Internal Deviation is one particular mechanism, amongst other ones, used to achieve an exceptional type of Linguistic Foregrounding. The concept of… [625561]

LINGUISTIC
FOREGROUNDING
THROUGH

INTERNAL DEVIATION

Khalid Shakir Hussein

ABSTRACT

Internal Deviation is one particular mechanism,
amongst other ones, used to achieve an exceptional type of
Linguistic Foregrounding. The concept of foreroundi ng is
inherently associated with the concept of style as deviance .
Capable of working at any level of language, foregr ounding
involves a stylistic distortion of some sort throug h an aspect
of the text which deviates from a linguistic norm. The text
may deviate from either an external or internal norm.
Consequently, foregrounding can be seen to work on two
levels: outside and inside the text. Accordingly, t he text
itself may develop its own internal norm which is i tself
susceptible to deviation. This type of internal for egrounding
works inside the text as a kind of deviation which occurs
within a deviation.
Three textual portions are taken as subjects of analysis in
this paper. It is evident that certain sentential s tructures in
the texts stand out through internal deviation, but each with
its own specific norm and background against which they
are foregrounded: the norm which is set up by the t ext
might be either Complexity of the sentence-structur e and
the deviation in this case is brought up by one for egrounded
simple sentence-structure, as it is the case with J oyce and
Conrad, or the norm might work in a reversing direc tion,
where the norm is Simplicity of the sentence-struct ure and
the deviation is scored through certain foregrounde d
complex ones, as it is the case with Hemingway's te xt taken
from The Old Man and the Sea . Whether the linguistically
foregrounded part deviates from an external or inte rnal
norm, the point of linguistic foregrounding as a st ylistic

strategy is that it draws attention to certain aest hetic effects
in the development of symbols and themes ascribed t o the
foregrounded part, and this in turn will stimulate more
systematic interpretations of the literary texts.

1. Introduction

Foregrounding as a stylistic strategy is closely
associated with a specific kind of aesthetic exploi tation of
language that "takes the form of surprising a reade r into a
fresh awareness of, and sensitivity to, the linguis tic medium
which is normally taken for granted as an 'automati zed'
background of communication." (Leech and Short 1981
:28). However, this stylistic strategy is not limit ed to the
more obvious linguistic devices, such as the lingui stic
deviation from a specific linguistic rule and struc tural
parallelism (as it is the case with the previous pa per).
Therefore, foregrounding might be either QUALIITATI VE,
i.e. deviation from the language code itself, or it might
simply be QUANTITATIVE, i.e. deviance from some
expected frequency. These ways of producing linguis tic
highlighting, so to speak, of some linguistic featu res fall
within a specific kind of deviation called External
Deviation .
Nevertheless, foregrounding can be seen as an o utcome
of deviation from linguistic (and non-linguistic) n orms of
various kinds (ibid: 144). This would explain what has been
noted about certain kinds of deviation which are se t against
particular norms, but these norms are interestingly set up by
the text itself and not by an external system of no rms. Such

kinds of deviation constitute the essence of anothe r method
of achieving foregrounding through what is called Internal
Deviation (ibid: 146).
This paper is just an attempt to examine the for egrounded
parts in some portions of three literary texts. The
researchers will explain how some key literary mean ings
are made by giving rise to one particular kind of l inguistic
foregrounding which is achieved only through Internal
Deviation .

2.Internal Deviation and External Deviation

A clear division might be made between Inte rnal and
External deviation depending on the study of style as
deviance : the idea that style is constituted by departures
from linguistic norms (Traugott, 1980: 31). The con cept of
style as deviance is well described by Mukarovsky ( 1990:
172), a leading linguist in Prague School in the 19 30s:
"deviation as a stylistic strategy has the function of bringing
some item into artistic emphasis so that it stands out from
its surroundings." (ibid: 175). He speaks of style as
"foregrounding", bringing to attention: "the violat ion of the
norm of the standard." (ibid: 178).
Everyday usage, according to Mukarovsky (ibid. ),
"automatizes" or conventionalizes language to the p oint that
its users no longer perceive its expressive or aest hetic
potential. Literature must de-automatize or foreground
language by violating the norms of everyday languag e-use
(Leech and Short 1981: 156). However, deviation its elf can
be assessed against various norms. Any linguistic d eviation
involves a sort of tension between those norms whic h are

