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ENH 110 Tone and Style in Fiction or “ Fun with Ernie and Bill ”. Tone and Style.
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ENH 110 Tone and Style in Fiction or “Fun with Ernie and Bill”
Tone and Style The authors on p. 116 define tone as“[w]hatever leads us to infer the author’s attitude . . . It implies the feelings of the author so far as we can sense them . . . To understand the tone of a story, then, is to understand some attitude more fundamental to the story than whatever attitude the characters explicitly declare.” We can often determine this by examining the author’s choice of details, characters, events, situations, and words. And on pp. 116-17 they define style as “ . . . the individual traits or characteristics of a piece of writing: to a writer’s particular way of managing words that we come to recognize as habitual or customary. . . . Usually style indicates a mode of expression: the language a writer uses. In this sense, the notion of style includes such traits as the length and complexity of sentences, and diction, or choice of words: abstract or concrete . . ., bookish . . ., or close to speech . . .” They also mention the use of other devices and then briefly draw contrast between Hemingway and Faulkner.
In terms of tone and style, the two authors’ stories show a marked polarity: Hemingway’s tone: unexcitable dispassionate impassive emotionless sober Faulkner’s tone: excited fiery fervid emotional spirited Hemingway’s style: laconic terse pithy concise monosyllabic sentences: uncomplicated Faulkner’s style: voluble / lofty pleonastic (some say) verbose abstract / recondite polysyllabic sentences: complicated
Ernest Hemingway 1899-1960 Biography
The story presents a study in contrasts; discuss your view on the following: Youth and age Belief and doubt Light and darkness Selfishness and Compassion
What do you think is Hemingway’s purpose for repeating, so many times, the word “nada”?
Did you enjoy the ambiguity of this story or the detailed complexities of Faulkner’s? Please explain your choice.
Do you think the author, through the narrator, thinks that one of the “waiters” has a more acceptable philosophy?
Old waiter / Hemingway(?) Awareness Cleanliness Companionship Courage Dignity Good light Human solidarity Humor Ritual Sensitivity Stoic endurance “Nada” Nothingness Meaninglessness Death Solitude Emptiness
Possible Theme for “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” Wth a focus on the Life vs.. Nada conflict: old man vs.. impending nothingness and old waiter vs.. impending nothingness While aging brings, to most, an eclectic array of coping mechanisms for death, some people with little religious faith may seek to approach the impending void (death/ “nada”) by clinging to environments that offer solace in times of despair: such comfort may effect in them a keener sense of compassion, sensitivity to others, human connectedness, ritual, honor, stoic endurance, and dignity.
William Faulkner 1897-1962 Biography
Although, most critics would admit, “Barn Burning” is primarily about the young Sarty Snopes and our progressive recognition of the intensity of his dichotomy, there are some who see Abner Snopes not as a demonic villain but as someone to be pitied because of his being chained to such extreme poverty; they see his indentured servitude as the force driving his justified rebellion against the Aristocracy, represented by the DeSpains. What are your thoughts on his character?
From what you remember of Faulkner’s style in “A Rose for Emily,” contrast that technique with his narrative structuring of “Barn Burning.” Does he differ in diction? arrangement of events? sentence structure? “Rose for Emily” lucid detached terse measured “Barn Burnng” confusing / ambiguous / enigmatic impassioned / burning / heated discursive liberated
Like “A & P” and “Greasy Lake,” “Barn Burning” is an initiation story. What is it that young Sarty has learned by the end of the story?
Of what importance is the DeSpain house to Sarty? Is it tied to his dilemma in any way?
Faulkner uses many very long sentences in his story, particularly in paragraphs 1, 15, 16, 27, 41, 42, 47, 82, 85, 91, 101, and 107 What effect did they have on you and your understanding of Sarty’s dilemma?
He could not hear either: the galloping mare was almost upon him before he heard her, and even then he held his course, as if the very urgency of his wild grief and need must in a moment more find him wings, waiting until the ultimate instant to hurl himself aside and into the weed-choked roadside ditch as the horse thundered past and on, for an instant in furious silhouette against the stars, the tranquil early summer night sky which, even before the shape of the horse and rider vanished, stained abruptly and violently upward: a long, swirling roar incredible and soundless, blotting the stars, and he springing up and into the road again, running again, knowing it was too late yet still running even after he heard the shot and, an instant later, two shots, pausing now without knowing he had ceased to run, crying "Pap! Pap!" running again before he knew he had begun to run, stumbling, tripping over something and scrabbling up again without ceasing to run, looking backward over his shoulder at the glare as he got up, running on among the invisible trees, panting, sobbing, "Father! Father!” (from paragraph 107, about 215 words)
Possible Theme for “Barn Burning” based on an analysis of the primary conflicts: protagonist vs. self, protagonist vs. kin For a young, uneducated, dilemma-stricken man who is trapped in a life governed by an abusive and intransigent patriarch--one who tyrannically espouses a view that blood ties (kinship) must supplant even truth and justice--the path to maturation and self-actualization may begin with his freeing himself from the chains of parental dictates in an effort to cease inimical behavior.
