INTERPRETATION

This fragment is taken from the story (book) ... by ... This fragment belongs to the
fiction literature. It goes without saying that the title of the story is significant. The
author has chosen it in order to emphasise the narration, The author has chosen a ...
person narrator. He is (isn't) a participant of the story. The narrator doesn't express
his plain attitude towards the character. He gives us opportunity to make
up cur own point of view. It means that he wants to emphasise the major
character's perception of things. Saying about literary image I can't help saying
that the author uses a lot of literary images. For example...
Simile - is used to point the analogy between various qualities of objects.
Hyperbola - is used to sharpen our understanding of the utterance.
Enumeration - the author uses in order to display some kind of semantic
homogeneity.
Metaphor - to underline the similarity of the given notions.
Oxymoron - to show the attitude of the speaker, to produce an
epigrammatic effect.
Repetition - is used to fix our attention on the key word of the utterance to show
that the speaker is under the stress of strong emotion.
The author uses a lot of SDs in order to emphasise the narration of the story, The
protagonist of this fragment is...
His name is significant. We realise from the story that he is a common (flat,
stereotyped) character. Because his personality changes (personality trades
remains equal (unchangeable) through the whole story. Speaking about
motivation of the characters, I think that external (internal) forces affect their
behaviour. The main conflict here...
We may say that the interna! and external conflict are present here.
The internal conflict is in the mind of... The conflict between ... and nature...
The plot is organised chronologically. It goes without saying that the plot is open,
because not all elements of F.D. are represented. The development of events is
presented entirely by dialogue. We can predict... It might be a conflict. The
author describes the setting place very vividly.
In the exposition the author introduces the characters and the circumstances to the
reader.
There is no exposition the author doesn't explain the situation in which the main
action is to occur.
The plot is directed by events / characters.
The flashback occurs when..

HOW TO ENTERPRET THE STORY (example)

The story under analysis is "The Japanese Quince" by John Galsworthy. J.
Galsworthy is considered one of t h e most prominent English writers of the end of
the 19th and t h e beginning of the 20th centuries. "The Japanese Quince" is devoted
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to the life of rich upper-middle class people. The idea of the story is that
businessmen in t h e i r daily routine have no time to look at the t h i n g s around
them. All day long they are busy with making money, they do not pay attention to
the sky, to the weather, to nature in general. This story is a signal for us to stop
sometimes and see that the sky is blue and clean, the ground is covered with green
grass, i.e. there are a lot of beautiful and interesting things besides our business.
Galsworthy used the third person point of view in this story. It helps to create the
atmosphere of objectiveness, characters are viewed as we would view other
people in normal life. The story is based on the principle of analogy. We observe
only 2 characters. But the author depicts them as brothers-twins. They are alike in
everything: in their physical appearances, in their spiritual and mental make-up, in
the stand they take on a l l essential issues of lile. This fact proves that there are a
lot of people of such kind as Mr. Nilson and Mr. Tandram. The story goes on early
in t h e morning in the garden. All the events go on during half an hour before
breakfast (setting-place).
"The Japanese Quince" starts with exposition. Mr. Nilson, well-known in the City,
a man of business stood up opened the window early in the morning and
experienced a peculiar sweetish sensation in the back of his throat. The author
describes it as a feeling of emptiness because it was of the unknown origin for Mr.
Nilson. Hooking the window back Mr. Nilson saw a little tree in blossom. But for
him it only proved that spring had come at last.
While depicting Mr. Nilson the author uses descriptive attributes. His cheeks
were firm and well-coloured, his moustaches were neat and brown, his eyes were
round, well-opened, clear. Everything in his appearance reassured of his good
health. He went d o w n s t a i r s a n d , o f course, as a real businessman, he began
reading a newspaper early in the morning. But again he became aware of that
sweetish feeling. In this case the author uses the attribute "queer" that proves that
Mr. Nilson had a strict day schedule, and that feeling was out of it. As there was
time before breakfast, half an hour, he decided to have a walk in the garden, of
course, with the morning newspaper as a real businessman. It was impossible
for him to walk without thinking about his affairs. While walking he tried to
remember what he had eaten the night before, it occurred to him that it might be
some dish smell affecting him. He was on the point of going back when a black-
bird began singing. Mr. Nilson looked up and saw a little tree for the second time.
He was shocked and impressed. The choice of words proves this fact. The author doesn’t
use neutral "look'' but emotionally coloured ''stare'' together with the adverb
“curiously”. Now Mr. Nilson really noticed the tree. We observe t h e description
of the tree. Just simple descriptive attributes are used, Blossoms were pink and
white, leaves were little, bright green, round and spiky.
Epithet is used in the description: the tree was prety (as if it was a young girl). Mr.
Nilson smiled. He had a pleasant feeling that he was the only person in the world
observing the beauty of the tree. He was happy. And then the climax of the story
comes. It turned out that Mr. Nilson was not the only person in the garden. Mr.
Tandram, Mr. N i l s o n ' s next-door neighbour, was in the garden, too. He is
described analogously, even the same words are used. Mr. Tandram was well-
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known in the City, his appearance proved h i s good health. Neighbours were even
dressed in the same way, they had black frock-coat on. Though they were
neighbours they had not occasion to speak to one another, they even d i d n ' t know
what to speak about if it was not connected with business. Their dialogue is short,
laconic, it's connected with the name of the tree, and the blackbirds on it. They
were so impressed t h a t they even liked one another. They looked at one another
in an almost friendly way. They d i d n ' t look at the tree they admired it.
Emotionally coloured verbs are used: ''glanced", "gaze". They were three in t h e
garden: two men and the tree. The similie "the tree as if appreciating their
attention, quivered and glowed" proves that the quince was the third participant.
But suddenly the blackbird gave a loud, clear call. Mr. Nilson dropped his
eyes. It struck h i m suddenly that Mr. Tandram looked a little foolish and as if he
had seen himself he understood that he was foolish coo. A shade passed over Mr.
Tandram's face. He understood the s i t u a t i o n , too Again the principle of analogy.
There was nothing for them but say "good-bye" to each other. They d i d n ' t
want to leave, but they had to, they hadn't to be foolish. They looked back at the
tree. The Japanese quince seemed more living than a tree. The quince is a symbol
of new life (it was spring!), unknown to Mr. Nilson and Mr. Tandram. They were
interested in this life, but their first interest was business, and the last sentences of
the story assume this fact.
The story is composed of narration, descriptions and a short dialogue. Nariation
is dynamic, it gives a continuous account of events. In the story we observe the
descriptions of both men, and the tree. A short dialogue reproduces the essential
features of the English speech: the use of elipticalsentences, interjections (Er!
Ah!), brings the action nearer to the reader, while it seem more swift and intense.