outside (external to) the text and those ones which are
inside (internal to) the text (Cluysenaar, 1976: 13 4).
Consequently, a sentence like ", but they was going on
past the store without stopping" (Faulkner, 1965: 8 6) shows
an evident kind of external deviation from a lingui stic norm
(rule) related to the concord of number between the subject
(they) and the verb (was) (see the first paper about
Faulkner's novel). So that, such a sentence is fore grounded
as a result of breaking a particular syntactic norm , this kind
of deviation is called External in the sense that i t indicates a
deviation from some norm which is supposed to be ex ternal
to the text. The deviation involved in the sentence above is
related to one particular system of norms, the rule-system
which constitutes the syntax of English Language. D ifferent
kinds of external deviation can be identified acros s a
number of interrelated levels of linguistic descrip tion:
phonological, syntactical, morphological , . . .etc. (Simpson,
2004:5). However, there is not enough space in this paper
to examine deviations from all these external norms ,
besides it falls beyond the scope of the present s tudy.
The researchers have only concerned themselves wi th
Internal Deviation as a stylistic strategy that for egrounds
some parts of the literary text. This strategy work s under an
assumption that the author, consciously or unconsci ously, is
signalling such parts as crucial to readers’ unders tanding of
what he has written.
The notion of foregrounding is helpfully describ ed by M.
A. K. Halliday (1971: 330 ) as "prominence that is
motivated." This concept of prominence, according t o
Halliday (ibid.), is not only produced by " departure from a
norm " but even by " attainment of a norm ." Accordingly,

"attainment of a norm" means either "the approximation to
some external norm as a 'disguise' or at least as a point of
reference." ( Leech, 2001: 54 ), or that the writer creates his
own special kind of language. What holds the resear chers’
concern is the second meaning.
The recognition that a text may set up its own n orms
leads to a further conclusion, that features of lan guage
within that text may depart from the norms of the t ext itself,
that is, they may stand out against the background of what
the text has led us to expect (Short, 1996: 36). Le vin (1998:
225) suggests an extremely indicative example about the
poetic style of (e. e. cummings):

"When e. e. cummings begins his poems with
lower case letters at the beginning of each line, h e is
not breaking a rule of English. Rather, he is devia ting
from a genre norm , that for poetry. If, after years of
writing poems with lines beginning in lower case
letters, he suddenly wrote a poem which conformed t o
our genre norm. In this respect he would still surp rise
knowledgeable readers of his poetry, as he would no w
have deviated from his personal authorial norm whic h
he had established over a long period of writing."

(ibid.)

Here, (e. e. cummings) has established a predictabl e pattern
which has been deviated by him. That is why some li nguists
think that internal deviation is the reverse side o f the coin
from parallelism (Short, 1996: 59). Thus, the poems written
by (e. e. cummings) set up their own world in which the

norm is to write poems with lines beginning in lowe r case
letters. This is the phenomenon of Internal Deviati on
which, although it is most striking in poetry, the researchers
will examine in specific texts of prose fiction.

3. The Analysis

In the remainder of this paper, the researcher s will
investigate the Internal Deviation observed in thre e texts
which are incomparable in length: the first two tex ts are
only two paragraphs , and the third is a passage covering
fourteen paragraphs . The justification behind the
incomparability in the textual length of the three texts
consists in showing the different ranges and limits across
which internal deviation might be figured out.
The procedure in each case will be to give a syn tactic
analysis of the sentence-structures , in each text, by
identifying their own componential elements, and th en to
bring to the attention what appear to be a sudden v ariation
(or deviation) in sentence complexity or structural length.
Such a sudden variation may help to understand the effect
of certain foregrounded structures against a backgr ound of
unvariable ones. The three authors are Joyce, Conrad, and
Hemingway .

3. 1 JOYCE'S THE DEAD

S = Subject , V = Verb , O = Object , A = Adverbial , Cs = Subject
Complement , Co = Object Complement , Cj = Conjunction , Sub =
Subordinator .

The Analysis

(1) S V A A .
(2) S V A A .
(3) S V A A A .
(4) S V O Cj S V O Cj O Sub. S V C o Cj Co .
(5) S V Cs .
(6) S V A A .
(7) S V Cs A Cj (S) V O A A .
(8) Cj S V O A A S V A Cj S V .

