Stylistics and Literary Theory

1 Existentialism, Language and Literature in an Analysis of a Short Story Fina Felisa L. Alcudia, Ph.D. (English Studies – Language) Part I. Language, Literature, and Philosophy Literature, whether taken up in rigor for studies, or in amorous fashion for personal satisfaction, invites much discussion and thought. The study of language and literature or stylistics is a deviation from the formalist theories of Roman Jakobson. It deals with the application of linguistic theories in the study of a literary piece. It often takes the analysis to a survey of language devices prominent in literature (Culler, 1975). It is a novel adventure into language and meaning that invites readers to analyze linguistic forms and how they contribute to the understanding of a text. Interpreting literature is something that should be allowed to happen and to unfold through language. Philosophy as a discipline in the social sciences has likewise been woven into literary texts, albeit subtly, because the worldview or Weltanschauung of writers is shaped not only by various political and social movements in history, but also by emerging ideologies or schools of thought that the thinkers of the time attempt at for enlightenment. This paper is an analysis of the short story, War by Luigi Pirandello, (1867-1936). It has two purposes: (1) to explore linguistic features and the meaning they lend to the text as literature; 2 and (2) to situate the author’s style with a literary theory based on a philosophical trend of his time, existentialism. As a philosophy, existentialism proposes that “human beings live in the universe that is irrational and without meaning, “that human existence is a dialogue with the world,” and that “the more reverent activity is to listen rather than to speak” (Eagleton, 1996). For the existentialist, truth is inherent in the world that is full of angst. It is an “absurdity” that calls for individuals to make choices in order to live an authentic life and to make sense of his existence (http:kristisiegel.com/[email protected]). The tool of philosophers is language through which reality is made to unfold. Their treatises and essays have been handed down through generations as literary texts in themselves. As literature, these writings and ideas are channels “where the truth of the world speaks itself.” The assignment of the selected text as existentialist is not incidental. Rosenberg (1992) has anthologized Luigi Pirandello as “a playwright and introduced to the world theater the symbolic, psychological dramas that anticipated the French and German existentialism and the theater of the absurd’.” Most of his plays and short stories challenged people “to examine their own convictions, acknowledge their inner selves, and lead more authentic lives.” The main task of this paper is to find evidences of these themes as they are revealed in the language used in the text. To organize the analysis, the identification of the linguistic stylistic features as outlined by Mick Short (1996) is employed. This mainly covers lexis, syntax, and other textual features. The application of stylistics or linguistic analysis is the link between the text and the reader’s interpretation. 3 Part II. Discussion and Analysis of the Short Story Summary The plot of the story unfolds like a ten-minute video clip from a movie documentary. It describes a cramped second-class carriage in an express train traveling from Fabriano to Sulmona in Rome. For a few seconds, the camera captures a panoramic view of the seven passengers in the carriage, and then zooms in to the mourning woman and her husband as they call attention to their grief over the possibility of losing their own son who has set out for war for love of country. Snippets of testimonies from the other passengers, each one claiming their case as worst and most unfortunate, are uttered in almost simultaneous fashion. Then the lens zooms into another passenger, a father, who amazes the others with the way he rationalizes the misfortune of losing children and relatives to war. He holds them in awe as he stoically talks about his son’s death. His words, for a fleeting moment, console the grieving woman, until she asked the final question that nailed down reality. The Language of the Text Descriptive Words and Phrases Characterization is central in the reading and understanding of the story. It comes out vividly in the description of the two main characters. Their physical states and appearance indicated deep-seated thoughts and emotions giving a sense that some things are “hidden”. As the story opens, the women is presented as a bulky, shapeless bundle. Something must be behind the form. In one part of the text, she hides her face. In another, she is twisting, wriggling and growling like a wild animal - behaviors exhibited by a caged animal struggling to be released. 