Analysis of the passage from Tom Sawyer by

Analysis of the passage from “Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

• • AS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. We have under analysis an except from a novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain in 1876 Speaking about Functional Style it should be noted that the novel contains all the features of The Belles. Lettres Style : genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic device the use of words in contextual and very often in more that one dictionary meaning a vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the author´s personal evaluation of things or phenomena a peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind of lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy introduction of the typical features of colloquial language.

In the analyzed passage, the action takes place in a church where everyone gathered on the morning sermon. It was very boring at the sermon, but Tom Sawyer as always was able to improve the situation and put a smile on these unemotional faces with a help of his beetle.

• The story was written in the 3 rd person narrative. (He spied the beetle; the drooping tail lifted and wagged. ) • The prevailing mood of the text changes from sad to hilarious. • The author shows this by using special vocabulary

The effective use of language plays a major part in the story. Thematic nets of sadness and happiness help to contrast(s) the mood of the people before and after the appearance of the beetle. Speaking about the structure of the text it can be divided into two semantic parts. The first is devoted to the description of the situation before the appearance of the beetle and the second part after. To highlight the changes in people’s mood the author uses the words belonging to different thematic nets.

Thematic nets Sadness cracked uninterested sad at heart lazy vagrant Happiness Joy entirely happy to amuse suppressed laughter cheerful satisfaction one marring though

Speaking about stylistic devises it should be noted that author uses various linguistic means such as: 1. phonetic level Alliteration A natural fillip followed, the beetle went flying into the aisle and lit on its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy's mouth. Here alliteration is used to imitate the sound produced by the beetle Direct onomatopia tittering and whispering

2. at the morphological level of analysis there is an active use ofcompound adjectives good-hearted soul and well-to-do heartbreakers absent-minded red-faced

3. The most intense on the stylistic devices is the lexical level • the mayor and his wife -- for they had a mayor there, among other unnecessaries (sarcasm) is used to produce the comic effect • Translation: Мэр со своей супругой-ибо в городишке имелся и мэр, вместе с прочими ненужностями. • the bent and respectable Major (antithesis) • Translation: почтенный и согнутый в дугу майор…helps to create bright image

• Model Boy instead of Willie Mufferson (antonomasia) • taking as much care of his mother as if she were cut glass (simile). Used ironically to emphasize his ideality in everything • instantly destroyed (two-step epithet) • the fly was a prisoner of war (personification) • It was a large black beetle with formidable jaws (chain of epithets and figurative epithet) • Presently a vagrant poodle dog came idling along, sad at heart, lazy with the summer softness and the quiet, weary of captivity, sighing for change. ( chain of epithets)

• sharp yelp (transferred epithet) • The neighboring spectators shook with a gentle inward joy, several faces went behind fans and handkerchiefs (instead of spectators-contextual metonymy) • Then there was a wild yelp of agony and the poodle went sailing up the aisle; the yelps continued, and so did the dog(zeugma); at last the sufferer(antonomasia) sprang into its master's lap;

• voice of distress quickly thinned away and died in the distance (personification)

4. syntactic level • He always brought his mother to church, and (he omitted) was the pride of all the matrons. (ellipsis) • And now the minister prayed. A good, generous prayer it was (partial inversion), and went into details: it pleaded for the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself; for the county; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors, tossed by stormy seas. (catch repetition and graduation, parallel constraction-in order to show the to emphasize the monotony of the process. )

• He spied the beetle; the drooping tail lifted and wagged. He surveyed the prize; walked around it; smelt at it from a safe distance; walked around it again; (anaphora and epifhora) • So he went to the beetle and began a wary attack on it again; jumping at it from every point of a circle, lighting with his forepaws within an inch of the creature, making even closer snatches at it with his teeth, and jerking his head till (parallel construction is used to emphasize the sequence of actions to create a certain rhythm. ).

• yawned, sighed, forgot the beetle entirely, and sat down on it (the usage of defeated expectancy to produce the effect of surprise ). • Then there was a wild yelp of agony and the poodle went sailing up the aisle; the yelps continued, and so did the dog (to strengthen the comedic effect the author uses such stylistic device as zeugma);

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