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Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies College of Humanities, Language Studies Foreign Literature and Communication Department of Foreign Language and Literature Stylistic Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s selected short Stories By Hanna Seifu December 2014 Addis Ababa Table of Contents Pages Acknowledgements ................................................................................I Abstract.................................................................................................II Chapter One: ......................................................................................... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background of the study ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem .................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Objectives of the study ....................................................................................................... 2 1.3.1 General objective ............................................................................................................ 2 1.3.2 Specific Objective ............................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Research questions ............................................................................................................. 3 1.5 Scope of the study .............................................................................................................. 3 1.6 Significance of the study ..................................................................................................... 4 1.7 Methodology of the study .................................................................................................. 4 1.8 Organization of the study ................................................................................................... 5 Chapter Two: ......................................................................................... 6 A Review of related literature and conceptual framework of the study ............................................ 6 1.9 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.10 A Review of Related studies ................................................................................................ 6 1.11 Theoretical Framework of the study................................................................................... 9 1.11.1 Concept of style ............................................................................................................ 10 1.11.2 Concept of stylistics ...................................................................................................... 11 1.11.3 Stylistic Analysis ............................................................................................................ 12 1.12 Definitions and concept of foregrounding ........................................................................ 15 1.12.1 Foregrounding features of stylistics study in fiction ..................................................... 16 1.12.2 Deviation ....................................................................................................................... 16 1.12.2.1 Morphological Features ............................................................................................ 17 1.12.2.2 Lexical Features ......................................................................................................... 19 1.12.2.3 Syntactic Features ..................................................................................................... 23 Chapter Three: .................................................................................... 25 A Stylistic Analysis of the selected Short Stories .............................................................................. 25 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Synopsis of the stories ...................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Syntactic deviation in the selected short stories .............................................................. 28 3.4 Lexical Deviation in the selected short stories ................................................................. 30 3.5 Morphological Deviation in the selected short stories ..................................................... 31 3.6 Figurative Language in the selected short stories ............................................................ 32 3.6.1 Simile ......................................................................................................................... 32 3.6.2 Personification .......................................................................................................... 34 3.6.3 Metaphor .................................................................................................................. 35 3.6.4 Symbolism ................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter Four: ...................................................................................... 42 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 42 Bibliography .......................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank God for his unconditional love, help and support throughout my life. I am also indebted to my advisor, Dr. Olga Yazbec for unreserved guidance and support. I am indebted to all who have provided me material and valuable information and advice. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my friends Diribu Adera, Dereje Mulugeta and ‘Grisaw’ for encouragement throughout the course of the study especially during the time when I almost gave up hope. Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband Elias Girma, my sister Kidist Seifu, my brothers Dagnachew Seifu and Yosef Seifu for their love moral and financial support. I couldn’t have done it without their support. I would also like to thank Aberash, my mother in law, for taking good care of my son when I couldn’t be around. I never forget my son Philemon Elias. I Abstract This thesis, as clearly stated in the title, deals with a stylistics analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s selected four short stories by giving due attention to both linguistic and literary features the author used. Focus is on foregrounding features. By focusing on foregrounding in the selected stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, I could demonstrate that the stories are rich stylistically. Content and form are interdependent. It is by manipulating language and literary techniques that Hawthorne could convey social and moral meanings through the stories. Focus on foregrounding helped me to reveal this. The thesis has four chapters: Introduction, Review of Related Literature, Analysis and conclusion. The first chapter is the introduction which covers the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, organization of the study and methodology of the study. The second chapter presents the review of related literature. In this part, different books and articles as well as related research works are discussed critically to show the gap that this thesis tries to fill in. In the third chapter, which is the analysis of the selected four short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a thorough analysis is done on the basis of stylistic features in the stories focusing on some selected foregrounding techniques. Hence, syntactic II deviation, lexical deviation and morphological deviations are some of the foregrounding features analyzed in the stories. The Fourth Chapter is the conclusion part. Hawthorne’s greater gift was creating scenes, persons and events that strike the reader as being actual historical facts and are rich in symbolic import. III Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background of the study The short story is one of the major genres in literature. I decided to write my thesis on foregrounding features in Hawthorne’s selected short stories. The concept of foregrounding was developed by stylisticians in the 20th century. From the stylisticians we learn that in analyzing style in a literary work, it is difficult to focus on every element of style. Because of this, stylisticians demonstrated that it is possible to analyze the style of a literary work by paying attention to noticeable foregrounded features in a literary text. Hence, in this thesis which deals with an analysis of Hawthorne’s selected stories, style is analyzed by giving due attention to the foregrounded features. Stylistics as this thesis tries to show is useful for a more systematic and more focused analysis of style in a text. 1.2 Statement of the problem In this thesis I focus on the foregrounded features in four short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which in my opinion, can be an ideal opportunity for demonstrating how stylistic analysis can be done in literary texts. What initiated me to write my Master’s thesis on this topic was the course “Stylistics Analysis of Fiction”. It was this opportunity that allowed me to see that stylistic analysis can help me to demonstrate that one approach to the study of style is to focus on language use in a particular text. Focus, is, therefore, on the foregrounded features of style in Hawthorne’s short stories which he used for the intended literary effects. Page | 1 This thesis will therefore, focus on style in selected short stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The foregrounded features in the stories are explored and the relation/ connection between the foregrounded features and the meanings suggested through them are demonstrated. 