If we look at the first three sentence-structu res we can
see that there is a sort of parallelism between the m in terms
of the syntactic elements they share, they repeat o ne
particular pattern: (S V A A). Sentence (4) has a r ather
complex structure which is elaborated by coordinati on and
subordination, however, there is a certain similari ty of
structure between the first two coordinated structu res: ( S
V O Cj S V O), and then it is stretched up by
subordination. Sentence (5) is dramatically simple and short
in elements and even in words number ( four words long
with only three elements). The Table below gives the
numbers of elements and words for each sentence-str ucture
in the paragraph above:

Table (3.1)
Sentence
Number Elements
Number Words
Number

A simple comparison between the figures above w ill
reveal that sentence (5) is the shortest and simple st: it is
(four) words long realized by only (three) elements .
Sentences (1), (2), and (6) are rather short in ele ments ( four
elements for each), but they are quite longer than (5) in
words number (10, 12, 9) respectively. Moreover, se ntences
(4) and (8) are the longest (11, 10 – in elements, and 26, 29
– in words). Being very short, and coming at the ce nter of
the paragraph, sentence (5) does not conform to the more
complex description of the sentences in the surroun ding.
Thus, it is foregrounded through the impact of its relatively
short and simple structure which makes it a rather
outstanding sentence in relation to the other ones in the
same paragraph. Joyce at this particular sentence d eviates
from the structural pattern he sets up throughout t he
paragraph in question.

3.2 CONRAD'S THE SECRET SHARER
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

(5)

(6)
(7)
(8)
4
4
5
11

3

4
8
10
10
12
14
26

4

9
13
29

The Analysis

(1) A A V S A A A, Cj A A A A A A.
(2) A S, A V O A Sub. S V Cs, A S V A, Su b. S A V A,
A Sub. (S) V A.
(3) Cj A A A Sub. (S) A V O A A, S V O A A, A, A, A
A, A A A.
(4) A A A, S, A A A A, V O A (Sub.) S A V A A, Cj A
A, A, S A V Cs Sub. S V A A A.
(5) A Cj A S A A V O A, Cj A A A S A V C s A, S Cj S
Cj S (V became ) (Cs lost) , Sub. S V O A, A.
(6) S V O A, A A, A A, A, A, Cj A A Cj A , Sub. S V O
A A A.
(7) Cj A S V passive A A, A A A A.
It might be noteworthy that the syntactic struc ture of the
sentences above reaches its utmost point of length in
sentence (4), and then goes down to an extreme sort of
structural brevity in sentence (7). Table (3.2) bel ow shows
the progression of sentence lengths in elements and words:

Sentence
Number Elements
Number Words
Number

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

13
20
20
28
24
19

66
59
61
88
61
44

Table (3.2 )

Sentences (1)- (6) are all quite complex, and
characterized by a sort of structural similarity or
parallelism. Actually, they constitute a structural pattern
which begins with an adverbial clause or phrase, ex cept (6).
All except (7) have an elaborated structure by coor dination
and subordination, as it is the case in Joyce's sen tences. The
figures in the Table above show an outstanding cont rast
between the structural simplicity of sentence (7), with only
Nine elements holding for (18) words, and the compl exities
of the preceding sentences, which range from (44) w ords
with (19) elements in sentence (6) up to (88) words with
(28) elements in sentence (4).
The sudden variation in sentence complexity, note d in (7)
at the end of Conrad's paragraph, makes this sente nce stand
out against a background of much longer sentences, and
thus it indicates another case of internal deviatio n as it does (7)
9
18

not conform to the norm of the structural complexities
established along the first six sentences.

3. 3 HEMINGWAY'S THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

The cases of internal deviation in Joyce's a nd Conrad's
texts above show an evident departure from the norm into
the direction of sentence simplicity. Yet, Hemingwa y's The
Old Man and the Sea draws attention towards an opposite
direction: where internal deviation is produced as a result of
another kind of departure that moves towards senten ce
complexity rather than simplicity.
The researchers have surveyed Hemingway's style in
terms of sentence-structure all through The Old Man and
the Sea : it is evident that the vast majority of the struc tures
used by Hemingway are syntactically simple, and it is one
of the distinctive features of Hemingway's style to be
extremely simple and brief whether in terms of word s or
elements numbers. Nevertheless, two successive para graphs
in the short novel are strikingly foregrounded by u nusually
complex sentences, a case which makes them both sta nd
out vividly against the background of Hemingway's m ore
usual simplicity of sentence-structuring style.
So far, the researchers have presented the syn tactic
structure of the sentences using sentence-elements analysis ,
(see Quirk and Greenbaum, 1988: 207), which is
graphically useful for showing the relationships th at hold
between the structures in the foreground and those in the
background. However, it takes up a lot of space to represent
the syntactic structure of all the sentences in The Old Man

