College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

ENGLISH 1020
[George J. Wilkerson, Ph.D., Instructor]

ANALYZING SHORT STORIES

CHAPTER SIX
LANGUAGE

"Did you ever hear of planting hands?"

"Can't say I have ma'am."

"Well, I can only tell you what it feels like. It's when
you're picking off the buds you don't want. Everything
goes right down into your fingertips. You watch your
fingers work. They do it themselves. You can feel how it is.
They pick and pick the buds. They never make a mistake.
They're with the plant. Do you see? Your fingers and the
plant. You can feel that, right up your arm. They know.
They never make a mistake. You can feel it. When you're
like that you can't do anything wrong. Do you see that?
Can you understand that?"
                    [from The Chrysanthemums, by John
Steinbeck]

The essence of any story is its language: its diction, images, symbolism, irony, dialog,
and syntax. Joining words and sentences into a cohesive narrative is what drives the
other elements. Understanding and interpreting a story fully is impossible without
closely analyzing the aspects of its language. Only by reading, and rereading, can we
reach a full appreciation of the story and the work that went into its creation.

DICTION

Diction refers to the writer's choice of words. Good writers search for "just the right
word." This "word searching" focuses on the connotation and denotation of words.

Denotation and Connotation

The denotation of a word is its exact, dictionary definition. The connotation is the
suggested or associated meaning. While the denotation of a word like "trash" may be
"useless matter," its connotation suggests filth, slovenliness, and so on. The writer can
imply a great deal about something by using a strongly connotative word. For example,
when describing a character's clothing, the writer can choose any of the following
nouns. Like the word clothing itself, these words refer to the way the character is
dressed, but each has a different connotation.
Your choice of apparel is very interesting.
Where did you find that get-up?
   His garb is unfamiliar to us.
   I changed into my work gear.

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

    He wore real fancy duds.

     Is formal attire required?
      His raiment bore the mark of a nobleman.

The formality of the word "apparel" suggests elegance, while the word "get-up"
suggests a costume. "Garb" sounds medieval, like something a knight would wear,
while "work gear" is more industrial. "Fancy duds" might be used to describe western
wear. "Attire" sounds very polite, and like "apparel," it's associated with elegance.
"Raiment," on the other hand, is an archaic word commonly associated with historical
times.

The following adjectives may be used to describe a character who is slightly built:
slender, slim, lean, gaunt, scrawny, skinny, thin, delicate, attenuated, or emaciated. The
choice of which word to use depends on what the writer wants you to associate with the
character.

The examples below illustrate the importance of diction and how the connotations of the
words chosen for naming and describing things and actions imply the writer's attitude
toward the subject and create a specific image for the reader.

In this example from "Paul's Case," by Willa Cather, the connotative diction creates a
contrast between the woman, who is wearing "togs," and the rest of the crowd, who are
wearing "gay colors."

Paul was startled for a moment, and had the feeling of wanting to put her out;
what business had she here among all these fine people and gay colors? He
looked her over and decided that she was not appropriately dressed and must be a
fool to sit downstairs in such togs.

Before the narrator in Stephen Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" reveals the
direction this story will take, he has established the nature of his characters through the
diction. The man has "brick-colored" hands. The diction connotes not only redness, but
also hardness and strength. He looks down at his "attire," which supports the earlier
suggestion of formal clothing: it's both "new" and "black."

A newly married pair had boarded this coach at San Antonio. The man's face was
reddened from many days in the wind and sun, and a direct result of his new
black clothes was that his brick-colored hands are constantly performing in a most
conscious fashion. From time to time he looks down respectfully at his attire. He
sat with a hand on each knee, like a man waiting in a barber's shop. The glances
he devoted to other passengers were furtive and shy.

The bride was not pretty, nor was she very young. She wore a dress of blue
cashmere, with small reservations of velvet here and there, and steel buttons
abounding. She continually twisted her head to regard her puff sleeves, very stiff,
straight, and high. They embarrassed her. It was quite apparent that she had
cooked, and that she expected to cook, dutifully. The blushes caused by the
careless scrutiny of some passengers as she had entered the car were strange to
see upon this plain, under-class countenance, which was drawn in placid, almost
emotionless lines.

Crane carefully chose words that tell us that the bride is not from a wealthy or even a
middle-class background; however, saying "lower-class" would have prompted the
negativity of that term. The bride's dress has small "reservations of velvet." That is not a
usual use of the word; it connotes a very conservative dress. And her "countenance" is

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

"under-class."