1.3 Objectives of the study 1.3.1 General objective Behind every study lies its objective. It is therefore, the objective of this study to examine style by focusing on the foregrounded features of Hawthorne’s four short stories. The short stories are analyzed from a stylistics perspective. The study also tries to examine why and how these stylistics features are used by the author to express the intended message. Hence, this thesis analyzes the selected short stories from a stylistic point of view giving due attention to noticeable features in the stories. Therefore in doing this work I tried to identify and analyze foregrounded features in the stories. The aim of this thesis is to analyze style in Hawthorne’s selected short stories from the perspective of stylistics. Focus is on one aspect of style in the selected texts: foregrounding. Page | 2 1.3.2 Specific Objective To fulfill the above general objective, I decided to focus on aspects of foregrounding Hawthorne used in the selected stories such as syntactic deviations. Lexical deviations and morphological deviation There are various notions of style, but this thesis focuses on the style of the selected studies, attention, is therefore, paid to the style of the texts, not the style of the period or any other notions of style. 1.4 Research questions In identifying the key features and thoroughly analyzing the selected short stories, the thesis tries to answer the following research questions: What are the morphological, syntactic, and lexical features that recur in the selected short stories? How do the foregrounded features fit into the meanings of the selected short stories? 1.5 Scope of the study This thesis is neither an exhaustive analysis of theme, nor of style in the stories. Foregrounded features in the stories are focused and an attempt is made to demonstrate how they fit into the context of the stories. Page | 3 1.6 Significance of the study I found it very difficult to find any research work of study on Nathaniel Hawthorn’s works in the libraries of Addis Ababa University except for one seminar essay written on the ‘Scarlet letter’ and few Master theses on foregrounding. This thesis, I believe, will be useful resource for students and other researchers who might be interested in studying the other works of the author. It could also serve as a springboard for those who want to learn how to make a stylistic analysis of a literary text. Stylistics also trains literature students on how to systematically analyze literary texts and reach out their meanings by focusing on dominant, recurring features in a text. 1.7 Methodology of the study In analyzing the selected short stories, articles are consulted in order to support the study with a theoretical framework evolved from stylistics and its techniques. In conducting the study various related books, online resources and research materials are also referred to and used as source material. As a result the study is qualitative research and is based on library work. Relevant excerpts from the stories are analyzed based on the framework of analysis prepared in chapter three. Therefore, the procedure or method used to analyze the selected stories is textual analysis. However, no reference is made to the author’s biography or historical background of the short stories. In doing this stylistic analysis, I have read the stories thoroughly, identified the foregrounded features to find out the meanings suggested and the literary effects created through them. Page | 4 1.8 Organization of the study The study consists of four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction which covers the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, organization of the study and methodology of the study. The second chapter presents the review of related literature. In this part, different books and articles as well as related research works are discussed critically to show the gap that this thesis tries to fill in. Related research studies are also reviewed in this chapter to reveal that the selected short stories have not been analyzed by other researchers. It is in chapter three of the thesis that the four short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne are thoroughly analyzed on the basis of foregrounded stylistic features in the stories. The fourth and final chapter is the conclusion of the study it gives the highlights and presents the findings of the study. Page | 5 Chapter Two: A Review of related literature and conceptual framework of the study 1.9 Introduction The aim of this chapter is to critically review research studies done on stylistic analysis and foregrounding. As stated in the introduction part of the thesis, this study focuses on the foregrounded features of the following four short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1. The Minster’s Black Veil 2. The Wedding-Knell 3. Young Goodman Brown 4. The ambitious Guest This chapter reviews studies conducted in this area and then proceeds to review of different books and articles written in the area of Style, Stylistics, Foregrounding, Deviation and Symbolism. 1.10 A Review of Related studies This research, as stated previously focuses on style, in the selected stories. I was able to find some previous studies related to style. A brief review of some of the studies is presented in this section. There is an MA Thesis contributed by Assefa Zeru (1996) who studied literary style and historical meaning: A study of three Amharic Historical Novels. His study Page | 6 consists of three chapters. In chapter one he touched upon literary devices in Mamo Wudneh’s novel Yohannes and Alula Aba Nega. In studying this novel, his focus was mainly on language, figures of speech and narrative techniques. In chapter two he tried to see literary devices in Abera Jembere’s novel Aba Koster. In the third and final chapter of his study Assefa makes a comparative study of style in the historical novel under study. Another related MA thesis reviewed in this thesis is written by Zirihun Asfaw (1983) on literary styles of Haddis Alemayehu and Baalu Girma. The study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter, which is the introduction part gives the purpose of the study, brief view of the concept of style and limits the scope of the study. In the second and third chapter Zerihun tried to analyze the style of Haddis Alemayehu and Baalu Girma respectively. These chapters give a detailed description of the major features of the styles of the two Ethiopian novelists. These are figure of speech, syntactic patterns, sentence length and diction. The fourth chapter of the study contains the concluding remarks. In his research Zerihun brings to our attention that the concept of style is not only an Aristotelian or present era phenomena. Rather style is an all-time concept though different times have different perceptions of style (1983:3) .He explained style as: Right from the time of Aristotle up to the present era, literary critics have expressed their various views towards the subject of style. To some people, style is ‘deviation’, because the writer deviates from the normal use of the language in which he is writing. To others, style is ‘order and movement’ that the stylist establishes in his work of art. To still others, it is ‘depth’, which is represented by the particular expressions Page | 7 of the writer. There are also those who contend that style ‘signifies the manner in which a man expresses himself’. To the Aristotelians, style is to say things in the proper way so as to persuade the audience. Among the MA thesis found is Mesfin Adinew’s (2000) ‘Content and Style in Ethiopian Short Fictional