Stylistics Analysis on an Abridge from the Hard Times

孫貽紅

【Abstract】By applying stylistic approaches to the interpretation of Coketown abridged from Hard Times， this paper aims at appreciating Dickens unique charm of language from a new perspective.

【Key words】Emily Bronte； Hard Times； Stylistic

Charles Dickens is the great critical realist in English literary history.His success is largely due to the fact that he is a master of language.In language， he can be compared with Shakespeare for his adeptness in bringing out many a wonderful verbal picture of man and scene.He has a richness of expressions and generally succeeds in using the right words and phrases at the right moments to attain the right effects， thus wields the language as a broad weapon for satire or humor of pathos whenever an occasion requires.In Hard Times， with his born genius， Dickens gives us a picture of pathos in the description of Coketown： It was a town of red brick， or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it； but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage.It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys， out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever， and never got uncoiled.It had a black canal in it， and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye， and vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long， and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down， like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.It contained several large streets all very like one another， and many small streets still more like one another， inhabited by people equally like one another， who all went in and out at the same hours， with the same sound upon the same payments， to do the same work， and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow， and every year the counterpart of the last and the next.Here he describes not the extent of the industrial pollution in Coketown but the miserable life of local people.The attractiveness of Dickens language displayed in this passage will be penetrated from the perspective of lexical， grammatical， figures of speech， context and cohesion.

1.Lexical Features

（1）nouns.In this passage， concrete nouns （e.g.brick， canal， river， dye， buildings， ash， smoke， steam-engine， streets， soot， jungle， sun， stokers， etc.） are frequently used.Thus Dickens gives us a direct and concrete picture of an industrial town.And more striking is that these nouns are most inhuman objects except stokers.This scene tends to show that here is a town machinery and their waste product overwhelm everything and the inhabitants are subordinated to them.

（2）verbs.Most verbs in this passage are static and many indicate the state： see， was， had， worked， contained， lay， seem， show， and among these the number of copulative verb is striking.The few dynamic verbs can be classified into two groups.One is used to describe the movement of the soot and smoke： trail， tend， aspire， creep， which serves as foil to the deathly stillness of the whole picture.The other is used for the mechanical movement of the inhabitants： went， emerge， sat， wipe， contemplate， toiled.Except that the specter-like imagery， the word “emerge” created， other words reflect the numbness and torpor of the people instead of the enthusiasm inhabited by those in industrial scene.

（3）adjectives.Dickens makes use of the adjectives bringing visual and sensory imagery.In describing the appearance of Coketown， he applies shrouded and imperious； For its canal and river， he exploits such words of color as red， black and purple； For its air， he uses hot， dusty， ill-smelling and stifling.All these display the extent of the pollution in this town， thus emphasizes its ugliness as a result of the machinery.Adjectives underline the theme of misery of the peoples life： sulky， dense， warty， melancholy， mad， wearisome all connote the dullness in their various spheres of meaning.

（4）Adverbs.There are five manner adverbs in –ly： monotonously， confusedly， murkily， languidly， melancholy.These tend to combine with verbs to reinforce the perplexity and listlessness of inhabitants and mirror their tedious life without any hope （‘worked monotonously， ‘confusedly tending， ‘toiled languidly， etc.）

（5）general.Dickens uses relatively simple， homely vocabulary.Many are descriptive words which are exploited to describe the natural and social surrounding in Coketown.In addition， Dickens exploits emotive associations in his choice of words such as unnatural red and black， ill-smelling dye， a dense formless jungle， a stifling smell， sulky blotch， wearisome heads so as to bring about a suffocating effect.

2.Grammatical Features

（1）sentence structure.Sentences are rather complex in this passage.Thirteen out of nineteen sentences are elaborated by subordination.Among them， most are loose structure which generates the effect of natural simplicity and directness except one periodic structure.In addition， the most striking is that the first paragraph consists of four sentences which may be said to be parallel.The parallel structure can be described as follows： It+verb+object， and the object are usually subordinated by phrase or clause， which gives further explanation about the object.Especially in the forth sentence， the author makes use of intermittent repetition by repeating two parts in this passage- “l(fā)ike one another” and “the same”， which give prominence to monotony， boredom and hopelessness of people： Not only their life， but their mental state.This also occurs in another three sentences in the second and third paragraph： One is used for the movement of soot and smoke， symbolizing the confusion and tracklessness here； the other is for modifying ubiquitousness of oil and the last is for the wearisome action of steam-engine in this industrial scene.

If we say the first paragraph is put emphasis on parallelism， the second paragraph is striking by its juxtapositions of noun phrases relatively simple or we can say it is an oil painting formed by three close-up： A sunny midsummer day in Coketown， a blur of soot and smoke and a dense formless jungle.Each part is followed by paraphrasing clauses or trailing constituents.Especially for the first noun phrase， it forms a contrast with its following contradictory descriptive sentences thus generates ironic effect： Sunny as Coketown is， it “seemed impervious to the suns rays”.While for the last noun phrase made for the jungle， what it shows is not vitality but “masses of darkness”.Here the three tableaus produce a picture of disappointed expectations and pressure.

（2）verb phrase.Another factor related to this passage is the occurrences of subjunctive mood in two places except the total use simple past tense.This involves awareness not only of a narrative point of time， but of indication of the serious consequence that the industrial pollution put on Coketown： The brick is not red any more and the air is not clear because of the poison by smoke and soot.

3.Cohesion and Context

（1）lexical repetition.One of the most notable feature of cohesion in the passage is the lexical repetition of pronoun- it.In the first paragraph， “it” represents Coketown， and totally occurs five times， which strengthens the syntactic rhythm.Its repeated occurrence here generates a mood of dense depression.In the third paragraph， the pronoun-“it” replace the object –oil.The usage here not only makes the whole sentence cohesive by omitting “oil”， but showing the peoples abhor for it.

（2）context.We also notice that this abridge is almost in third-person narration.There is only one sentence narrated in second-person （‘you only knew the town was there…）.By this way， the reader is invited to become humanly involved， to see themselves as insiders not as detached onlookers， thus an intimate relationship between reader and narrator is established and win more sympathy from the readers.

4.Figures of Speech

Simile， irony and metaphor serve to modify the gravity of contamination industry inflicts upon Coketown： The appearance of the town was like the painted face of savage.The town was so hot that it seemed to be frying in oil and the atmosphere was like the breath of hell.The author also applies irony to serve the same purpose： He describes a sunny midsummer day in Coketown， However， what he offers is not brightness and clearness but the somber and cloudy Coketown even in such day.By metaphor， lifelessness and blight is given to the mans world： Here the steam-engines were animated as mad elephants.It repeats the same action all year around and adds drab element to the town.Here industry seems to a driving force that human have to yield to.

References：

[1]Dan Shen.Literary Stylistics and Fictional Translation[M].Beijing： Peking University Press， 1995.

[2]Charles Dickens.Hard Times[M].Hertfordshire： Wordsworth Editions Ltd.， 2001.

[3]Geoffrey N.Leech & Michael H.Short.Style in Fiction： A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose[M].Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2001.

[4]Shouyuan， Wang.Essentials of English Stylistics[M].Jinan： Shandong University Press， 2000.