IMAGERY

The mental impressions evoked by words and phrases are the imagery of a story. An
effective description creates an image, a sensory impression, in the reader's mind. The
image is more than visual. The author can appeal to any of the senses; hearing, sight,
smell, touch, and taste to vivify events, characters, settings, and the other elements.

Literal and Figurative Images

If a word or phrase can only be interpreted one way, it is said to be literal. A literal
image is created by the use of such unambiguous words and phrases. A figurative
image, on the other hand, relies on the associated meanings of a word or phrase. A
statement like... "His mother entered the room" creates a simple, literal image. We have
a mental picture of a woman entering the room. All we know is that the woman is the
speaker's mother. The writer is not suggesting anything more.

But when the writer says, "The odor of tobacco preceded his mother's cold and haughty
entrance" figurative and literal meanings associated with "cold" and "haughty" come
into play, as well as the implications of the smell of tobacco. These associations
demand that the reader understand that the word "cold" is not meant literally. We not
only know that the speaker's mother has entered the room, but we also have a feeling
for the woman. It's a feeling that touches our senses, and if we correctly understand its
meaning, "cold" tells us the woman is unfriendly and aloof. That is what figurative
imagery contributes to the story.

"Haughty" means proud, arrogant, and snobbish, and adds to the image the perception
of the woman as proud, arrogant, and snobbish. We don't need to be familiar with the
associated meaning of the word because there is none. That is a literal use of imagery.

Similes and Metaphors

The most common forms of figurative imagery are the simile and the metaphor. A
simile is a direct comparison introduced by the word "like" or "as." A metaphor is an
implied comparison. The simile says "A is like B," whereas the metaphor says that "A is
B." The metaphor is stronger, more emphatic, than the simile. It is one thing to say
someone eats like a pig, but a stronger insult to say someone is a pig.

Steinbeck begins "The Chrysanthemums" this way: "On every side it sat like a lid on
the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." This description begins with a
simile: the fog is like a lid. It closes with a metaphor: the fog "made of the great valley
a closed pot." The valley, with the fog over it, does not look like a pot, it is a pot, a
closed pot. Steinbeck uses the simile and the metaphor to describe the valley, but there
is more here than a simple physical description. The metaphor of the closed pot
represents Elisa's situation. She is trapped. She is like something in a pot with a lid on it.

When an author uses figurative rather than literal language, the image is more vivid. For
example:
Instead of a character's voice being it may sound like fingernails raking across a
harsh and screechy chalkboard.
Instead of someone leaving quickly... ...she may fly from the room
Instead of a room being stale or
...it may smell an like an old pair of sneakers.
musty...
Instead of a man wandering aimlessly ...he may be a rudderless craft at the mercy of
around town... wind and currents.

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

Those images are also more vivid because they involve the comparison of two
dissimilar things: the voice and the chalkboard-raking sound, walking and flying, air
and sneaker odor, walking and floating. By comparing one thing with something
extremely different from itself, an author gives that thing more meaning.

The examples that follow illustrate the uses of imagery to create an immediate sense of
character, setting, and tone.

Imagery and Character

"But as they approached Miss Dove's room their disorder began to vanish. They
pulled their excitement in, like a proud but well-broken pony."

"The hat was summertime. It was deep and soft like summer. It caused deep soft
scallops of shadow, like summer shadows under the densest trees, to fall across
her face."

Imagery and Setting

"The buggy is mine. It is made of wicker, rather unraveled, and the wheels
wobble like a drunkard's legs."

Imagery and Tone

"Possibly we doze; but the beginnings of dawn splash us like cold water: we're up,
wide-eyed and wandering while we wait for others to waken."

"A cheery crunch, scraps of miniature thunder sound as the [pecan] shells
collapse and the golden mound of sweet oily ivory meat mounts in the milk-glass
bowl."

"Then Sam's horn rang in the wet gray woods and again and again; there was a
boiling wave of dogs about them, with Tennie's Jim and Boon Hoggan whipping
them back after each had had a taste of the blood"

Allusions

An allusion is a type of imagery that uses a reference to a mythological, religious,

historical, or literary figure, place, or event. For example, a character may be described
as living in a place resembling the Augean stables, or he may be called a Hamlet of
decision-makers. These involve references to mythology (the Augean stables) and
literature (Shakespeare's Hamlet) are effective only if the reader has some knowledge
and understanding of them. An author who uses allusions runs the risk that a reader may
not be familiar with them. Such references limit their understanding to those readers
with a knowledge of the specific references.