Narratives in English’. In Chapter one of his thesis Mesfin included the general background and discusses the history of the English language in Ethiopian literature published in English. In the review of related literature which is the second chapter of his study he touched upon narrative theories, and also briefly reviewed critical works conducted in the area of Ethiopian literature in English. Chapter three deals with the analysis of the selected narratives both content and style wise. The last chapter makes a comparative analysis of the stories and summarizes the findings. The other MA Thesis which is very much related to this research is Diribu Adera’s (2012) ‘Stylistic Analysis of Selected Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe’. Diribu’s study contains four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. The second chapter is the review of related literature done in the area and the theories that are related with stylistics with possible illustration. The fourth and final chapter is the conclusion part. Discussing about foregrounding, after examining different definitions and interpretations of foregrounding by different authorities Diribu is able to deduct that “foregrounding is paying special attention to certain features of text like parallelism, repetition, deviation and figures of speech in analyzing a particular literary work. Page | 8 A PHD dissertation reviewed in the present study is Berhanu Matthews’ (1994) entitled ‘English Poetry in Ethiopia: The relevance of Stylistics in EFL context’. In this research Berhanu examines the principles and procedures of contemporary literary stylistic theory and explores ways of using the stylistic approach in the teaching of literature. The dissertation consists of eight chapters and is consolidated in 3 sections. Chapter one and two focus on the description and assessment of the research problem. Chapter three and four examine the basic issues in literary criticism and approaches to style and literature and consider their implications for literary text analysis and literary pedagogy. Chapter five is devoted to different exercises for demonstration purpose. Chapter six of the study shows how the principles of stylistic analysis are suited to the teaching of literature at AAU with particular reference to poetry. Chapter seven offers specific activities proposed to demonstrate how the principles might be implemented in the classroom. Chapter eight attempts to give the highlights of the discussions in the seven chapters. Berhanu Matthews’ study has further been cited below on the framework of the study. 1.11 Theoretical Framework of the study This section contains a theoretical review of style, stylistic analysis, foregrounding and other related and relevant topics as discussed by different authorities of this area. It is this section that paves the way to the main part of the study which is the analytical part. Page | 9 1.11.1 Concept of style Wikipedia defines style as: “The manner in which a writer chooses among different strategies to address an issue to an audience.” A style reveals the writer’s personality and it reveals syntactical structures, diction and figures of speech. Style, according to the above definition is the dissimilarity in the language use of an individual or author. Leech and Short (1981:11) define style in its most general interpretation as ….the way in which language is used in a given context, by a given person, for a given purpose….there is a scope for varying definition and emphases. Sometimes the term has been applied to the linguistic habits of a particular writer (‘the style of Dickens, of proust’,etc); at other times it has been applied to the language is used in a particular genre, period, school of writing, or some combination of these: ‘epistolary style’, ‘early eighteenth-century style’, ‘euphuistic style’, ‘the style of Victorian novel’ etc. In this definition, it can be seen that style displays the habit of expression that differentiate a writer from other writers, a genre from other genres or a literary period from other periods. Leech and Short (Ibid: 138) state that: …style can be distinguished from message, can lead to a more precise understanding of what it means for a writer to choose this rather than that way of putting things. If we define style in terms of stylistic variants, we assume that language specifies a repertoire or code or possibilities, and that a writer’s style consists in preferences exercised within the limits of that code. From the above definition we come to understand that though style is the free choice of a writer to write down what is on his mind in his own special way, he/she is limited Page | 10 by what has been exercised so far or what the audience as well as the writer himself think is right. 1.11.2 Concept of stylistics According to Leech and Short (1981:13)” …study of style is rarely undertaken for its own sake, simply as an exercise in describing what use is made of language. We normally study style because we want to explain something, and in general, literary stylistics has, implicitly or explicitly, the goal of explaining the relation between language and artistic function.” In addition Simpson (1997:4) believes that: “Stylistics is a method of applied language study, which uses textual analysis to make discoveries about the structure and functions of language.” Stylistics to Simpson is basically the use of linguistic stylistic analysis as a means of supporting literary or interpretative details. From the above definitions given by different scholars on stylistics, one can deduce that the goal of stylistics is not simply to describe the formal features of texts for their own sake, but to show their functional significance for their interpretation of the text; or to relate literary effects or themes to linguistic triggers; where these are felt to be relevant. To strengthen the aim of stylistics Leech and Short (1981:13) argue that stylistics is “the linguistic study of style”. This refers to the way language is used by a given people and for a given purpose. The style used by an author will be highly influenced by the people he or she is writing for. From a range of aims of stylistics as a fusion of literary and linguistic criticism, it can be pinpointed that stylistics entails the Page | 11 application of linguistics and literary features in the study of literary and non-literary texts. In summary, stylistics grew up because of the need to analyze literary and nonliterary texts linguistically considering the context of the literary text. According to http:// www. Uni-giessen.de/anglistic/ling/staff/mukherjee/pdf/: The concept of ‘style’ and ‘stylistic variation’ in language rest on the general assumption that within the language system, the same content can be encoded in more than one linguistic form….Considering style as choice, there are a multitude of stylistic factors that lead the language user to prefer certain linguistic forms to others. These factors can be grouped into two categories: userbound factors and factors referring to the situation where the language is being used. User-bound factors include, among others, the speaker’s or writer’s age; gender; idiosyncratic preferences; and regional and social background depend on the given communication situation, such as medium (spoken Vs written); participation in discourse; (monologue Vs dialogue); attitude (level of formality) 1.11.3 Stylistic Analysis Stylistic analysis is a deep and thorough assessment of a work of literature in order to examine the writer’s way or technique and choice of writing style, Leech and Short (1981:74) in further describing stylistics analysis state: Every analysis of style, in our terms, is an attempt to find the artistic principles underlying a writer’s choice of language. All writers, and for that matter, all texts, have their individual qualities. Therefore, the features which Page | 12 recommend themselves to the attention in one text will not necessarily be important in another text by the same or a different author. There is no infallible technique for selecting what is significant. We have to make ourselves newly aware, for each text of artistic effect of the whole, and the way linguistic details fit into this whole. According to the above quotation, style is viewed in relation to the context in which it is used. Widdowson (1975:116) on his part added “The value of stylistic analysis is that it can provide the means whereby the learner can relate a piece of literary writing with his own experience of language and so extend the experience………stylistics occupies the middle ground between linguistic and literary criticism