and the Sea . Consequently, the researchers decided to quote
stylistically the most representative passage in th e short
novel: this passage consists of Nine paragraphs
immediately followed by the Two foregrounded ones w hich
are followed in turn by Three more ones. This choic e has
been made for two reasons: first, the paragraphs th at
precede and follow the Two central ones constitute the most
characteristic passage that, the researchers think, might be
fairly adequate to represent what is expected of
Hemingway's sentential style. This expectation of
syntactically simple structures is quite important since it
establishes the norm throughout the short novel. Se cond,
the researchers believe that it is only by this way the
contrast between the foreground and the background can be
reasonably appreciated:

The Analysis

-1-

(1) A S V passive , S V.
(2) S V A Cs Cj S V A A.
(3) S V O A A, S V.
(4) S V Cs A.
(5) S V, S V O.
(6) S V Cs A.

-2-

(7) A S A V O.
(8) Cj A S V O Cj (S) V A A.

-3-

(9) S V O, S V.

(10) Cj S V O A.
(11) A S V A A A A O A.
(12) (S) V A Cj (S) V O.
(13) S V (Sub.) S V O.

-4-

(14) A S V A, S V.
(15) S V O A.
(16) (S) V O A Cj (S) V O.
(17) Cj (S V O) A, S V.

-5-

(18) (S) V A, Vocative, S V A (Sub.) S A V.
(19) (S) V A.

-6-

(20) A S V Cs A.
(21) S V, S V.
(22) S V A A O A.
(23) S V.
(24) Cj S V O A.

-7-

(25) S V O A Cj S V O A Sub. S V O.
(26) S V O Cj (S) V A A A A.

-8-

(27) S V O A, S V, Sub. S V Cs A Cj S V A A A.

-9-

(28) S V O A Cj S V A.
(29) A, S V, Cj S V O A Sub. S V;
(30) S V O A.

-10-

(31) S V O1 Cj O2 A Cj O3 Cj (S) V O A Cj S V A A Cj
(S) V A A, S A V O A, Cj (S) V A O, A, A, A, A Cj A
Cj A A.

-11-

(32) S V O Cj (S) V O A Cj (S) V O A Cj (S ) V O A A,
Cj A S V A, A A A Sub. (S) V A A A A.
(33) S V O A Cj S V A Cj (S) V O A Cj A ( S) V O A.

-12-

(34) A S V A, A A, Cj (S) V A A A A Cj A.
(35) S V A A A A.
(36) A S V A A Sub. (S) V O A Cj A.

-13-

(37) S V Cs Cj Cs Cj S V A.
(38) Cj S V O Cj (S) V O A A Cj, A, S V O.
(39) S V A A Cj S V A A.
(40) A S V Cs A A Sub. (S) V A.
(41) A S V A.
(42) S V Cs Cj Cs Cj (S) V A.
-14-

(43) S V A A Sub. S V.
(44) A S V O A A A Cj (S) V O A.
(45) (S) V O Co, S V A A.
(46) S V Cs.
(47) Cj S V O Sub. (S) V Cs Cj A S V O.

The first thing to look for is the average of sentence
elements in each of the paragraphs above. This simp le kind

of quantitive data would hopefully support the rese archers'
attempt to make their point more evident in terms o f
figures:
Table ( 3.3)

It will be useful at this point to indicate ho w much
variation there is when we look at sentence-length average
(in elements) for each individual paragraph. There is quite a
lot, however, the average sentence-length in paragr aphs
(10), and (11) is an exceptionally high: (31, 19.5)
respectively. These relatively too high averages st and out in
an extreme contrast with the other averages scored in the
remaining paragraphs. Paragraph
Number Sentence
Elements
Average

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)
(13)
(14)
5.5
6
5.4
4.5
5.5
4.2
9.5
15
6.6

