Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington. The comparative characteristic of two

Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington. The comparative characteristic of two popular English personages by Alan Milne and Michael Bond.

Introduction The personages of the book Winnie the Pooh by Alan Milne and Paddington by Michael Bond are bears who impress the readers by their humor, frankness and kindness. The popularity of this book is increasing in Britain. That’s why we decided to compare this new novel with the famous book Winnie the Pooh by Alan Milne.

The purpose : To prove the similarity of favorite characters in famous books by Alan Milne and Michael Bond.

The Tasks: 1)To find the same features of description of two personages. 2)To examine the stylistic methods in both books. 3)To analyze the examples from the books and comment them.

Actuality: Nowadays young generation is reading less and less. Today there are a few authors writing for children. It is necessary to raise the children's interest to literature because it forms a child’s imagination and besides, it teaches kids to be kind and creative.

Stylistic methods in the books «Winnie the Pooh»and «A bear called Paddington»: 1)Pun 2)Metaphors 3)Distortion and outplayed of adults words 4)Language games

PUN= word play = changeling= Verbal acuity= double entender.

Pun Pun or word play or changeling is widely used in these works. Pun is sometimes called “Verbal acuity” or double entender.

The essence of pun consists of collision and unexpected unity of two incompatible meaning into phonetic or graphic forms. Word play or pun usually consists of two components, each of them can be a word or word combinations. One element always matches literary standards the other one (changeling) is the top of pun and only after realization of the second component the comic effect and pun appear.

Metaphor is based on the transference of meaning according to the principle of similarity . Metaphor is not only the means of lexical expressiveness but the method of image structure. Metaphor helps us to understand and to feel the created images.

The kinds of metaphors: 1)Personification (when we speak about inanimate like animate) 2)Epithets (colourful description) 3)Hyperbola (exaggeration) 4)Anthithesis (contrast. Animals speak human and people understand them) 5)Aksyumoron (combination incompatibility)

The examples:

…“Oh,help!” said Pooh,”I’d better go back” “Oh,bother!” said Pooh.”I must go on.” “I can’t do either.” said Pooh.”Oh,help and bother!”… Pooh is so clumsy here the author used a language game.

…«Today we have general-cleaning!» Mrs Brown said. «Genial-cleaning!» wondered Paddington «Where is genius taken away?»… Pun is based on the similarity of pronunciation Paddington is also clumsy and funny Humor is based on Pun

….“I’m not asking anybody” said Eeyore. “I’m just telling everybody”… The description of a personage through the monologue of a hero. The author used Personification The personage of Eeyore is like a human being.

…The message about future visit dentist didn't raise the Bear's mood up, and when he was sat down in a taxi, it fell completely. "Hey my friend, Have teeth a teeth-action announced?"-the driver sympathized. "What's a teeth-action?"-Paddington didn't understand. "It's bad, if they have a strong trade union"-the driver continued-"One has given up his job and all the rest have been after him“… The bright example of the English Humor thanks to the distortion of words. Paddington is quick-witted and smart

…“My dear Pooh”, said Owl in his superior way,”don’t you know what an ambush is? An ambush is a sort of surprise.”… The kind of metaphor - Hyperbola (exaggeration) The personages are also witty

…"By the way, about paws"-the standing back guest intervened-"Have you noticed, that you have dipped the paw in my soup?“ "Don't worry, the soup is not hot!"-said Paddington… The author shows us with humor how attentive Paddington is. Colorful description (Epithet)

…I suppose none of you are sitting on a thistle by any chance? “It doesn’t do them any good,you know,sitting on them” he went on as he looked up munching… Metaphor- Personification (inanimate is like animate) Winnie the Pooh takes care of a plant

…The driver looked hard at Paddington and then at the inside of his nice, clean taxi. "Bears is extra," he said gruffly. Sticky bears is twice as much again.“… Epithets Personification(a typical situation in which people sometimes get)

These are the wrong sort of bees." "Are they?" "Quite the wrong sort. So I should think they would make the wrong sort of honey, shouldn't you?" "Would they?" "Yes. So I think I shall come down.” Metaphor(epithets) Winnie-the-Pooh as usual witty, clumsy. He is not angry with bees ,he is friendly. He doesn’t want to show his fear

…”Hmm, good afternoon”,said Mr Brown The bear looked at him inquiringly… ‘’Can I help you?’’ Epithets (colourful description) Antithesis

But his arms were so stiff from holding on to the string of the balloon all that time that they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. Metaphor Hyperbola(exaggeration) Idiom helps to describe a humorous situation. Winnie-the-Pooh is lazy and impatient.

…Paddington lifted his hat. -Pardon me! I need to see Mr. Schubert … Paddington is so friendly,kind and intelligent. The author used the dialogue

…Paddington liked all sorts of slides and now he could move out from one of it… …Everybody had to have marmalades in his hat… it(a slide) The method of personification, contrast (metaphor) Paddington is playful and naughty like a typical child.

…Paddington head over heels fell down the stairs… …Paddington go out of chair all in marmalade… The author used the idiomatic expression to show The funny situation.

From these examples we see that Both personages are funny, kind-hearted, clumsy, friendly and helpful. Though they sometimes get into curious cases and their behaviour is bad. But we like them because they are true-to life like ordinary children.

Our conclusion: Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington have much in common and they have been popular for a long time…

Literature: «A bear called Paddington» by Michal Bond. «The adventures of Paddington beer» by Michal Bond. Кунин А.В. Англо-русский фразеологический словарь. 3-е изд., стереотип. – М.: Русский язык, 2001. «Winnie-the-Pooh» by Alan Milne. «My first Winnie-the-Pooh» by Alan Milne. «The history about the great city-London» by Jerry White. «The history about England» by Charles Dickens.

Thank you for attention