and its function is to mediate between the two. In this role, its concerns necessarily overlap with those of the two disciplines. It is for this reason that stylistic analysis shades imperceptibly into literary appreciation.” In his PHD Dissertation (1994:143) Berhanu touched upon the controversy that might arise due to the fact that stylistic analysis is a middle ground for two disciplines. Whatever brings two or more disciplines together is bound to raise some amount of controversy. Since stylistics draws upon linguistics and literary criticism, there has been a great deal of debate among linguists and critics on the place and function of the subject. Through the years, stylistics has been the concern of both linguistic and literary theories. However, although attempts have always been made to understand the nature of style, neither linguistics nor literary theories have clearly established the function and place of the subject until recent years. Page | 13 Widdowson (ibid: 3) explains the morphological make- up of the word stylistics itself as follows: ….stylistics, however, involves both literary criticism and linguistics, as its morphological make-up suggests: the ‘style’ component relating it to the former and the ‘istics’ component to the latter….stylistics is an area of mediation between two disciplines. How far such mediation is necessary or desirable is, as I have said, a question which I want to keep beyond the scope of this present discussion. What I wish to show is that stylistics can provide a way of mediating between two subjects: English language and literature, leaving inexplicit whatever implications arise as to the way it might serve to relate the disciplines from which this subject drives their content….Stylistics is neither a discipline not a subject in its own right, but a means of relating disciplines and subjects. On the other hand Simpson (1997:3) explains that: Stylistics is a thoroughly depersonalized activity in which the analyst is somehow removed from the analysis, exerting no influence or control over it…. No single ‘correct’ interpretation to the text, there couldn’t possibly be, because any interpretation of a piece of language is conditioned by three key factors. The first is to do with what’s in the language itself, the second with what’s in the context of communication, while the third is to do with what’s in your head (that is, the assumptions and knowledge you bring to text). In general Simpson believes that stylistics is a method of applied language study, which uses textual analysis to make discoveries about the structure and function of language. Stylistics to Simpson is basically the use of linguistic stylistic analysis as a means of supporting literary or interpretative details. Page | 14 1.12 Definitions and concept of foregrounding Foregrounding is one of the many techniques that an author uses to make a word or a phrase stand out from the surrounding words or phrases. Foregrounding according to Leech (1968:57): It’s a very general principle of artistic communication that a work of art in some way deviates from norms which we, as member of society, have learnt to expect in the medium used and that anyone who wishes to investigate the significance and value of a work of art must concentrate on the element of interest and surprise, rather than on the automatic pattern. Such deviations from linguistic or other socially accepted norms are labeled foregrounding, which invokes the analogy of a figure seen against a background. In a linguistic sense, the term foregrounding is used to refer to new information, in contrast to elements in the sentence which form the background against which the new elements are to be understood by the listener/reader. Leech (1969:57) The foreground figure is the linguistic deviation, and the background is the language – the system taken for granted in any talk of ‘deviation’. Just as the eye picks out the figure as the important and meaningful element in its field of vision, so the reader of poetry picks out the linguistic deviation in such a phrase as ‘a grief ago’ as the most arresting and significant part of the message; and interprets it by measuring it against the background of the expected pattern. Thus, foregrounding is deviation from linguistic or other socially accepted norms. Page | 15 Short (1996:11) defined deviation as a linguistic phenomenon, that has an important psychological effect on readers (and hearers). If a part of a poem is deviant, it becomes especially noticeable, or perceptually prominent. We call this psychological effect foregrounding. One meaning of foregrounding is therefore the use of different literary techniques in order to bring the act of expression into foreground so that language draws attention to itself. 1.12.1 Foregrounding features of stylistics study in fiction This part of this work briefly discusses the foregrounding features that are applied in the analysis part of the thesis. Thus, this part restricts itself to the linguistic features which, for some reason or other, attract some degree of foregrounding. To begin with this part will try to see the meaning of deviation as it is one of the main tools of foregrounding. 1.12.2 Deviation Deviations occur when a writer deviates from rules, maxims, or conventions. These may involve the language, as well as literary traditions or expectations set up by the text itself. The result is some degree of surprise in the reader, and his/her attention is thereby drawn to the form of the text itself (rather than to its content). It is the departure from the general orders or norms of a given text or genre. Every language and literature has norms, which are accepted conventionally. If these norms are broken, then deviation occurs. Deviation has various features, like discoursal, semantic, lexical, grammatical, and morphological deviation. Page | 16 1.12.2.1 Morphological Features Ranford (2004:1) reports that “morphology is the study of how words are formed out of smaller units called morphemes.” Morphology is therefore, a level of language analysis which deals with the internal arrangement of words and their inflection. It seeks to analyze, describe and classify meaningful grammatical units and how these units are organized in the process of word formation. It is the subfield of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and the relationship among words. Wikipedia defines morphology as “the branch of linguistics which studies patterns of word formation within and across languages.” The lowest unit of syntactic construction is the word. A phrase consists of words. Thus, morphemes are the building blocks for words. Therefore, one way of foregrounding in a text is producing deviation at a morphological level. According to Short (1996, P52) “another way authors make readers to contemplate the otherwise unremarked morphogical structure of words is by playing around with word boundaries”. This can be separating a single word like kingdom into King and Dom, which is also a graphological deviation Short (ibid), explains, “The opposite process to separate morphemes off as quasi-separate word is to run more than one word together as if they were one. Although in spoken language words are not normally separated by silences, in English language writers conventionally write as if there were gaps between the words. This convention is not necessary but merely makes what is written it a bit easier.” Page | 17 Deviating from the norms and what has been accepted by the society will create foregrounding to emphasize and to make clear what is in the mind of the writer when he writes down a specific word. I found it very appropriate and helpful to mention two examples for the two morphological ways of deviation as stated above. The examples are directly taken from Short (ibid) Example: 1 I caught this morning morning’s minion, kingdom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon… (Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘The Windhover’) Here the word kingdom is broken over a line boundary (a graphological deviation). As a result we are invited to think harder than usual about the meaning of the two morphemes which constitute the word ‘kingdom’. ‘king’ is obvious enough, but most twentieth –century speakers of English will not be aware that ‘-dom’ is historically the same morpheme as ‘doom’, meaning ‘judgment’. Foregrounding both the ‘king’ and ‘judgment’ parts of the words has special significance in a poem where Hopkins, through his description of the windhover, is writing a paean of praise to Christ. Educated readers at the time Hopkins was writing were much more aware of word-derivations than most readers are now, and so he could assume that the significance of his foregrounding would not go unnoticed. Example: 2 ‘oh’, said Sheila,’of course you two haven’t met. Strange, isn’t Page | 18 it, really? NigeledwinEdwinigel. (Anthony Burgess, The Doctor is sick, p63) Sheila is introducing her husband to her lover. Running their names together in this way enables Burgess to suggest that Sheila is speaking very fast and as a result we can infer that she is either trying to appear unconcerned or is trying to get the confrontation over as soon as possible. We may even go on to infer that from Shela’s viewpoint there is little to choose between the two men. If we compare the inferential strategies at work in the last two examples we can see how different contextual factors lead us to different, textually appropriate, interpretations of the same linguistic phenomenon. From the above examples we can see that by separating of running together two different words meaning can be varied. 