Deictic sub-worlds
The DS being used is speech inside a deictic sub-world, as there is a shift in time and location during the flashbacks, so DS is not being used in the same timeframe as the current “text world” (Stockwell, 2002:140). What is interesting is the way the narrator interjects with words such as “innuendo”, “shakes it” and “pressing the shopping basket on him”, crossing the boundary of the sub-world, and making the reader actively involved in the actions and events within the flashback.
Viewpoint Effects
The passage is written from Mr Winser’s viewpoint. This can be seen through verbs of perception, the use of place deixis, social deviation, and the use of the definite article, reflexives, possessives, third party anaphoric and the author’s use of adjectives. These devices all produce different results on how we perceive the story through Mr Winser’s eyes.
One indicator of Mr Winser’s viewpoint is through the use of “verbs of perception and cognition” (Short, 1996:268), e.g. “he heard”, “he felt”, “saw”, “remained staring”. Through these verbs of perception, the reader is able to experience the events that take place through Mr Winser’s senses.
The use of place/ space deixis also indicates the viewpoint is from Mr Winser. The demonstrative pronoun “this [gun]” refers to something of close proximity, which the gun is – six inches from Mr Winser’s nose. Another example of deixis is “these [excursions]”, where the use of deixis is similar to the above (“these” being the plural of “this”).
The protagonist is frequently referred to by his last name “Winser” or “Mr Winser” (internal deviation), which creates a feeling remoteness between the character and the reader as “someone to whom you refer with ‘title + last name’ would be remote socially, and you would normally refer to those with whom you are close by their first name (Short, 1996:272)”. The use of his last name can be compared to the use of last names in case titles (Winser v Hoban) in which we take the side of Winser, which helps us to sympathise and see the events from his point of view. It is deviant that the main character is referred to by his last name when a less focal character is referred to by her first name, “Bunny”. It is possible that it is a pet name that Winser calls her by, which makes the reader feel much closer to her, but almost too close and personal, so the reader experiences her smothering and fussy nature.
The definite article “the” in “the non-gun” and “the shadow of it” is used to show that the items which are being referred to are items which Mr Winser is already familiar with, and they are from his perspective. The use of “the” assumes that there is given information, and not new information. Also, the use of the reflexive, ”wished himself” possessives “my briefcase”, third party anaphoric “he”, “she”, “it” show us that the things being referred to are from his perspective throughout the narrative.
The author uses the effect called “in media res”, whereby the reader is positioned in the middle of the situation (Short, 1996:267). The demonstrative pronoun “this” in the opening sentence immediately puts us in the middle of a situation from the main character’s point of view. The other feature of “in media res” is the chronology of the events – the flashbacks to Mr Winser’s tutor, greengrocer and wife are events which have happened in his past, which further makes the reader relate to things from Mr Winser’s point of view.
Deviation and Foregrounding
Semantic Deviation
“Mr Winser’s beakish but strictly non-violent nose. (2)”
This sentence is semantically deviant and the adjective “non-violent” is foregrounded, because noses are by nature, non-violent, therefore with the use of the adjective “non-violent”, the author is presenting a tautological description of Mr Winser’s nose. By putting in an adjective which does not present new information, the author highlights the innocent and helpless nature of Mr Winser and the contrasting aggression that he is presented with, and the reader is able to sympathise with Mr Winser’s defencelessness state.
Graphological Deviation
The placing of sentences (1) and (31) are graphalogically deviant. These sentences exist as a paragraph of their own, both 6 words long. These direct thoughts are foregrounded, and combined with the use of present tense, has the effect of putting the reader immediately into the urgent situation, the context being filled with conflict and tension. The fact that the white space around these sentences are maximized draws immediate attention to them.
Parallelism/ Grammatical Deviation
The sentence length of the narration varies greatly to the sentence length of Mr Winser’s direct thoughts, and this is grammatically deviant. Sentence (2), narrative, has 77 words in total. Sentence (22), also narrative, has 62 words in total. Compare these to the DT sentences – the average number of words per sentence is 8. The description of the “facts” of the situation in sentence (2) is extensive, containing 7 conjunctions and 15 adjectives. The sharp contrast of the long, detailed narration and the short, simple sentences of direct thought is a technique which creates action and suspense, switching rapidly from third person to first person, and vice versa.
“…my briefcase, my pen, my passport, my air tickets and travellers’ cheques. (12) My credit cards, my legality. (13)” Paralleled through this sentence is a structure whereby the pronoun “my” precedes concrete nouns, but the final noun “legality” is an abstract noun. The abstract noun “legality” is therefore foregrounded, as the repeated grammatical structure makes “legality” an equal to “briefcase”, “pen”, “passport”, etc. which are all items which are valuable and precious to him. This foregrounding effect indicates that his “legality” is also very dear to him, and we see straight away that Mr Winser holds a lot of pride in his job and is a lawful citizen who we might sympathetically think to be the innocent participant in the confrontation.
“The more self-evident a fact might appear to the layman, the more vigorously must the conscientious lawyer contest it. (9)” In this sentence, we see another example of parallelism through the repetition of a grammatical structure. The structure definite article + comparative adjective + adjective begins in both clauses, and is then followed by the verb and object. This parallelism (unlike the previous example) acts to emphasise the idea of opposition of “lawyer” and “layman” (which also alliterate word-initially), and this may reflect Mr Winser’s mentality that, as he is a lawyer, the situation he is in does not necessarily mean he will die. He is in a last desperate attempt to find his way out of the situation, even if it means separating himself from “ordinary people” and rather ambitiously claiming that something in front of him does not exist. The absurdity of this rationalization almost makes the situation amusing, which lightens the tone of the passage.
