Стилистический анализ произведения "Рэгтайм"

Gulay Anastasiya

“From Ragtime” by E. L. Doctorow.

The extract under consideration which is called “From Ragtime” is written by E. L. Doctorow. He was an American novelist, editor and professor best known internationally for his works including “Ragtime”, “Billy Bathgate” and “The March”.

The plot of the story is not very complicated but rather intriguing and keeping in suspense. The author tells us a story of a black pianist whose name is Coalhouse Walker Jr. who wants to see his beloved Sarah. He comes to the place where she resides but she refuses to meet him. Coalhouse Walker tries to attract her attention. He comes to her house every day, tries to communicate with the people who also live there and plays the piano for her to listen to him and talk to him. But while others enjoy his playing Sarah only sits upstairs with her hands folded and listens with the door open.

This extract belongs to a belle-lettres style and its substyle can be characterized as emotive prose.

The author presents the story in the third person narration.

At the beginning of the extract E. L. Doctorow introduces the main character. We come across the Negro`s arrival to the house where he wants to find a young woman Sarah. To introduce the main character and to express his thoughts the author resorts to the case of uttered represented speech “I am looking for a young woman of color whose name is Sarah, be said. She is said to reside in one of these houses. The boy realized he meant the woman in the attic. She`s here. The man switched off the motor, set the brake and jumped down”. Further on the author describes the main character more vividly and in details “He was a stocky man with a red-complected shining brown face, high cheekbones and large dark eyes so intense as to suggest they were about to cross. He had a neat moustache.” Using these epithets and the metaphor E. L. Doctorow draws the reader`s attention to the appearance of the main character. When Coalhouse Walker asks Mother to call Sarah we see that Sarah  doesn`t want to meet him. The author shows us that no matter Sarah refuses to go downstairs she feels confused and excited. The detached construction employed by the author makes the reader feel it “She found the girl Sarah not sitting at the window as usually she did but standing rigidly, hands folded in front of her, and facing the door.” E. L. Doctorow emphasizes that Sarah is not willing to meet a Negro by using the case of uttered represented speech “Mother said, you have a caller. The girl said nothing. Will you come to the kitchen? The girl shook her head. You don`t want to see him? No, ma`am, the girl finally said softly, while she looked at the floor. Send him away, please.” When Coalhouse Walker finds out that Sarah doesn`t want to meet him he doesn`t show any emotions. He just leaves the house. The author strives to show the Negro`s serenity using the formal vocabulary while describing his leaving “The colored man took another glance at the child rose, thanked her and departed”. The further case of inversion is used for reader to look at the previous description of Coalhouse`s leaving once again, to feel his inner condition “Such was the coming of the colored man in the car to Broadview Avenue.” After this case Coalhouse Walker comes to this house to see Sarah again and again. To produce a powerful effect on the reader and to characterize the Negro`s personality, to emphasize his desire to see Sarah the author resorts to the parallel construction “ Beginning with that Sunday he appeared every week, always knocking at the back door. Always turning away without complaint upon Sarah`s refusal to see him.” After Coalhouse Walker`s visits Father becomes rather irritated and he doesn`t trust him, but Mother begins to regret Sarah`s intransigence and next time they give a Negro more time to stay at the house. Mother decides to serve him tea and to show that she looks rather optimistic at this situation and even with the touch of irony the author resorts to allusion “I see nothing wrong with it. When Mr. Roosevelt was in the White House he gave dinner to Booker T. Washington.”  So the Negro comes to them without any embarrassment. He tells them about themselves. To make the description brighter and more vivid the author introduces parallel construction “He was rather courteous and correct. He told them about themselves. He was a professional pianist and was now more or less permanently located in New York, having secured a job with the Jim Europe Clef Club Orchestra a well-known ensemble that gave regular concerts at the Manhattan Casino on the 155th Street and Eighth Avenue.” Coalhouse Walker wants not Father and Mother to hear it but Sarah. Father becomes rather irritated because of it and he asks the Negro to play something for them. So Coalhouse Walker feels very serious about this and to show his willing to impress Sarah and to attract her attention the author employs parallel constructions “He sat on the piano stool and immediately rose and twirled it till the height was to his satisfaction. He sat down again, played a chord and turned to them.” He starts to play and “small clear chords hung in the air like flowers. The melodies were like bouquets”. The cases of simile employed by the author make the reader feel the atmosphere that hangs in the air. Everybody likes his music and it becomes obvious that they become to trust the Negro. The Negro sees that Sarah still stays upstairs and he begins to play another melody. To have a great impact on the reader and to describe the events with great intensity the author resorts to sustained metaphors “The pianist sat stiffly at the keyboard, his long dark hands with their pink nails seemingly with no effort producing the clusters of syncopating chords and the thumping octaves. This was a most robust composition, a vigorous music that roused the senses and never stood still a moment.” No matter the Negro tries too hard Sarah stays inexorable and to emphasize that fact L. E. Doctorow uses the epithet “The music filled the stairwell to the third floor where the mute and unforgiving Sarah sat with her hands folded and listened with the door open.” After this even Father begins to trust the Negro and he shows his interest in Coalhouse Walker. The case of uttered represented speech the author resorts to makes the reader feel that Father is interested in this man “Do you know any coon songs? He said.” Unfortunately Sarah is still upstairs and doesn`t want to meet Coalhouse Walker. So he desperately leaves the house. To show that he is upset inside the author employs the parallel constructions “He turned abruptly and walked through the hall to the kitchen. He had left his coat on a chair. He put it on and ignoring them all, he knelt and gazed at the baby asleep in its carriage.”

This extract is full of different stylistic devices. As the name of the story is connected with music L. E. Doctorow uses short and long sentences in order to make the story more rhythmical and to make the story tenser.

I like such stories when the author tries to make us feel everything he or she feels while writing it. So this extract impressed me and I also liked the style of author`s writing.