31

19.5

9
7.3
7

The average of sentence-length for the other par agraphs is
ranging from (4.5 elements) in paragraphs (4) and ( 6) to (15
elements) in paragraph (8). This range enhances the crucial
and high variation in paragraphs (10), and (11) whi ch score
the highest average of sentence complexity. On the one
hand, paragraph (10) holds for only one long senten ce with
a syntactic structure consisting of (31) elements.
Nevertheless, this unusually long structure is elab orated
only through an effective joining of (8) relatively simple
structures with a coordinating conjunction (and).
On the other hand, paragraph (11) moves one step further
to increase the complexity of sentence-structures u sed by
Hemingway: it consists of (39) elements with only t wo
sentences: the first one holds for (25) elements pu t together
through coordination and subordination; the second has
(14) elements distributed on four coordinated struc tures.
Accordingly, paragraphs (10), and (11) represent a very
obvious point of internal deviation and hence
foregrounding. Figure (3.1) below shows how the dia gram
moves towards its highest peak in paragraphs (10) and (11),
and then goes back to its less variable movement in
paragraphs (12), (13), and (14), . . .etc. :

Figure (3.1)

4. The Interpretative Significance of Foregrounding

So far, the researchers have only examined the
foregrounded parts: sentence (5) in Joyce's The Dea d, and
(7) in Conrad's The Secret Sharer, and paragraphs ( 10), and
(11) in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, regard less
of the rhetorical effect they may have on the whole texts
they belong to. As it has been mentioned before, Sh ort
(1996: 12) thinks that "nothing in a work of art is
insignificant. But the matter in the foreground is more
Foregrounding by Sentence-Elements Averages for
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
0510 15 20 25 30 35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Paragraphs Number Sentence-Elements Average

important than the rest." That is, some parts or el ements
remain more significant than others, and the foregr ounded
parts can be regarded as the most important of all.
Consequently, for any interpretation to be adequate and
reasonable, it should not ignore the most outstandi ng parts
in the text under investigation.
Hence, the question the researchers should raise in this
respect is: What explanation can they give for Joyc e,
Conrad, and Hemingway's deviation from the patterns they
have set up in the texts above?
Generally speaking, the foregrounded portions in the
three texts might be intended to achieve or undersc ore
either a sort of thematic contrast or a climactic effect as the
incidents approach their climax which everyone has been
waiting for.
Beginning with Joyce's The Dead , sentence (5) appears
suddenly with its structural brevity as a sort of linguistic
contrast which reflects another kind of thematic contrast
between two sides of the wife's character and of th e
paragraph itself: the side that Gabriel (the husban d) knows
nothing about, and the other that he is so familiar with. In
the first four sentences, Gabriel looks at a woman who
appears unfamiliar to him, she is just (a woman). B ut,
surprisingly sentence (5) shows up to fail the read er's
expectation: what looked as a totally strange woman to
Gabriel was simply his wife. This internally foregr ounded
sentence is the first hint Joyce gives to the reade r about an
affair Gabriel's wife used to keep as a secret for so long
time. Later on, she would tell Gabriel everything a bout this
affair, and this what constitutes the second part o f the whole
story which begins where sentence (5) ends. Thus, t he

sentence actually serves as a dividing line between two
radically different sides of the story, that is why Joyce
found it reasonable to make it in an extreme contra st with
the other structures.
As for Conrad, the contrast is still there, but this time it is
a contrast between the lonely narrator and his vivid
background , the sea (see Leech and Short, 1981: 85).
Unlike sentence (5) in Joyce's paragraph, the foreg rounded
sentence in Conrad's comes at the end. The effect o f placing
the shortest sentence in the paragraph at the end i s
powerful: sentences (1)- (6) relate the background or the
setting to the narrator or the observer, while sent ence (7)
works in a reversing direction: it relates the obse rver to his
background. This particular position of sentence (7 )
enhances its power to summarize and interpret the
loneliness of the narrator, putting it (the lonelin ess) in the
foreground against the active setting of the sea wh ich is set
in the background.
The passage taken from Hemingway's The Old Man and
the Sea lies in a lengthy and central section of the short
novel, it covers the Old Man's struggle with the hu ge
marline that he has finally hooked. At the thematic level,
the first (9) paragraphs represent an ascending mov ement
towards the decisive point in the Old Man's battle with the
fish. Consequently, paragraphs (10), and (11) stand out in a
notable thematic contrast with the remaining paragr aphs as
they convey the climax of the whole work. Throughou t
these two paragraphs The Old Man faces his toughest and
most furious enemy (the fish). This critical stage in the
battle, as depicted in paragraphs (10) and (11), is
configurated in unusually complex sentences which h ave

