It was a little boy’s heart that was bleeding

A common device to achieve emphasis is to place “it is” or “it was” before the member of the sentence that is to be accentuated. It is usually followed by a clause introduced by “that” or “who”.

What mayn’t I hear her singing? Why don’t she ever sing to me…?

The violation of grammar rules that we see here may occur in children’s speech.

7. The cook looked at the housemaid; the housemaid looked knowingly at the footman – the awful kitchen inquisition…

The stylistic device used in this sentence is known as parallelism. It consists in the similarity of the syntactical structure of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. Parallel constructions are often accompanied by the repetition of one or more words. In the sentence analysed these words are “cook” and “housemaid”. The latter word completes the first clause and is repeated at the opening of the second clause. The sameness of the structure and vocabulary accentuates the fact that everyone in the servants’ quarters was drawn into gossip.

Scandal lived in the kitchens as well as in the parlours. According to Thackeray, the servants gossiped about their masters, criticized them and passed their sentence on them. The satirical effect is heightened by juxtaposing the words “kitchen” and “inquisition” so different in sphere of usage.

Bon Dieu! It is awful, that servants’ inquisition!

Thackeray here digresses from the narration expressing his views on contemporary society. Such digressions from the thread of narration could be traced throughout the novel and are very characteristic of Thackeray’s manner of writing. Here the author comments on the events described, reflects on the vices of the bourgeois world, expresses his philosophical views on life.

9. Discovery walks respectfully up to her… with Calumny…

The abstract nouns “discovery” and “calumny” are used instead of the names of the persons who were the living embodiments of these vices, who were engaged in slander (calumny), in discovering the particulars of other people’s life. This transfer of the name of one object to another with which it is in some way connected is known as metonymy. Here it comes very close to allegory and serves to create a physically palpable image of slander and gossip.

10. Madam, your secret will be talked over… If you are guilty, have a care of appearances…

The use of the direct address as well as the use of the second person pronoun involves the reader into the events of the book and lends a greater generalizing force to the passage.

11.“Vanity Fair” is the name Thackeray gave to English aristocratic and bourgeois society. The title of the book is highly symbolic and shows Thackeray’s attitude towards contemporary society. He brands it as vain, mean, vicious and corrupt. The title can be traced back to the novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan (1628 - 1688). The pilgrims come to the city of Vanity and there at Vanity Fair “houses, lands, trades, places, honours… and delights of all sorts as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children… could be sold and bought”.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1180