1.12.2.2 Lexical Features Lexis means words. It is used as a general more technical term for vocabulary or diction. The Oxford Dictionary defines lexis as “all the words and phrases of a particular language”. But sometimes in order to produce a foregrounding feature in a text, writers lexically deviate in their writing. The most obvious examples of lexical deviation are those where a writer makes up a word which did not previously exist as Short (1996, p45) calls it neologism. In addition, the process of converting a word from one grammatical class to another is common in English language. In stylistics lexical deviation refers to a new word or expression or a new meaning for an old word used on only particular occasion. Sometimes a writer intends to reach certain kind of rhetorical effect, so he will invent some new words based on the rules Page | 19 of word-formation. But these new words are seldom or hardly used in ordinary occasions. That means in literature, some invented new words are only used by the inventor himself. Surely these nonce-formations (word invented for special purpose) bring about certain stylistic effect and greatly improve the power of newness in language use. Example: 3 In Berhanu Matthews (1994: P271), we find the following poem: There was an old man of Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket But his daughter named Nan Ran away with a Man And as for the bucket, Nantucket! Finding the word Nantucket in line five is quite surprising. One of the reasons for the surprise is that this same word was used in the first line but with a different meaning, that is as a name of a place. In the fifth line, on the other hand, it appears as being a name of an individual. This word is created by combining three different words. These are Nan-tuck-et to mean Nan, the daughter of the old man, as mentioned in line three, took all the cash of her father. Nan took it is what is expected to be the lexically right way of writing it. Page | 20 Figures of Speech Figures of speech are ways of expressing one thing in terms of another. These include similes, metaphors, personification etc. Similes Simile is a comparison between two different things by using the words “like” or “as”. Example 5 “Her eyes shine like a sun” The above example gives the shining nature of a sun to a human eye by using the conjunction word ‘like’ in order to reveal that the eyes are shiny and beautiful. The sentence compares the brightness of the eye with the sun. Metaphors According to Fundamentals of literature by Berhanu Matthews, (82), Metaphors are slightly different from similes in the sense that they express identity rather than comparison. They are also different in that they do not use the words “like” or ‘as” Dr. Berhanu cited Abrams “ in a metaphor a word which in standard (literal) usage demotes one kind of thing quality or action is applied to another, in the form of an identity instead of comparison.” Example 6 “She is the sun of my life.” In the above example the girl is given the nature of the sun. It doesn’t compare her with the sun like in the previous example; rather it presents the character and nature of the sun in the girl. Page | 21 Personification According to http://literarydevices.net/personification Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The nonhuman objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. Example 7 “The sky weeps” In the above example we are giving the sky the ability to feel that is a human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky has been personified in the given sentence. Symbolism http://literarydevices.net/symbolism/ states that: “Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.” Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain”, for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meanings of an object or an action are understood by when, where and how they are used. It also depends on who reads them. Page | 22 1.12.2.3 Syntactic Features Syntax refers to the order of words in a sentence, phrase or clause. Radford (2004; P.1) states that “syntax is the study of the way in which phrases and sentences are structured out of words, and so addresses questions and what the nature of the grammatical operations by which its component words are combined together to form the overall sentence structure?” Syntax usually refers to the level at which the linguist accounts for the way words are put together to form sentences, even though words, which are primary units of syntactic analysis, are important because all human activities involve words, the word is not the focus of syntax. Rather, it is combination of words; word groups and sentences that syntax is concerned with. In relation to the above sentence, syntax means sentence construction; how to infer different sort of meaning from it. The number of grammatical rules in English language are arranged together to make meaningful sentences. It is essentially the grammar of a language as it specifies the rule which governs the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses and sentences. In any language, there is a conventional order of arranging words. When a writer changes the word order it may lead to another interpretation of it. Most of the sentences of the passages in a short story put in a statement form. Thus, sentences construction as one rule or given rule of a language may help the reader to infer different meanings from it. The number of grammatical rules in English language is large and therefore the change in any syntactic structure of a text produces a foregrounding feature via grammatical deviation. There are many ways in which a text can deviate from syntactical norms such as word-order in parts of speech, subject verb inversion, basic sentence Page | 23 patterns etc. The analysis part of this research touches upon the above listed types of syntactic deviations where applicable. Page | 24 Chapter Three: A Stylistic Analysis of the selected Short Stories 3.1 Introduction This chapter deals with a stylistic analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s selected four Short stories. 1. The Minster’s Black Veil 2. The Wedding-Knell 3. Young Goodman Brown 4. The Ambitious Guest In the previous chapter of this thesis, stylistic analysis has been defined as a deep and through analysis of a work of literature in order to examine the writer’s ways or techniques and choice of writing style by using different literary devices. It has also been stated that the researcher attempts to analyze how morphological, syntactic and lexical features are used by the author to foreground meanings in the stories. 3.2 Synopsis of the stories Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil is a short story that tries to illustrate a sort of moral or spiritual lesson. In this story, a character named Mr. Hooper receives various negative reactions from his parishioners because of his unexpected appearance to deliver the usual Sabbath sermon wearing a black veil, which results in his being ostracized by his parishioners as well as dear friends. Page | 25 In the story, Parson Hooper wears the black veil in any occasion till the moment of his death. And the reason he wears that black veil throughout his life is to point that everybody has a secret sin that is unknown to others. So, people should look into themselves so as to attain a high spiritual dimension. He also wants to show by wearing the black veil that people’s secret sins are barriers between God and themselves; and that he is no different from the rest of the people. Reverend Mr. Hooper suffers from melancholy and loneliness his whole life because of being ostracized by his people for wearing the black veil. The Wedding-Knell is the story of a most unusual marriage ceremony in which a twice-widowed woman, vain and now elderly, enters the church to wed a man she had once been engaged to in her youth. At the beginning of the ceremony, the church bell begins to toll in a way it makes everyone think of a funeral, and by the time the bridegroom arrives, he brings with him mourners and is dressed in a burial shroud which makes every attendant think with the deed of the bridegroom. However, finally, the bride and the bride-groom agreed to get married with the funeral like wedding ceremony. They went home having wedded for eternity. They come to terms after the bride groom reasons why he chooses the wedding to be funeral like escorted by the knell which is basically supposed to be for burial ceremony. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" begins at dusk when Young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife, for an unknown journey in the forest. In the Page | 26 forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar manner and bearing a physical resemblance to himself. Other townspeople occupy the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out but is not answered. He then seems to fly through the forest, using a maple staff to find all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony carried out at a flame-lit rocky altar, the newest converts are brought forth Goodman Brown and Faith are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated to the forest rite. Goodman Brown calls to heaven to resist and instantly the scene vanishes. Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, and his belief that he lives in a Christian community is distorted. He loses his faith in his wife, along with all of humanity. He lives his life being suspicious and wary of everyone around him. "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom.” In The Ambitious Guest the characters are all unnamed; the ambitious guest is one character. The other characters are mother, father, eldest daughter, aged grandmother, and the younger children. The story is about a young man who desires to be famous so that he will not die and be forgotten by posterity. This young traveler, having this ambition in mind, stops for Page | 27 the night with a family that lives in a “notch” next to a mountain. They make friendly conversation, interrupted once by the sound of a wagon carrying other travelers, who pause but do not go inside, continuing on with their journey, and then by the sound of rock falling from the slope. This time, the father reassures the young visitor that rock falls happen regularly without causing harm, but that the family has a “safe place” to go in the event of a serious collapse. The group carries on with their friendly convocation. But, suddenly, they are alarmed by the sound of larger avalanche. They scream in fear of the slide and bolt outside for their safe place. But they are all caught up in the rockslide and killed, while the house is completely damaged. Their bodies are swept away and never found. The narrator notes that some people who see the house later think there is evidence of a visitor that night, others disagree – the young man has in fact died without leaving any trace of his life. 3.3 Syntactic deviation in the selected short stories Some syntactic deviations in The Minister’s Black Veil are considered. Looking at Mr. Parson in the black veil, the sexton cries in astonishment, “But what has good Parson Hooper got up on his face?” (P 1) Here, what must be noted is that the sexton’s cries in astonishment. So, after the question mark in the end of the sentence, there should be an exclamatory mark. However, Hawthorne used only a question mark to emphasize that the minister’s black veil has caused confusion in the mind of the sexton rather than surprise. From Page | 28 this, it can be inferred that basic sentence construction is deviated to convey the intended effect. In The wedding knell, In order to keep the precision in the sentence and keep the story as short as possible, Hawthorne uses syntactic deviation in, for example, ‘A southern gentleman, considerably younger than herself, succeeded to her hand…” (P 1) In the statement above one can see the phrase “Succeeded to her hand” which could have been constructed as “He succeeded in holding her hand,” But, the author deviates syntactically. Another example is found in the statement, “She struggled with Time” (P 2) in this statement, the author uses a capital letter to begin the word ‘time’, which is at the end of the sentence; and, therefore, must have been written in lower case letter. This is deviating from a grammatical rule. So, it is syntactic deviation. However, the author uses it in order to foreground that the bride’s life was full of struggle. She tried everything not to become old and unattractive; she tried hard so as not to lose her beauty. Furthermore, the same deviation, for the same purpose is used in the question: “what is Time, to the married of Eternity?” Generally, the story, through the above deviation suggests hearts that seek for Eternity can live united without being hindered by the dimension of time. Page | 29 3.4 Lexical Deviation in the selected short stories In The Minster’s Black Veil Hawthorne used the word ‘good’ (p 1) as a title for Mr. Hooper, which refers to a thing that provokes something into action. Basically, the word ‘good’ is used for a ‘thing’, not for a human being. But Hawthorne deviates from the rule and used it to refer to a title for Mr. Hooper, and, he used it to foreground that Mr. Hooper is a person who has provoked the people into having various reactions because he is wearing the black veil. Therefore, here, the word ‘goad’ can be categorized under lexical deviation. When we come to The Wedding knell the author lexically deviates, as to my observation, in two parts of the story. The first lexical deviation occurs in: “That venerable lady chanced to be a spectator of the scene…” (p 1). In this statement, the noun ‘chance’ is used as a verb, which is deviating from the rule through using one form of word for another. He uses it for the purpose of keeping the statement as compact and precise as possible. The other lexical deviation is found in this description: “the corpse stood motionless, but…’ (p 5) Again, in this description, lexis is deviated through giving a new meaning to the word ‘corpse’. Here, it means a bridegroom- Mr. Ellenwood. The author uses such lexical deviation in order to foreground Mr. Ellenwood’s appearance did not exhibit happiness and excitement. It gave the impression of a funeral ceremony rather than a wedding ceremony. Page | 30 3.5 Morphological Deviation in the selected short stories In The Minister’s Black Veil there is morphological deviation, where the verb ‘detect’ is divided into two morphemes as ‘de tect’. Here is the full statement, “The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest and would fain conceal from our consciousness, even forgetting that the omniscient can de tect them” (p 2). Hawthorne employed a morphological deviation, as it can be seen, to foreground that all people have secret sins which they never reveal to their nearest and dearest forgetting that God can see everything. We also have morphological deviation in The Ambitious Guest in the clause: “…. When folk’s minds go a –wandering so.” (p 4) Here, the author uses the word ‘awondering’, which is a morphological deviation. He uses it in order to foreground that the family together with the guest are entertaining the same and strange type of thought and feeling that night, which, according to the wife is a sign of something. The same morphological deviation is also found in the statement:” … she had provided her grave-clothes….” (P 6) in the statement the word ‘grave-clothes’ is a morphological deviation. Two words are used as one. The author uses it in order to foreground the meaning he wants to convey, that is something bad is going to happen. Page | 31 3.6 Figurative Language in the selected short stories 3.6.1 Simile In The minister’s Black Vail Hawthorne describes Mr. Hooper as, “gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a bachelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had starched his band……” (p. 1). In this description, Hawthorne used a simile”…..as if a careful wife has starched his band……”; and he employed it in order to magnify the gentleman ship of Mr. Hooper; that even if he is a bachelor, he takes care of himself and keeps his dressing with due clerical neatness. Hawthorne tells us that Mr. Hooper is a bachelor, but appears as