run through these two outstanding paragraphs. Then,
Hemingway's more usual simple sentence-structures come
back in the three paragraphs following (10), and (1 1). It is
this what makes paragraphs (10), and (11) carry a s pecial
interpretative significance so that they occur in t he
foreground with their internal deviation of Hemingw ay's
stylistic simplicity.
Nevertheless, interpretation is a very selectiv e and
subjective process, and this very subjectivity migh t be the
major source of disagreement in respect of the adeq uacy of
such interpretations. Hence, the interpretations su ggested
above are very far from being final, and it might h appen
that one can not find a good interpretative reason for the
foregrounding, this area is still very controversia l and
heatedly disputed.

5. Conclusions

The researchers have examined in this paper one
specific level of linguistic foregrounding which co uld be
called the Syntagmatic level. The type of foregrounding
illustrated so far has been syntagmatic in the sens e that it
has consisted in the sequential combining of clause
elements in a way which makes them stand out agains t the
established norm of the syntagmatic patterning in a specific
text. Internal deviation as a concept is deeply ass ociated
with one particular idea: that any text may develop a norm
which itself might be violated. The three texts exa mined in
this paper have established their own norms which h ave
been violated in a specific portion in the body of the text
itself: with Joyce and Conrad the norm is complexity and

the deviation is simplicity , however, the direction is
reversed with Hemingway where the norm is simplicity and
the deviation is complexity .
Moreover, the foregrounded portions may vary not only
in respect of the complexity or simplicity of their structures
but even in respect of the syntagmatic class they work
upon: thus, this class may range from one simple sentence
to a whole series of paragraphs . This variety in the
syntagmatic progression gives foregrounding the fle xibility
it needs as a stylistic strategy of a wide range of
applicability. It is clear that Internal Foregrounding works
inside the text as a kind of deviation within a dev iation. It
proved to be useful in motivating certain literary- aesthetic
purposes. Accordingly, it is a good help in reachin g more
systematic interpretations about literary texts, an d it is
ultimately a reasonable way of supporting certain c ritical
comments and insights about the way some key litera ry
meanings are made in fiction.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. To avoid any confusion in relation to the number of words counted in
the Tables above, the researchers have made a clear distinction
between the number of Orthographic words and the number of the
Syntactic words : for example, they count (couldn't) as two syntact ic
words (modal auxiliary + negative particle), but (a few) as one
syntactic word (determiner).
2. The researchers follow the grammatical theory, give n in Quirk and
Greenbaum (1988) Ch 8 , in treating the different realizations of
clause elements. The Adverbial in particular is one of the most
controversial elements in this respect as it has a wide range of
realizations. It can be realized by : Adverb Phrases, Noun Phrases,
Prepositional Phrases, Finite Verb Clauses, Non-fin ite verb clauses
(infinitive, -ing participle, -ed participle), and Verbless Clauses
(Quirk, 1988: 207). For this reason, taking care of these various
realizations of the Adverbial element is very helpf ul in understanding
the great frequency of such an element in the analy ses carried out in
this paper.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cluysenaar, A., Introduction to Literary Stylistics . London:
Batsford, 1976.
Faulkner, William, As I Lay Dying . London: Penguin Books,
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Halliday, M. A. K., 'Linguistic function and litera ry style: an inquiry into William
Golding's The Inheritors ', in Preprints of the IXth International Congress
of Linguists . New York: Macmillan, 1971.

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APPENDIX

JOYCE'S THE DEAD

Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others (1 ). He was in a dark part of the
hall gazing up the staircase (2). A woman was stand ing near the top of the first flight,
in the shadow also (3). He could not see her face b ut he could see the terra-cotta and
salmon-pink panels of her skirt which the shadow ma de appear black and white (4). It
was his wife (5). She was leaning on the banisters, listening to something (6). Gabriel
was surprised at her stillness and strained his ear to listen also (7). But he could hear
little save the noise of laughter and dispute on th e front steps, a few chords struck on
the piano and a few notes of a man's voice singing (8).