Lexis
Elegant Variation
The term “elegant variation” refers to the use of synonyms to avoid using a word too many times (Fowler, 1906), but more generally, it can applied to thoughts or expressions of ideas. The thoughts repeated by Mr Winser use slightly different wording, for example “This gun is not a gun. (1) This gun does not exist. (5) It is a non-gun. (6)”. This highlights Mr Winser’s tone of self-reassurance in the stressful situation presented to him, and in using elegant variation rather than repetition, it makes Mr Winser seem as if he has a certain amount of control over his thoughts, as if attempting to rationalise the situation.
Context and Tone
One would not usually associate law tutors to wear sports coats and sandals whilst lecturing a class. Law tutors are expected to dress in a presentable and smart way, with a shirt or possibly a tie. Sports coats have connotations of casualness and the complete opposite to someone in a high academic position. Sandals are associated with the beach and are also a casual item of clothing. Therefore deviation in terms of our knowledge and understanding of the context of the situation is foregrounded throughout the passage. The behaviour exhibited by the law tutor is also deviant, because the demonstration of the cutting of the apple does not seem appropriate in a law lecture – “black letter law” was the most common method of teaching, especially during the time the novel was written. It was also mostly males who went to law school during that time, so to have a “mostly female audience” is also deviant. It could be a device used to create a mildly entertaining context and therefore dampen the serious nature of the situation. The fact that Mr Winser is making reference to his law tutor and trying to use that rationality and applying it to his situation makes us pity Mr Winser, but in an almost comical way.
Conclusion
My overall analysis appears to co-incide with my initial impression of the extract. Deviation in context seems to increase the light-heartedness of the overall tone. Grammatical, semantic and graphological deviation help give an insight into Mr Winser’s desperate attempt to rationalise with the situation and other thought patterns. Various other devices such as deixis also allow the reader to view the events taking place through Mr Winser’s viewpoint.
Appendix
This gun is not a gun. (1)
Or such was Mr Winser’s determined conviction when the youthful Alix Hoban, European Managing Director and Chief Executive of Trans-Finanz Vienna, St. Petersburg and Istanbul, introduced a pallid hand into the breast of his Italian blazer and extracted neither a platinum cigarette case nor an engraved business card, but a slim blue-black automatic pistol in mint condition, and pointed it from a distance of six inches at the bridge of Mr Winser’s beakish but strictly non-violent nose. (2) This gun does not exist. (3) It is inadmissible evidence. (4) It is no evidence at all. (5) It is a non-gun. (6)
Mr Alfred Winser was a lawyer, and to a lawyer facts were to be challenged. (7) All facts. (8) The more self-evident a fact might appear to the layman, the more vigorously must the conscientious lawyer contest it. (9) And Winser at that moment was as conscientious as the best of them. (10) Nevertheless, he dropped his briefcase in his astonishment. (11) He heard it fall, he felt the pressure of it linger on his palm, saw with the bottom of his eyes the shadow of it lying at his feet: my briefcase, my pen, my passport, my air tickets and travellers’ cheques. (12) My credit cards, my legality. (13) Yet he did not stoop to pick it up, though it had cost a fortune. (14) He remained staring mutely at the non-gun. (15)
This gun is not a gun. (16) This apple is not an apple. (17) Winser was recalling the wise words of his law tutor of forty years ago as the great man spirited a green apple from the depths of his frayed sports coat and brandished it aloft for the inspection of his mostly female audience: ‘It may look like an apple, feel like an apple – innuendo – but does it rattle like an apple?’ – shakes it – ‘cut like an apple?’ – hauls an antique breadknife from a drawer of his desk, strikes. (18) Apple translates into a shower of plaster. (19) Carols of laughter as the great man kicks aside the shards with the toe of his sandal. (20)
But Winser’s reckless flight down memory lane did not stop there. (21) From his tutor’s apple it was but a blinding flash of sunlight to his greengrocer in Hampstead where he lived and dearly wished himself at this moment: a cheery, unarmed apple-purveyor in a jolly apron and straw hat who sold, as well as apples, fine asparagus that Winser’s wife Bunny liked, even if she didn’t like much else her husband brought her. (22) Green, remember, Alfred, and grown above the ground, never the white – pressing the shopping basket on him. (23) And only if they are in season, Alfred, the forced ones never taste. (24) Why did I do it? (25) Why do I have to marry people in order to discover I don’t like them? (26) Why can’t I make up my mind ahead of the fact instead of after it? (27) What is legal training for, if not to protect us from ourselves? (28) With his terrified brain scouring every avenue of possible escape, Winser took comfort in these excursions into his internal reality. (29) They fortified him, if only for split seconds, against the unreality of the gun. (30)
This gun still does not exist. (31)
(John Le Carré, Single and Single, pp.1-2)
Bibliography
Fowler, H. W. (1906) The King’s English. The Clarendon Press
Stockwell, P. (2002) Cognitive Poetics: An Introduction. Routledge
Lancaster University Ling 131 Language and Style course website: www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/internet_stylistics
Short, M. (1996) Exploring The Language Of Poems, Plays And Prose. Harlow, Essex. Pearson Education Limited.