a married man. From this phrase we observe that Hawthorn thinks that a bachelor is not as much concerned of his appearance as a married man. Hawthorne also used a simile in a statement –“Turning his veiled face from a group to another, he paid due reverence to the hoary heads, salted the middle-aged with kind dignity as their friend…..” (p 3). In this statement Hawthorne used the phrase “as their friend””, in which he wanted to liken Mr. Hooper’s salutation to the middleaged with kind dignity of friendliness. He means that the minister addresses with a smile. He used it in order to foreground that Mr. Hooper is a good person who pays due respect to his people. In The Wedding Knell, Hawthorne uses more similes than the other foregrounding tools. For instance, there is a description of Mr. Ellen; “at sixty- five’ Mr. Ellen Wood was shy, but not quite a secluded man; selfish, like all men who brood over their own Page | 32 hearts” (p 1). In this description, the author likens Mr. Ellenwood to selfish men who brood over their own hearts, which is a simile. Hawthorne uses the simile in order to foreground the character of Mr. Ellenwood Another simile is found on page 2, paragraph 6. it reads, “… all displayed to the best advantage on persons suited to such finery, made the group appear more like a bright colored picture than anything real. Here, one can see that the author likens the group with a bright colored picture. He used it so as to foreground how decorated were the bride and her company. The other simile is found in such a statement, “… when another stroke of the bell seemed to fill the church with a visible gloom, dimming and obscuring the bright pageant, till it shone forth again as from a mist” (p 3). In the statement, the author likens the other stroke of the bell with a vision in the mist. He intends to foreground the gloomy atmosphere the stroke of the bell created in the wedding ceremony. The other use of simile is observed in this statement: “As she spoke, a dark procession paced in to the church. First come an old man and woman, like chief mourners at a funeral, attired from head to foot in deepest black…( p 4)” In the statement, the old woman and man, who are the company of the bridegroom, are likened with chief mourners. The author uses the simile for the sake of foregrounding how shocked the bride was at their unexpected appearance in the wedding ceremony. Page | 33 Finally, we find a simile in the description of the bridegroom’s utterance “‘cruel’ repeated he, then, losing his deathlike composure in a wild bitterness…” (p 5). In this description, Hawthorne likens Mr. Ellen wood’s composure with death. He uses the simile in order to foreground that the upcoming utterance of the bridegroom is pitiful. This simile also reveals his pessimism. Finally in The ambitious guest a smile is also observed in the clause: “… sound abroad in the night, rising like the roar of a blast…..” (p 6) In the example, the author likens ‘the sound abroad in the night’ with ‘the roar of the blast’. This is used to show how dreadful the sound abroad in the night is. 3.6.2 Personification When we see personification in The Minister’s Black Veil there is a statement “… it threw its obscurity between him and the holy page…”.(p 2). In the statement ‘it’ refers to the “black veil” which is endowed with the quality of throwing obscurity between Mr. Hooper and the holy page. Therefore, it is a personification. Hawthorne personified the black veil in order to foreground that it is a barrier between oneself and the Holy Scriptures. The story continues and takes us to Elizabeth who is the only nearest friend, and Mr. Hooper’s last day contradiction in which, one of the dialogues contains a personification. Elizabeth says “your words are a mystery, too, returned the young lady. ‘Take away the veil from them, at least.” (p 6) Page | 34 Again, in The Ambitious Guest one example of personification is found in the following quotation, “up the chimney roared the fire and brightened the room with its broad blaze …..” (p 1) In this statement, the author presents the fire as an animated being that can have a roaring sound, which is an example of personification. He uses it in order to foreground the brightness of the light from the fire. The other example is in the following sentence: “…. When the wind came through the Notch and seemed to pause before their cottage – rattling the door, with a sound of wailing and lamentation…” (p 1) In this description, Hawthorne endows the wind with the quality of a human attribute in that; it produces the sounds of caviling and lamentation. The author uses it in order to foreground how scary and dreadful it is. The other instance of personification is found in the statement: “the old mountain has thrown a stone at us, for fear we should forget him.” (p 2) In this statement the author personifies the old mountain. It is presented as a human being that can intentionally throw stones in order not to be forgotten. The author uses it in order to foreground how repeatedly the family suffered from rockslides. 3.6.3 Metaphor We can also see a metaphor in The Minister’s Black Veil on the utterance of Mr. Hooper’s parishioner “He has changed himself into something awful…..” (P 2) Page | 35 Here, we can see that the parishioner calls Mr. Hooper an awful person, which is a metaphor. Hawthorne used this metaphorical sentence to stress the fact that Mr. Hooper’s parishioner is reacting negatively against the black veil. In conclusion, in ‘the Minister’s Black Veil’, Hawthorne employed various figures of speech, morphological and lexical deviations to foreground the meaning he wanted to convey to readers. Most of the sentences and phrases are parallel, and somehow syntactically deviated for the purpose of foregrounding meanings. In The wedding knell, the researcher tries to analyze two examples. Here is the first description: “… the bridal party came through the church door with the sudden and gladsome effect of a burst of sunshine (P 2). In the description, the author denotes the quality of a sudden and gladsome effect of burst of sunshine at the coming of the bridal party to the church. He uses it to foreground, how it was looked forward by the wedding attendants and the bride. The other example of metaphor is in this exclamation of the author: “How strange that gushes of human feeling from the frozen bosom of a corpse!” (P. 6) In this exclamatory sentence, Mr. Ellenwood is identified as a corpse, which is a metaphor. The author uses it to foreground how unworldly is Mr. Ellenwood, is that his life cannot be called life at all as a result of despair. An emotion of happiness is not on his face. Page | 36 3.6.4 Symbolism The minister’s Black Veil contains some metaphor like in the description, Hawthorne used the sentence “Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one; he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word” (p 2). In the sentence the noun ‘thunder’ that has dreadful sound symbolizes that God’s word has great power on those who hear it. Hawthorn employed it in order to foreground how Mr. Hooper preaches his people softly and persuasively, rather than scaring them with powerful words. A symbol is also observed in Mr. Hooper’s reply to Elizabeth-“if I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough;” he merely replied;” and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?” (p 7) In Mr. Hooper’s reply, the question “what mortal might not do the same?” symbolizes that everybody, who is destined to die, wears a black veil in their mind which covers their secret sin from being revealed. Hawthorne employed it in order to foreground that Mr. Hooper firmly believes in the appropriateness of his wearing of the black veil. The veil can be a symbol of the ways and practices through which people mislead others by the sins they have committed while completely and truly facing themselves. It could represent the secret sins that all people carry in their hearts, or Page | 37 it could be a representation of Mr. Hooper's sins. The veil is used as a daily reminder of people's sins, undeniable truths, guilt, and secrets that they are unwilling to admit The Ambitious Guest, when we see the story in general, is symbolic revealing that however ambitious people may be, their destiny is uncertain and they might lose their life in a sudden moment. Symbolism is one of the dominant literary devices that are used by Hawthorne in Young Goodman Brown. Basically, Hawthorne uses the background of witchcraft to explore uncertainties of belief that trouble a man’s heart and mind. Therefore, Goodman Brown’s journey to the forest symbolically stands for both a physical and a psychological journey, which is an exploration of the mind. It can be said that the whole story symbolizes what is supposed to take place in the human mentality. It is symbolic of man’s inward journey into his morality. Hawthorne describes “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.”