Stylistic Analysis. Doctor in the House
“Doctor in the house” is written by Richard Gordon a real ship’s surgeon and an assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. The story deals with describing process of exams, difficulties provided by them and students’ feelings and thoughts before and after examinations.
The general slant of the story is quite tense, gloomy and even a bit depressed. It makes the Reader feel anxious and it forces us to have a disagreeable sense of a heavy load because we worry about the narrator’s success at the exam. The author manages to create such an atmosphere by an abundant use of similes. He compares examinations with a serious contest, an eight-round fight, a final breathless sprint and even with death.
All these devices leave a very vivid description of the students’ anticipating such an unpleasant inevitability as the exam. By means of the author’s language our imagination depicts a distinct and colorful picture proving the effectiveness of the stylistic devices in Gordon’s description.
It’s hard to believe but suspense is even growing from one paragraph to another turning just an investigation of a man’s knowledge into judgment day. And to my mind this allusion is chosen nonrandom but to emphasize a meaning of the exam for candidates. And Gordon asserts that if an examinee loses his nerve he’s like a cow in a bog and soon he will be finished.
But not all students act like this and knowing that the author focuses his attention on describing different psychological types of candidates. He pictures them with common understandable vocabulary which refers us to life and makes the portraits very convincing. At the same time Gordon adds some tiny but significant details like the Nonchalant lolling back on the chair, the Franky Worried tearing his invitation, the Crammer fondling his books, the Old Stager treating like a photographer at a wedding. Besides an attentive Reader could notice how skillfully the author names these types underlining their essences and
The general slant of the story is quite tense, gloomy and even a bit depressed. It makes the Reader feel anxious and it forces us to have a disagreeable sense of a heavy load because we worry about the narrator’s success at the exam. The author manages to create such an atmosphere by an abundant use of similes. He compares examinations with a serious contest, an eight-round fight, a final breathless sprint and even with death.
All these devices leave a very vivid description of the students’ anticipating such an unpleasant inevitability as the exam. By means of the author’s language our imagination depicts a distinct and colorful picture proving the effectiveness of the stylistic devices in Gordon’s description.
It’s hard to believe but suspense is even growing from one paragraph to another turning just an investigation of a man’s knowledge into judgment day. And to my mind this allusion is chosen nonrandom but to emphasize a meaning of the exam for candidates. And Gordon asserts that if an examinee loses his nerve he’s like a cow in a bog and soon he will be finished.
But not all students act like this and knowing that the author focuses his attention on describing different psychological types of candidates. He pictures them with common understandable vocabulary which refers us to life and makes the portraits very convincing. At the same time Gordon adds some tiny but significant details like the Nonchalant lolling back on the chair, the Franky Worried tearing his invitation, the Crammer fondling his books, the Old Stager treating like a photographer at a wedding. Besides an attentive Reader could notice how skillfully the author names these types underlining their essences and