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Ya. N. Kazantseva, M. L. Rostova,
Lesosibirsk pedagogical institute – a branch
of Siberian Federal University, Russia
STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH FAIRY TALE “TOM TIT
TOT”
The text of a fairy tale is considered to be an interesting linguistic
material, especially in terms of its stylistics. The authors use a variety of
means to impress a young reader. Beside this, a tale has a lot of important
functions. It can identify, shape, develop and realize the creative potential
of a child's personality, his figurative and abstract thinking. The fantastic
world of a fairy tale, the presence of some “unreal elements”, the ability to "invite to co-authorship"
allows the reader or the listener to overcome stereotypes of thinking,
complexes of estrangement, to awaken "sleeping" creative abilities.
To achieve the aims, there are some stylistic means.
In the article we have analyzed the text of the English fairy tale “Tom
Tit Tot”. This text refers to an artistic style of speech because there is author's
narrative, dialogues of heroes; prosaic substructure: the structure of the text
is not divided into segments, there is no rhythm or rhyme; the text is
represented by the genre –called a tale (there is a fictional plot and heroes).
The functions of the text are entertaining (when reading for children's
leisure), educational (the content of ideas of an ethical nature, the moral
orientation, e.g. “What are you a-crying for?” “What's that to you?” says she).
The author uses epithets. They make the text colorful,
imaginative.
Small little (old) black thing with a long tail – these
adjectives form the image of the hero: small, old, black, with a long tail and
we immediately associate it with the imp.
A grand marriage is an image of a solemn wedding (the
author emphasizes the advantage of concluding a union).
A gatless girl – the author gives the reader an opportunity to doubt about the
abilities of the heroine, to understand that she does not know how to do
handmade. The reader asks the question: “Why has the heroine agreed with such a
"deal" knowing about her "skills"?” Thus, the author keeps
the reader's interest.
An old chalk-pit – the author describes the location of the imp showing that it
is old, imperceptible.
The funniest (about a little black thing) –the author shows his positive
attitude towards the imp.
A little spinning-wheel – the epithet helps the reader to correlate the size of
the imp and the instrument. So, he understands that the spinning wheel belongs
to the imp.
Spinning wonderful fast –
the author expresses surprise at the fast work of the hero, his dexterity. The
reader draws parallels: the abilities of the girl and the abilities of the imp,
the author seems to compare them showing the talent of the latter – to twist skeins, and the talent of the girl –
to get out of any situation.
Looked so maliceful -
through the description of the look, we can understand
emotional state of the hero - he is irritated, embittered (the particle so intensifies his irritation).
An awful shriek – shriek - a
sound that has a negative color; the author uses this epithet to strengthen
such a negative reaction.
Comparison. Looks at her like a coal of fire – the author conveys
the shape of the imp who was looking forward to expiration of the contract with
the girl. And he compares his "burning" eyes with coal from a fire,
that is never-ending interest.
Repetitions.
“My darter ha’ spun five, five skeins today”. The author makes an accent on the number
of eaten skeins (It’s a lot).
She liked to eat, and all the gowns she liked to get, and all the company she liked
to keep. Such means turns out to be affecting on the woman who is not even
confused by the last phrase. She does not take it seriously (“I shall kill her”).
The word like that is repeated
several times, distracts the woman's attention.
“Noo, that ain’t,’/ ‘Noo, that ain’t,”. The use of this
phrase several times shows how difficult it is for a girl to guess the hero's
name.
I shan’t have to kill you
tonight. The phrase being repeated in the text makes the reader understand that
the hero has not forgotten about the condition of the treaty, and seriously
intends to kill the girl.
…every day…, and every day…
. And all the day. Such repetition shows that
the time was going, and the girl was all the time puzzled by the question of
the hero's name.
Graduation. He twirled his tail / he twirled his tail harder. It is used to create the image of an impatient hero.
Personification is used to create a comic
effect which leads to the problem of understanding between the characters:
So she says to her daughter: “Darter,’ says she, ‘put
you them there pies on the shelf, and leave ‘em
there a little, and they’ll come again.’
But
the girl, she says to herself: “Well, if they’ll come again, I’ll eat ‘em now.” The girl understands the direct meaning of the
phrase “come again”, while the woman means that the pies will take the same
shape and then they can be eaten.
The author uses different idioms: first and last; ONCE upon a
time; come
supper-time; best or worst; of getting out of it; she could have jumped out of her skin (this unusual description of the action helps a reader imagine the
heroine's delight); never hit on the
right one; grinning from ear to ear. They help to create fabulous
atmosphere, to avoid repetition, to give expressiveness to the text, to
complement the image of the characters.
Rephrase: “off goes your head” instead of
"kill you". It is used to avoid repeating the "kill you" combinations.
We can also find some archaic
forms of words in the text. They mean that a fairy tale and its words,
being retailed across the generations, saved some roots (eat ‘em – them;
ha’ ate – have; oped - opened, ain’t - isn’t, noo – no, a-hunting –
hunting, afeard - afraid). The author
uses the words in its initial forms to give the fairy tale “a historical
effect”.
There are sentences with colloquial
speech, which is characterized by the following features: double negative:
“Noo, ‘t ain’t that neither” instead
of “No, that isn’t either”; abnormal
word order: “put you them there pies on
the shelf” instead of “put the pies
on the shelf”; inversion: “Well, come
supper-time” the woman said” instead of “Well, supper-time come the woman said”; “and says he” instead “and he
says”; shortening: of ‘em = of them, I’ll = I will(shall), can’t = can not, he’d = he had, they’ve = they have. Colloquial speech is perceived by readers easily, creates
the effect of spontaneous communication of heroes, cuts speed up reading.
The text of the fairy tale
is dominated by compound sentences joined by conjunctions. And for eleven months the girl had all
she liked to eat, and all the gowns
she liked to get, and all the company
she liked to keep; the woman she was done, and
she took her spinning to the door to
spin, and as she span she sang. The
author shows a sequence of actions.
There are interrogative and
exclamatory sentences used to make the text more emotional: “Not one of ‘em?”- the author shows the old woman's surprise; How she did cry! – the author increases the heroine's annoyance; Oo! – an interjection accompanying the
smirk of the imp.
The author uses the introductory
words like well, so
to attract reader`s or listener`s attention, make an atmosphere of telling.
After reviewing the content
of the fairy tale “Tom Tit Tot”, we can sum up that in any desperate situation
one can find a way out, a lucky chance can come unexpectedly; the next aspect
is that you do not need to ascribe victory to yourself in advance, it is often
unpredictable.
Thus, we have analyzed the
English fairy tale, its stylistic means, the features of vocabulary and
grammar. The text is adapted for children's audience. Language features that we
have found are considered to be typical for this genre of a text.
References:
1.
Tom
Tit Tot. URL: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft02.htm