(p 1) From the above sentence we can infer that Brown’s journey through the forest is on a narrow, dark, and dull path. The darkness and dreariness symbolize the evil that hides in the forest. The narrowness of the path symbolizes that Brown is surrounded by evil and can hardly escape it. The idea that Brown may never return to the state of innocence from which he came is suggested by the fact that the woods seem to close immediately behind him. The trail being long and windy symbolizes how far Page | 38 Brown’s consciousness must travel from innocence to realize the evil in his world. The bareness of the trees seems to symbolize the absence of life and God's grace. When Goodman Brown reaches the meeting with everyone he has known being there, the coniferous trees are on fire. A symbol of eternity and green showing the grace of God, the fire represents the co-existence that evil and life share without the light of God, as the trees return to what they once were when daylight shines and Goodman Brown awakes. One of the most obvious styles that stand out about Hawthorne's works is his choice of character naming; he successfully creates names that has something to do or that has some meaning about the character. Some uses of this type of symbolization can be found with the main characters Goodman Brown. Here, the word "Goodman" is symbolic of his nature, and suggests another meaning about his ethics. Another example is the wife "Faith", who is known for her great innocence and trust in Goodman Brown until he begins to doubt her. It is no coincidence that the wife faces a problem of faith to her husband later on. Thus, the name itself symbolizes that something related to ‘Faith’ is going to happen. Throughout the story, this type of symbolism is repeated constantly with phrases such as "Faith kept me back a while" P.2) and “My Faith is gone!" (p. 6) which strongly suggests an alternate meaning to the story. Using the colors of evil, red, and the colors of purity, white, faith is born. With her pink ribbons, Faith is a mixture of the evil of man and the purity of man combined. Hawthorne uses pink as a symbol four times in the story, imbuing her character with Page | 39 youthfulness and happiness. The pink ribbon that Faith puts in her cap symbolizes her purity. The color pink is associated with innocence and gaiety, and ribbons themselves are a modest, innocent decoration. In addition, in the Bible red represents sin while white signifies purity. Thus, this symbol represents the blend of purity and sin. Hawthorne describes "Faith, with pink ribbons" (p 1) inferring that Faith takes on this blend of purity and sin. Finally, Goodman Brown exclaims to Faith, "Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!" (P.9) This sentence shows that he never completely loses his faith. Hawthorne reintroduces the ribbons when Goodman Brown is in the forest, struggling with his doubts about the goodness of the people he knows. When the pink ribbon flutters down from the sky, Goodman Brown perceives it as a sign that Faith has definitely fallen into the kingdom of the devil. She has shed this sign of her purity and innocence. At the end of the story, when Faith greets Goodman Brown as he returns from the forest, she was wearing her pink ribbons again, suggesting her return to the figure of innocence. The devil’s staff, which is encircled by a carved serpent, draws from the biblical symbol of the serpent as an evil demon. In the Book of Genesis, the serpent tempts Eve to taste the fruit from the forbidden tree; against God’s will and bringing his anger upon humanity. When the devil tells Goodman Brown to use the staff to travel faster, Goodman Brown takes him up on the offer and, like Eve, is ultimately condemned for his weakness by losing his innocence. Besides representing Eve’s temptation, the serpent represents her curiosity, which leads her into that temptation. Goodman Brown’s decision to come into the forest is motivated by curiosity, as was Eve’s decision to eat the forbidden fruit. The staff makes clear that the old man is Page | 40 more demon than human and that Goodman Brown, when he takes the staff for himself, is on the path toward evil as well. In the story, even though Goodman claims the walk to the forest into where Satan lures him to be too far, as Hawthorne puts it “He still unconsciously resumes walking“ (P 2). This statement symbolizes the prime constituent of unconscious mental process concept in that Goodman’s desire to experience the evil becomes unconscious so that he simply listens to his instinctual fulfillment without being aware of consequence as an outcome. Hawthorne uses such a symbolic statement because he wants to foreground that the character Goodman Brown’s mind is full of moral restrictions of the Christian religion. Page | 41 Chapter Four: Conclusion This chapter gives highlights on what has been explained and explored so far. Style is a wide concept that comprises different views among which - it is a unique way of expression used by a writer. The analysis of style involves the exploration of the writers’ choice of words, figures of speech and language use. This thesis has, therefore, focused on identifying and analyzing the above devices and it has tried to establish the functions of style in the short stories studied. Hawthorne's works belong to Dark Romanticism. His short storiesadvocate that guilt, sin, and evil are the most inherent natural qualities of humanity. Many of his works are inspired by Puritan New England consisting of historical romance loaded with symbolism and deep psychological themes. His depictions of the past are a version of historical fiction used only as a vehicle to express common themes of ancestral sin, guilt and retribution. All the short stories chosen are rich in many types of foregrounding features. Specifically Symbolism is one of the dominant and wisely used literary device that is used by Hawthorne. When we read Young Good Man Brown, we can see that even the names of the characters are symbolic and have something to do in the story. We can mention the main character Good Man and his wife Faith whose names symbolizes their character traits and the role they are going to play in the stories. As a romantic writer, more specifically dark romanticism, Hawthorne’s stories are known to contain one or two weird characters. We can mention the Minister- in “The Minister’s Black Veil” the Young Good Man Brown in “Young Goodman Brown”. These characters usually are complex and have a different view and perspective of the world we are living in. Page | 42 Efforts have been to make the study focus on the broadly used features of foregrounding. Lexical, syntactical and morphological features are among the analyzed features. This study is only a small attempt to analyze some foregrounding features used by the writer. It is the recommendation of the researcher that other researchers may carry out further research in foregrounding. A study on foregrounding can help us discover the literary qualities of Hawthorne’s works. Page | 43 Bibliography Andrew Radford (2004). Minimalist Syntax: Exploring the structure of English. 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Mick Short (1996). Exploring the language of poems, plays and prose. London: Addison Wesley Longman Limited. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Minster’s Black Veil : The Wedding-Knell : Young Goodman Brown : The Ambitious Guest Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995). 1948 -1995. Oxford University Press. Paul Simpson (1997). Language through literature. London and New York: Routledge publishers. Widdowson, H.G. (1975). Stylistics and the teaching of English. London: Longman Group Ltd. Zerihun, Asfaw (1983). The Literary Style of Haddis Alemayehu and Baalu Ferma (unpublished MA thesis). Addis Ababa: AAU. Declaration I the under signed, declare that this thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other university, and that all source of materials used for the thesis have been duly acknowledged. Name Hanna Seifu Signature ______________ Place Addis Ababa University Date of Submission ______________________ The thesis has been for examination with my approval as a university advisor Olga Yazbec PhD Signature _______________ Place: Addis Ababa University Date of Submission _______________