhoda Ellam in order to delay his visit to Sebasteybles and come to the end of the tea ceremony. Rhoda serves tea on the edge of a worktable with scrounged-up cups and talks about anything but his detested questions about sugar, milk and hot water. Here Cushat-Princkly found that he is enjoing an excellent tea without dainty porcelain, silver fittings and having to answer many insignificant questions. Then comes Climax, when James is going to talk with Rhoda, but we do not know about. There is a pause. What James undertake on?

Falling actions comes when James returns home and announces that he is engaged to be married. But his bride is Rhoda Ellam.

The Denouement comes when in one day after the honeymoon, James comes to his new home where he is met Rhoda, sitting at a low table, behind a service of dainty porcelain and gleaming silver. There is a pleasant tinkling note in her voice as she hands him a cup asking him many little insignificant questions.

 

The story has a closed type of plot development.

 

Point of view is not located as there is no narrator figure.

 

The form of narration is mainly narrative (narration) with the elements of description and dialogue.

 

The protagonist in the story is James Cushat-Princkly, antagonists are female relatives of James and others - supporters of a secular ceremony tea.

 

James Cushat-Princkly - the main character of the story, a young man thirty-four year old, who is not sufficiently obstinate or indifferent to home influences to disregard the obviously expressed wish of his family to marry. He himself does not want to marry but does not reject the very idea ​​marriage. So he marries. He hates the secular ritual of tea with it’s a low table, dainty porcelain, silver fittings and pleasantly tinkling voices in cascade of solicitous little questions. Therefore, it makes a proposal to not rich Rhoda Ellam, instead of wealthy Joan Sebastable, hoping that Rhoda will save him from the hated tea ceremony.

Joan Sebastable - a young woman from a wealthy family, which is the most suitable wife for James in the opinion of his female relatives.

 

Rhoda Ellam - a remote cousin of James, not a rich young woman, who made a living by creating hats. She serves a simple, impromptu tea, so James would marry her. However, becoming the wife of James, she carries out the same tea ceremony, as well as all female representatives of secular society. It can be inferred that her new environment, Granchester Square (an invented name representing the affluence of James and his family) has had some influence on her.

 

6     In the story tea is used as a symbol to show different ways of life, once a nice rich woman and the other with straitened circumstances and a simple life. But finally the two stiles ended up in the same way. "They were sitting at the table behind dainty porcelain, while they were drinking TEA."

 

To create an atmosphere of idleness, leisure, luxury and wealth of secular tea ceremony, the author uses such images of things as dainty porcelain and silver fittings, an array of silver kettles and cream-jugs and delicate porcelain tea-cups, gleaming silver.

 

7. Emotional atmosphere of the story can be described as humorous or funny and amusing.

 

 

8.  Language peculiarities

1) Choice of words.

In the story, the author uses following key words: marriage. Woman-folk. Suitable woman, tea, low table, dainty porcelain, silver, silver fittings, tinkle or tinkling pleasantly, marry.

 

Emotionally colored words: solemn- торжественный

 

Borrows words: Muscovy ducks (p12), Moses (p14)

 

In the text of the story archaism musings (p.12) occurs.

 

Synonyms: pleading – beseeching – умоляющий, fowls – hens – курицы, incomparable – unutterable – несравнимый, невыразительный.

 

Antonyms: preliminary – subsequent – предварительный/последующий, irksome – happy – раздражительный/счастливый

 

Derivatives: marriage – married, amusing – amusingly – забавный/ забавно

Semantic sets: woman-folk, matronly friends, marriage, domesticity, women marriageable girl, suitable young woman,

Afternoon tea, silver kettles, cream-jugs, porcelain, teacup, tea, sugar, milk, cream, tea-time

 

2)   Style

a) Syntactic peculiarities

The author uses both simple and compound sentences. They are both small (contain under 15 words in one sentences) and big (more 15 words)

 

Syndetic connection is uses in

Cushat-Prinkly had read of such things in scores of novels, and hundreds of actual experiences had told him that they were true to life. (p13)

Asyndetic

A momentary deliverance presented itself; on one floor of a narrow little house at the noisier end of Esquimault Street lived Rhoda Ellam, a sort of remote cousin, who made a living by creating hats out of costly materials.

 

In the story the author uses the syntactic expressive means such as repetitions, polysyndeton, periphrasis, rhetorical questions.

 

Repetitions: the sentimentally-minded women-folk of his home circle; his mother, his sisters, an aunt-in-residence (p11)

 

Polysyndeton: Joan would be seated at a low table, spread with an array of silver kettles and cream-jugs and delicate porcelain tea-cups…(p.12), without drawn-out chatter about cream and sugar and hot water(p.13), she cut the bread- and-butter with a masterly skill and produced red pepper and sliced lemon(p.14).

 

Periphrasis: departed this life (p.11), become enamoured (p.11), had a settled conviction(p.11)

 

Rhetorical questions:  “You like it weaker than that, don’t you? Shall I put some more hot water to it? No?” (p.15)

 

Interjections: “Ah, we knew! (p.15).

 

b) Lexical expressive means used in the story include epithet, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, allusion, ironi, idiom.

Epithet : a group of unexercised terrier (p11), walk-beseeching dog eyes.

Metaphor: his home circle(p.11), his dilatory approach to the married state(p.11), was far from being inarticulate(p.11), the pleading of several pairs of walk- beseeching dog-eyes (p.11), mind’s eye (p.11), her voice would tinkle pleasantly (p.12), bosom of his family (p.15)

Simile: we live in a series of rushes–like the infant Moses (p.14)

He liked and admired a great many women collectively and dispassionately without singling out one for especial matrimonial consideration, just as one might admire the Alps without feeling that one wanted any particular peak as one’s own private property.(p11).

 

Hyperbole: and hundreds of actual experiences had told him that they were true to life (p.13), Thousands of women, at this solemn afternoon hour (p.13)

 

Allusion: Muscovy duck (p12), Nubian page (p13), dainties (p13), mistress (p13), Mayfair (p13), Goodwood (p.14), the infant Moses (p14).

 

Idiom: frame of mind (p.12) – расположение духа, настроение, Now tell me about hundreds of things(p.14)

 

c) Phonetic expressive means.

Onomatopoeia. to tinkle pleasantly, tinkling note, their voices tinkling pleasantly.

 

 

VI. Conclusion.

 

  In his story, Saki clearly reflects the psychology of society and the hero of the 19th century society. The story differs brilliance of style and a pointed ridicule of many social vices. Saki's humour and satire is aimed at the stuffier side of London life. This story shows a circular snap ending which allows for happy or humorous endings, but in Saki’s hands is even ironic. Tea as a ritual receives ironic treatment in "Tea". It parodies the traditional belief in marriage as a union of spirits. Through the prism of humor and irony, Saki tells us about how people of that time makes one of the most important decisions of his life. The writer clearly reflects the role of society in making that decision, and also shows the influence of society on the people falling in his lap. When we read Saki's short story we delighted simply by his powers of invention. However, behind every humorous situation there is an attack on some element of Victorian or Edwardian life and society.