Repetition

Repetition emphasizes an image and underscores its importance to the central idea of
the story. Sometimes an author creates an image and refers to it later. In "The
Chrysanthemums," Steinbeck makes frequent references to Elisa Allen's hands. They are
repeatedly described as strong, vital, or full of energy. At the end of the story, the image
of Elisa crying weakly is made more effective because it stands in sharp contrast to the
repeated images of her strength.

SYMBOLISM

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

A symbol is something that represents or suggests something else. We live with and
respond to symbols, and we take them for granted. For example, if we see a building
with a cross on top, we assume it is a Christian church. In the U.S., if we form a circle
with our thumb and forefinger and raise our hand for someone to see, we indicating our
approval that everything is "okay." If we're driving down a street and see a blinking red
light, we recognize it as a signal to stop; red symbolizes danger. And if we see a
gigantic pair of glasses above an office, we assume it's the office of an optometrist.

As the following examples illustrate, a symbol represents or suggests something else. In

each case, an object or action communicates a message. Some authors use symbols in
their work for a similar reason to represent an idea. A character, an object, or an
incident that embodies an idea or quality can be a symbol. Symbolism allows an author
to imply things, to convey ideas without actually stating them; it is literary shorthand,
which compresses several meanings into a single person, object, or event.

Universal Symbols
Some symbols are recognized quickly and universally . Because they are used so
widely, an author can assume we'll understand them. Very few symbols, however,
are recognized worldwide. In the Euro/American culture, a dove represents peace;
a long journey signifies life; a character's immersion in water suggests baptism or
initiation into a way of life; springtime often symbolizes life or rebirth; and winter
suggests death. But those symbols are not recognized in all parts of the world.
The star in Arthur Clarke's story by that title is a Christian symbol associated with
the birth of Christ.

Contextual Symbols
Some symbols derive meaning from their context in a aprticular work. The
furniture and clothing burned by Armand at the end of "Desiree's Baby" by Kate
Chopin become symbols of his marriage to Desiree.

Characters as Symbols
Characters may be symbolic because of what they do or even because of the
name the author gives them. There is symbolism (as well as irony, which we
discuss later) in the choice of Fortunato as one character's name in Poe's "The
Cask of Amontillado." The character may have been fortunate, or he may have
acquired a fortune before the story begins, but he soon becomes a symbol of
someone very unfortunate.

Objects as Symbols
The symbolic use of objects is even more common than symbolic characters. In
Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," the marshall does not have a gun. A
gun, symbolic of manhood, is also symbolic of authority and, even more
important to the central idea of this story, of the fact that the town is becoming
civilized. Similarly, in John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the flowers in
Elisa's gardens become symbols of the children she has never borne. Therefore,
the tinker's disregard for the flowers takes on a larger meaning.

Actions as Symbols
Symbolic action, like characters and objects, can embody ideas. Suicide may be
one of the most symbolic actions anyone can take. In Willa Cather's "Paul's
Case," Paul's suicide is an action that defines the entire story. The boy is trapped;
death is the only escape. When Armand burns the furniture in Kate Chopin's
"Desiree's Baby," his actions symbolize his feelings and, on a larger scale, the
intensity of racism.

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

Symbolism, like imagery, is helpful in expressing various meanings or ideas concisely.

Also, as the preceding examples demonstrate, symbols strengthen or completely carry
the meaning of a story. An author chooses symbols that are more than apt; they add
depth to the story and are appropriate to the central idea.

Allegory: The Symbolic Story

An allegory is a story in which symbolism is dominant; virtually every action,
character, and place represents something an abstraction that usually promotes moral
values or qualities. In an allegory, the idea conveyed is more important than the
narrative itself. Allegory is rare in modern fiction, but "The White Knight" by Eric Nicol
is one example; Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Celestial Railroad," a wry modernization
of The Pilgrim's Progress, is another.

IRONY

Irony is the use of language to express a discrepancy between appearance and reality.
It's useful to a writer because, like imagery and symbolism, irony compresses or implies
meaning in a brief statement. There are three basic types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and
situational.

