Telegina N. I., Lesiv K. I.

Vasyl Stephanyk Precarpathian National University

Ivano-Frankivsk

The Role of Figurative Language in Expressing the Psychological State of Characters in ‘The Top of the Hill’ by Irwin Shaw

Figurative language is considered to be an inseparable part of any literary work as it performs a wide range of functions in the text. Using it, a writer aims at revealing the message of a story, organizing various characters and events into the harmonious and logical unity that gives a reader an opportnity to percieve and analyze the central conflict of a story. Each figurative word or phrase contributes to the vividness of the story in its own way, involvs a great deal of the readers` imagination and influences their percieving the implication.

In ‘The Top of the Hill’ Irwin Shaw uses metaphors extensively in order to reveal the psychological state of the characters, their emotions, feelings, values and life philosophy. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson consider metaphors as: “units that structure the ordinary conceptual system of our culture, which is reflected in our language. Metaphors are capable of giving us a new understanding of our experience. Thus, they can give new meaning to our pasts, to our daily activity, and to what we know and believe” [1, 140]. In the novel chosen for the analysis metaphorical speeches of the characters raise philosophic issues concerning the sense of human existance, the choice between life and death, the way of a successful person from “the top of the hill” down to danger and obscureness. Michael Storrs is a rising star of a New York business consultancy who has married Tracy, a woman as lovely as the loneliest dream. But, the bitter memories of his childhood make him crave danger, in particular, he is fond of free-falling, surfing, scuba diving and skiing that always give him a chance to meet doom. Tracy’s desire to have a child faces Michael’s fear and hesitation that can be easily observed in the metaphoric nature of his thoughts and speeches. “It’s the wrong thing to be seeing at this moment, Michael thought, the inevitable decay and the approach of death when the start of a new life is the subject of conversation” [1, 12]. He cannot accept the idea of a new life as he does not care about his own one and may face death at any moment doing sky-jumping or any other dangerous thing. Tracy admits that children are a risk, but Michael treats this risk as too considerable to take it. “I destroyed my mother. I think the real reason she died so young was me” [1, 13]. Michael consciously treats children as a destructive factor in human life as he has become a victim of his own childhood memories.

Michael’s desire to escape, caused by the influence of the exaggerated maternal instict predominant in his upbringing, is stronger than his care of other people’s feelings. He feels that Tracy neither understands him and appreciates his interests and values, though she has to do so. “Your husband arrived on your scene equipped with certain needs, tastes, aberrations, if that’s what you want to call them. He is devoted to challenge, the illusion of escape” [1, 48]. Michael’s main interest is facing danger that permits him to forget about his strained relations with Tracy, relax and then continue to live joyously with her. His indifference to women’s feelings is revealed in his categorizing them: “They come in all grades. Categories A, B, C, D and so on” [1, 54]. Doing so, Michael humiliates women showing his true nature overequipped with ego that is interested in no one except himself.

Considering relations between Michael and Tracy, the reader may easily notice that they are strained enough, though both have everything to live happily as a young smart couple from glamorous New York. Mr. Lawrence, Tracy’s father, metaphorially comments on their fragile relations. “You treat each other as though you’re both made of glass. If either of you made one wrong move, one or the other would crack into a thousand pieces” [1, 78]. Marriage is always a double copmpromise where deep feelings, warmth, appreciation and understanding must find their place. If people in marriage behave as two strangers living their own ways, they destroy each other’s life.

Taking risks is the only thing that brings Michael relief and lets him be himself. He picks fights with danger treating it as a real opponent: “The Pacific Ocean. I went surfing around noon and the ocean won this round” [1, 63]. The personification of the ocean gives the reader an opportunity to realize the importance of risky life for Michael and emphasize the danger and Michael’s readiness to meet the chsllenge.

In order to precisely describe the complexity of the characters’ psychological state, the author skillfully uses mythological, historical and literature allusions. Presenting Michael’s passion to free-falling, Irwin Shaw compares him to Icarus who was too enthusiastic about flying: “Remember Icarus” [1, 9]. By this allusion the author brilliantly accents that the price of Michael’s dangerous passion for risk-taking may be extremely high. Another bright allusion emerges in the novel when the author introduces Antoine, Michael’s friend, who is a non-demanded pianist from Paris working illegally in American bars. He tells Michael that his life is: “Absolute Waterloo” [1, 91], meaning that he feels like abdicated Napoleon in exile, that he feels an absolute looser. This allusion testifies to Antoine’s deep disappointment in life. Tracy’s father, Mr Lawrence, reveals his self-appraisal by means of another allusion. Sailing with Michael, Mr. Lawrence overestimated his good luck. They got into trouble and realised the necessity of setting in contact with the coast guard. Right there Lawrence mentioned Ulysses: “Ulysses never called the coast guard before setting out for Troy” [1, 84], which implied his vision of himself as a man of outstanding wisdom and shrewdness, resourcefulness, courage, and endurance. This allusion helps the reader understand that Lawrence is definite in his unwavering position of overall control and convincing problem-solving skills.