4 The man, on the other hand is fat-faced with bloodshot eyes. It was not an appearance of a healthy man. His bulging eyes seemed to spur inner violence of an uncontrolled vitality. He is fat, but his body is weakened. When he first spoke, he was covering his mouth to hide two missing teeth. Yet, he spoke passionately. While his grief was restrained but articulated, the woman’s was muted. At the end of the story, the description curiously reversed. As though waking up from a stupor, the woman lifted her head, asked a question, and said something for the first time in a calm tone. The fat man is now described as an old man. His composure gives way to harrowing, heart-rending, uncontrollable sobs. His face is now contracted and heavily distorted. In the end, both characters find release for their emotions as shown by their posture, facial expressions, gestures, and movements. These description highlights reversal, a literary technique that plays on the ironical shift in the status or position of the characters. Word Occurrence Three words were repeatedly used in the part of the text where the man embarked on his “speech” about patriotism and paternal love. He made his assertions by repeating the words nonsense and natural three times, and Country (with a capital letter C), eight times. He referred to the expressions of grief by the other passenger as nonsense in order to stress that what he is to say will make sense. In the midst of mourning parents, he called young men’s desire to offer their life for country as natural. He spoke emphatically about patriotism by repeatedly referring to Country. These repetitions, done for emphasis achieved a positive effect on the part of the other characters. They were about to change their own outlook, almost convinced with the matter-of-fact attitude the man projected. However, the effect is different for the knowing reader: 5 the man was simply trying to console and convince himself. After this long speech, only one short question drove reality into his head. The grieving woman asked: “Then… is your son really dead?” And the man’s suppressed emotions translated into harrowing, heart-rending, and uncontrollable sobs. Number words were used repeatedly as well: one son, two sons, three nephews, ten sons. The context of the story is war. In war, it is a sad fact that the casualties are reduced to statistics. Thousands become faceless and nameless. This leads to another observation regarding the author’s “non-use” of names in the short-story – the characters were not identified by names. Syntax Sentences and Paragraphs Pirandello used long sentences with complex structures and compressed meaning within these. The opening paragraph consisted of a long sentence that described both the starting point and the destination of the people in the express train. It gave a premonition that something will come to an end, and soon. Could it be the denial, the grief and mourning? One long compound-complex sentence was written to capture the family saga of the mourning woman. The dreams and aspirations of the family suddenly crumbled with “a wire saying that he (the son) was due to leave in three days’ time asking them to go and see him off.” Within the text, complex sentence structures were interrupted by asides (of course we all hope it will never be your case. I am speaking of decent boys); prepositional phrases (like a shapeless bundle, for the last three months); participial phrases (puffing and moaning, followed by her husband); adverbials (most likely, when we were twenty, as I do); and noun phrases (at 6 that silly incongruous question). These constructions appeared ten times bringing out the drama and the treatment of the subject matter of grief, death, and love of country and family. The following excerpts illustrate this: “True…true…” sighed the embarrassed husband, “but suppose (of course we all hope it will never be in your case) a father has two sons at the front and he losses one of them, there is still one left to console him… while…” Yes not a word had she found amongst the many which had been said… and her grief had been greater in seeing that nobody – as he thought – could share her feelings. And our sons go, when they are twenty and they don’t want tears because if they die, they die inflamed and happy (I am speaking of course, of decent boys). Adjective-Noun Modification Pattern The modifier-noun combination is evident throughout the next. To cite some: stuffy and smoky second class carriage; big coat; a fat red faced man; inner violence; uncontrolled vitality; weakened body; shrill laugh; silly; incongruous question; bulging; horribly watery light grey eyes. The predominantly-used modification pattern created a sense of “ordinariness” seemingly saying that “that’s what life is,” so to speak. Literary Devices 7 The short story contains all the elements of an outstanding work of fiction. Antithesis, climax, discovery or dramatic irony, and resolution brought out the drama in the brief encounter among the travelers in the carriage. Anti-thesis is “the contrast of opposite for emphasis”. In the story, contrast is shown between the woman and the man, and on how their situations reversed. Reversal is the climax or the “high point of emotional intensity” in a work of fiction. It dramatically comes out in the story with a simple question: “Then… is your son really dead?” After the fat man’s attempts to speak of his idealism and conviction, the