Verbal Irony
Verbal irony involves an obvious discrepancy between what a speaker says and
what the reader knows the character really means. In the following dialogue from
Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," verbal irony appears as Montresor and
Fortunato discuss the latter's cough. Montresor, who is taking Fortunato into the
catacombs to kill him, replies in a sarcastic way:
"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious.
You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was.
You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you
will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi __"

"Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall
not die of a cough."

"True true," I replied..."

From the context, we know that Montresor despises Fortunato and is not likely to
let him turn back. We also appreciate the ironic significance of Montressor's reply
that Fortunato "truly shall not die of a cough."

Dramatic Irony
When there is a discrepancy between what a character says or perceives and what
the reader knows to be true, dramatic irony is at work. In Thurber's "The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty," the reader knows things about Mitty that his wife does not
realize. Because of Thurber's use of dramatic irony, our impression of Mitty is
quite different from that of his wife.

Something struck his shoulder. "I've been looking all over this hotel for
you," said Mrs. Mitty. "Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How did
you expect me to find you?"

"Things close in," said Walter Mitty vaguely.

"What?" Mrs. Mitty said. "Did you get the what's-its-name? The puppy
biscuit? What's in that box?"

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

"Overshoes," said Mitty. "Couldn't you have put them on in the store?"

"I was thinking," said Walter Mitty. "Does it ever occur to you that I am
sometimes thinking?"

She looked at him. "I'm going to take your temperature when I get you
home," she said.

Mrs. Mitty thinks Walter is sick, but we know what's going on because we have
been inside his mind.

Steinbeck uses dramatic irony in "The Chrysanthemums when Elisa responds to

her husband's offer to take her to the fights.

"Oh no," she says, "I don't want to go. I'm sure I don't.

It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty."

The reader, unlike Elisa's husband, knows that she desperately wants to
experience things she has never known; however, wine with dinner is the only
excitement she seems prepared to risk.

Situational Irony
A more interesting and usually more important kind of irony is that which
involves a discrepancy between what a character (or the reader) expects to
happen and what actually does happen. The conflict and the central idea of a
story may both turn on an ironic situation.

For example, it is ironic that Armand, the husband and father in "Desiree's Baby,"
finally discovers that he not the loving wife he drove away, is black.

Bruno Bettelheim has said, "If the artist uses irony to achieve his goal, he presents
his vision as if seen in a mirror that distorts, to make us aware of what would
otherwise escape us, to force us to respond to that which we would rather avoid."
The writer juxtaposes contrasting ideas so that a character (or the reader) must
view the world in a new and different way. In that way, the writer uses irony to
convey the central idea, the writer's view.

DIALOGUE

Dialogue refers to the words spoken between two or more characters. Dialogue, which
is easy to spot because it is set off by quotation marks, serves a variety of purposes:

To inform (or misinform) the reader

To reveal or develop a conflict
To move the plot (story line) forward
To build suspense
To reveal character

Dialogue often provides indirect, less obvious clues to character, conflict, and other
story elements, as in the following examples:

In this passage from Stephen Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," the
characters are confronting each other, but we get the impression that they aren't
deadly serious, despite the fact that one is carrying a gun. Notice that the writer

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

gets around the awkward repetition of "he said" by using descriptions of the
character's movements to tell us who is speaking. A new paragraph is a sign that
the speaker has changed.

"Tried to sneak up on me," he said. "Tried to sneak up on me!" His eyes grew
more baleful. As Potter made a slight movement, the man thrust his revolver
venomously forward. "No; don't you do it, Jack Potter. Don't you move a finger
toward a gun just yet. Don't you move an eyelash. The time has come for me to
settle with you, and I'm goin' to do it my own way, and loaf along with no
interferin'. So if you don't want a gun bent on you, just mind what I tell you."

Potter looked at his enemy. "I ain't got a gun on me, Scratchy," he said. "Honest,
I ain't." He was stiffening and steadying, but yet somewhere at the back of his
mind a vision of the Pullman floated: the sea-green figured velvet, the shining
brass, silver, and glass, the wood that gleamed as darkly brilliant as the surface
of a pool of oil all the glory of the marriage, the environment of the new estate.
"You know I fight when it comes to fighting, Scratchy Wilson; but I ain't got a gun
on me. You'll have to do all the shootin' yourself." His enemy's face went livid. He
stepped forward, and flashed his weapon to and fro before Potter's chest. "Don't
you tell me you ain't got no gun on you, you whelp. Don't tell me no lie like that.
There ain't a man in Texas ever seen you without no gun. Don't take me for no
kid." His eyes blazed with light, and his throat worked like a pump.