Describing nature, environment and the atmosphere in the appartments Irwin Shaw draws a parallel between the mood of the surrounding world and the psychological state of characters. Widely used epithets in the descriptions create a certain atmosphere accurately reflecting the characters’ state, feelings and emotions. For example, with the help of the description of their living-room, the author reveals the essense of Michael and Tracy’s family relations. “Suddenly it seemed to him that nobody had ever lived in it, that it was like those make-believe rooms adroitly lit, cleverly arranged and tempting, that appeared in the show windows of furniture stores and vanished overnight, to be replaced by another, equally attractive make-believe one the next day” [1, 49]. The following epithets “make-believe room”, “adroitly lit room” “cleverly arranged and tempting” help the reader to create the clear image of the room that lacks warmth and though has cosiness like the relations between Michael and Tracy. Every little thing in the room seems to be cold, emotionless, artificial, strange and not permanent. Today Tracy and Michael live in a marriage, and tomorrow, with a snap of the fingers, everything may vanish and either of them may find someone equally attractive.

Close connection between the nature description and the character’s state can be easily observed when Michael faces the problem of choice: “He turned his head and looked out at the weather. It was beginning to snow, large, wet, deliberate flakes. He smiled. Of course, he thought. That part of his decision was being made for him. Snow country. There was a lot of snow country in the world and he was in no hurry to decide which mountain he would favour with his presence” [1, 115]. By means of the epithets “large, wet, deliberate flakes”, “snow country” the author reveals Michael’s willingness to change his life following his passion to skiing. When Michael decides to make considerable changes in his life, he faces the problem of choosing the place to settle in. He wants to find a place where he will feel free and where he will not feel any discomfort. Michael easily recognizes the symbolic meaning of snow and and expects freedom in the mountains where he can fully develop his skiing skills and gain a sense of peace.

Another important point deserving attention concerns the use of simile for expressing the characters’ feelings, emotions, attitudes to one another and to life in general. Aldridge, a friend of Michael, implies the concepts of danger and death when deciding on the free-fall jump: “Her old man dropping out of the sky like a shining angel” [1, 8].His ironic treatment of the risk reveals his attitude to Michael in particular and to marriage in general. Aldridge believes that his friend has changed after having met Tracy that is reflected in Michael’s way of life. He has not done any free-falls since that time and now consciously considers whether to take any risk or not. Saying so, Aldridge emphasizes that marriage changes people influencing their habits, interests and attitude to life because they start taking into account personal interests, values and attitudes of their spouses. Skilfully used simile reflects Michael’s attitude to his marriage. “After the beauty of the morning, the freedom of the sky, a cosy little apartment, all neatly tidied up, was like a prison” [1, 48]. Michael sees his marriage as imprisonment.

Shaw employs a significant number of hyperboles attracting the reader’s attention to the central issues of the story. The hyperboles used in the text may be divided into positive and negative ones. The concept of death appears in the group of figurative language units with negative connotation. After his conversation with Tracy about a child, Michael feels the necessity of parachute jumping without paying attention to unsuitable weather conditions. “You’d be lucky to have the time to say Mother, Mother, and we’d probably be scraping you off the ground right now” [1, 47]. This disdainful picture arouses disapproval of his carelessness and his desire to take risks under the most unsuitable conditions. Some hyperboles have positive connotation, in particular the ones displaying Antoine’s attitude to Michael. “You are a prince in this city” [1, 114] or “You are my tower of strength and goodness, Mike” [1, 114]. These words show that Antoine highly appreciates Michael, his courage, help and strong will power to follow his ambitions and make considerable changes in his life. Antoine believes that Michael has everything to live full life, but Michael desires to change his life in order to get what he wants – strong emotions.

Irwin Shaw uses various figures of speech in order to provide a deep psychological insight into the human nature. The author aims at precise expressing his characters’ feelings and emotions, their attitude to one another, their values and world views. In such a way the author involves the reader into the psychological analysis of the life philosophy of his characters.

References:

1. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. Metaphors We Live By. – London: The University of Chicago Press, 1980. – 242 p.

1. Shaw, I. The Top of the Hill. – Great Britain: New English Library, 1985. – 320 p.