CONRAD'S THE SECRET SHARER

On my right hand there were lines of fishing -stakes resembling a mysterious
system of half-submerged bamboo fences, incomprehen sible in its division of the
domain of tropical fishes, and crazy of aspect as i f abandoned forever by some nomad
tribe of fishermen gone now to the other end of the ocean; for there was no sign of
human habitation as far as the eye could reach (1). To the left a group of barren islets,
suggesting ruins of stone walls, towers and block h ouses, had its foundations set in a
blue sea that itself looked solid, so still and sta ble did it lie below my feet; even the
track of light from the westering sun shone smoothl y, without that animated glitter
which tells of an imperceptible ripple (2). And whe n I turned my head to take a
parting glance at the tug which had just left us an chored outside the bar, I saw the
straight line of the flat shore joined to the stabl e sea, edge to edge, with a perfect and
unmarked closeness, in one levelled floor half brow n, half blue under the enormous
dome of the sky (3). Corresponding in their insigni ficance to the islets of the sea, two
small clumps of trees, one on each side of the only fault in the impeccable joint,
marked the mouth of the river Meinam we had just le ft on the first preparatory stage
of our homeward journey; and, far back on the inlan d level, a larger and loftier mass,

the grove surrounding the great Paknam pagoda, was the only thing on which the eye
could rest from the vain task of exploring the mono tonous sweep of the horizon (4).
Here and there gleams as of a few scattered pieces of silver marked the windings of
the great river; and on the nearest of them, just w ithin the bar, the tug steaming right
into the land became lost to my sight, hull and fun nel and masts, as though the
impassive earth had swallowed her up without an eff ort, without a tremor (5). My eye
followed the light cloud of her smoke, now here, no w there, above the plain,
according to the devious curves of the stream, but always fainter and farther away, till
I lost it at last behind the mitre-shaped hill of t he great pagoda (6). And then I was
left alone with my ship, anchored at the head of th e Gulf of Siam (7).
HEMINGWAY'S THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

That way nothing is accomplished, he thought (1). H is mouth was too dry to speak
but he could not reach for the water now (2). I mus t get him alongside this time, he
thought (3). I am not good for many more turns (4). Yes you are, he told himself (5).
You're good for ever (6).
On the next turn, he nearly had him (7). But a gain the fish righted himself and
swam slowly away (8).
You are killing me, fish, the old man thought (9). But you have a right to (10).
Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than
you, brother (11). Come on and kill me (12). I do n ot care who kills who (13).
Now you are getting confused in the head, he th ought (14). You must keep your
head clear (15). Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man (16). Or a
fish, he thought (17).
'Clear up, head,' he said in a voice he could h ardly hear (18). 'Clear up (19).'
Twice more it was the same on the turns (20).
I do not know, the old man thought (21). He ha d been on the point of feeling
himself go each time (22). I do not know (23). But I will try it once more (24).
He tried it once more and he felt himself goin g when he turned the fish (25). The
fish righted himself and swam off again slowly with the great tail weaving in the air
(26).
I'll try it again, the old man promised, altho ugh his hands were mushy now and he
could only see well in flashes (27).
He tried it again and it was the same (28). So , he thought, and he felt himself
going before he started(29); I will try it once aga in (30).
He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone pride and
he put it against the fish's agony and the fish cam e over on to his side and swam
gently on his side, his bill almost touching the pl anking of the skiff, and started to
pass the boat, long, deep, wide, silver and barred with purple and interminable in the
water (31).
The old man dropped the line and put his foot on it and lifted the harpoon as high
as he could and drove it down with all his strength , and more strength he had just
summoned, into the fish's side just behind the grea t chest fin that rose high in the air

to the altitude of the man's chest (32). He felt th e iron go in and he leaned on it and
drove it further and then pushed all his weight aft er it (33).
Then the fish came alive, with his death in h im, and rose high out of the water
showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty (34). He
seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff (35). Then he fell into the
water with a crash that sent spray over the old man and over all of the skiff (36).
The old man felt faint and sick and he could not see well (37). But he cleared the
harpoon line and let it run slowly through his raw hands and, when he could see, he
saw the fish was on his back with his silver belly up (38). The shaft of the harpoon
was projecting at an angle from the fish's shoulder and the sea was discolouring with
the red of the blood from his heart (39). First it was dark as a shoal in the blue water
that was more than a mile deep (40). Then it spread like a cloud (41). The fish was
silvery and still and floated with the waves (42).
The old man looked carefully in the glimpse of vision that he had (43). Then he
took two turns of the harpoon line around the bitt in the bow and laid his head on his
hands (44).
'Keep my head clear,' he said against the wood of the bow (45). 'I am a tired old
man (46). But I have killed this fish which is my b rother and now I must do the slave
work (47).'