A new paragraph is a sign that the speaker has changed; so is the accompaniment
of an action with a line of dialogue, as in this next example from John
Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums."

"Henry," she asked, "could we have wine at dinner?"

"Sure we could. Say! That will be fine."

She was silent for a while; then she said, "Henry, at those prize fights do
the men hurt each other very much?"

"Sometimes a little, not often. Why?"

"Well, I've read how they break noses, and blood runs down their chests.
I've read how the fighting gloves get heavy and soggy with blood."

He looked around at her. "What's the matter, Elisa. I didn't know you read
things like that." He brought the car to a stop, then turned to the right over
the Salinas River bridge.

"Do any women ever go to the fights?" she asked.

"Oh, sure, some. What's the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I don't think
you'd like it, but I'll take you if you really want to go."

She relaxed limply in the seat. "Oh, no. I don't want to go. I'm sure I don't."
Her face was turned away from him. "It will be enough if we can have
wine. It will be plenty."

When Elisa's husband looks around at her, in this passage from John
Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," we know that the next line of dialogue
is his. This is a dialogue between a husband and wife whose relationship is

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

not very deep. The husband's statements, contrasted with the questions from
his wife (which even he recognizes as unusual) reveal her mood and the
nature of the relationship between them.

Sometimes, the writer uses other methods to show us character, as in this next
example from "A & P," by John Updike.

"Did you say something, Sammy?"

"I said I quit." "I thought you did."

"You didn't have to embarrass them."

"It was they who were embarrassing us."

I started to say something that came out "Fiddle-de-do." It's a saying of my

grandmother's, and I know she would have been pleased.

"I don't think you know what you're saying," Lengel said.

"I know you don't," I said. "But I do."

Updike has Sammy quitting his job in an effort to impress the girls who
have just been asked to leave the store. The manager is direct and
commanding in his speech, but Sammy is clearly confused because he can't
admit his real reason for quitting. The "Fiddle-de-do" at the end of the
example reaffirms that. Without having him say so directly, Updike shows
us what kind of a person he is: a teenager whose raging hormones cause
him to take an action he knows very soon he'll regret for a long time.

Dialogue is part of the story as a whole. Take note of things like the mood of the
character speaking, the situation the character is in, and the character's
relationship to others.

SYNTAX

Syntax refers to sentence structure, the arrangement of words within a sentence. It may
be the single most important factor in the telling of a story, as in this excerpt from
"Desiree's Baby":

Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore.
Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden gloss from ice brown
meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off
plantation of Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble
bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds.

She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of
the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.

Each of the sentences in that passage begins with a basic subject-verb structure. This
focuses the reader's attention on the action and conveys Desiree's single-mindedness
and determination. It leads us to the final phrase "she did not come back again" in a
way that underscores its finality and harshness.

In this next passage, from Arthur Clarke's "The Star," the author achieves a serious tone

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College English / ENGL 1010: Analyzing Short Stories

by first laying out the arguments that his colleagues will give (notice how they are
equally structured) and then leads us to the solemn pronouncement "there is no God."

I know the answers that my colleagues will give when they get back to Earth.
They will say that the universe has no purpose and no plan, that since a hundred
suns exploded every year in our galaxy, at this very moment some race is dying in
the depths of space. Whether that race has done good or evil during its lifetime
will make no difference in the end: there is no divine justice, for there is no God.

The syntax underscores what's been happening with the character. The two balanced
phrases "the universe has no purpose and no plan, that since a hundred suns exploded
every year in our galaxy, at this very moment some race is dying in the depths of space"
lead to the next statement, that it "will make no difference in the end," which is
punctuated by the final two phrases.

The Periodic Sentence

This is a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the very end. The writer
creates suspense or prolongs our interest with such a sentence because the main idea
(and our understanding of it) appears at the end. The following, closing sentence of
"Desiree's Baby," follows this structure.

"But above all," she wrote, "night and day, I thank God for having so arranged
our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him,
belongs to the race that is spread with the brand of slavery."

Only at the very end do we realize the irony of Armand's actions and the great injustice
that Desiree has suffered. The ending startles us, partly as a result of the syntax of the
final sentence. Arranged any other way, the ending might not have been as effective.

All material on this and subsequent pages

is the property of George J. Wilkerson ©. Unless otherwise specified, you may not
reproduce the contents in any form without permission.

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