curious question from the woman provided the irony of it all. Irony is “hidden meaning, usually the contrast between appearance and reality, and the contrast between expectations and actuality.” From beginning to end the contrast in the plot begged for a resolution, a convergence. The story ended with the characters each accepting life’s realities. Existentialism and the Text How does existentialist philosophy come out in the next? As a Work of Fiction As a whole, the text carried existentialist themes. The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said that “human beings live in a universe that is irrational and without meaning.” In order to “know” meaning, human beings need to “do” something by making choices and in the process create who they are. Such human actions become the source of meaning in the world. However “sense-making” entails serious responsibilities which often create “anxiety and anguish.” The way to truth and meaning is self-transcendence, the dasein that the German philosopher Martin Heidegger proposed - a ‘gathering in of one’s powers’. This is the practice of 8 the inner dynamics of understanding one’s context, suffering included, and surpassing them; thus, creating one’s personal history of Being in the world. Heidegger is called the Black Forest philosopher for his “downgrading of reason for spontaneous ‘pre-understanding’, the celebration of wise passivity.” Enlightenment comes from a “humble listening to the stars, skies, and forests.” If human actions determine the meaning or essence of existence, the characterization in the short story has achieved it. The mourning woman has gathered strength to arrive at a rational understanding of her plight. The fat man was well on his way to allowing his Being to take over. He moved from denial to acceptance by pouring out his grief. Existentialism challenges human beings to accept responsibility for their actions and feelings and to open themselves to endless possibilities. Linguistic Features The literary critic is always tempted at first reading to analyze a piece of literature according to themes, cultural background of the writer, and the period when the work was produced. Literary interpretation by Heidegger’s definition is “opening up passively to the text, submitting to its mysteriously inexhaustible being, allowing ourselves to be interrogated by it.” Pirandello achieved this by simply letting the plot flow and allowing the characters to speak for themselves. Climax and resolution were revealed not by direct statements from the author, but rather by the introspection, soliloquy, passivity, and intuitive observations of the characters themselves. 9 Existentialist interpretation operates on the pre-existence of language and meaning. The author was able to bring out deep-seated emotions, thoughts and convictions for the readers to decipher by leading them into such activity. The shapeless bundle of a woman, bulging eyes that seemed to spurt inner violence… these physical attributes tap at metaphorical concepts of body posture and facial appearance that indicate one’s attitude or disposition. The repeated words and the long compound complex sentences interrupted by phrases and clauses in stream-of-consciousness fashion are consistent with existentialist philosophy. Reality and illusion can co-exist. Essence and truth must be constantly searched and deciphered. Man can always problematize his position and state in life through reflection or introspection. Conclusion Literary interpretation can be approached in various ways. Owing to the notion of the “literariness” of language used in literature, readers immediately embark on a discussion using the elements of fiction, poetry, essay, or drama as framework. Oftentimes the interpretation falls prey to thick subjectivism and generalizations. As an approach to literary analysis and criticism, linguistic analysis invites the readers to go back to the text and see how linguistic features bring out textual meaning. For instance, there must be some reason for the presence of parallel phrases, long sentences, or of polysyllabic or monosyllabic words. The persuasion of the writer is also something that readers cannot just speculate on. A literary theory, such as linguistic analysis, if previously known can confirm the writer’s “home base”. If it is accidentally discovered, it is possible that language use has directed the readers to the writer’s worldview. However, some caveat is offered. The reading and study of this juxtaposition of disciplines in the social sciences 10 may require a good amount of experience and open-mindedness by those who are willing to explore new ideologies or ways of understanding texts. References Culler, J. (1975). Structuralist poetics: Structuralism, linguistics, and the study of literature. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Rosenberg, D. (1992). World literature: An anthology of great short stories, drama, poetry. USA: NTC Publishing Group. Eagleton, T. (1996). Literature theory: An introduction (2nd edition). USA: The University of Minnesota Press Introduction to modern literary theory: (http://kristisiegel.com/[email protected])