Stylistic analysis The Ebony Tower by John Fowles

Stylistic analysis

The Ebony Tower by John Fowles

Five hours later the same head faced him across the dinner table , and he was beginning to find it difficult to think of anything else. She had appeared only briefly before dinner, she was busy in the kitchen with the Freak; and now she had changed into a black shirt and another long skirt, striped browns and a burnt orange; night and autumn; and done her hair up in a way that managed to seem both classically elegant and faintly disheveled. There was just a tiny air that she was out to kill; and she was succeeding. The more he learned her, the more he watched her, the more he liked her; as temperament, as system of tastes and feelings, as female object. He knew it, and concealed it… not only to her, partly also to himself; that is, he analyzed what he had so rapidly begun to find attractive about her - why that precise blend of the physical and the psychological, the reserved and the open, the controlled and the (for he had also begun to believe what the Freak had said) uncertain, called so strongly to something in his own nature. Strange, how these things hit you out of the blue, were somehow inside you almost before you could see them approaching. He felt a little bewitched, possessed; and decided it must be mainly the effect of being without Beth. They lived so close, one had forgotten what the old male freedom was like; and perhaps it was almost of all a matter of having to have some personal outlet for his feelings about the whole day. He had enjoyed it enormously, when he looked back. It had been so densely woven and yet simple; so crowded with new experience and at the same time primitive, atavistic, time-escaped. Above all he felt accepted, almost one of the house-hold now.

With the girls his credentials had been established by his swimming with them; he had realized afterward that that had been needed - to prove he was a sport, on the Freak's level; that he condoned a choice at the Mouse's more thinking one. He had caught up with her some hundred yards from the shore. They had chatted a little about the lake, the temperature, the niceness of it, as they trod water some ten feet apart. He saw the Freak go back on shore. Breasley seemed still asleep under the fir tree. They had swum slowly back together, toward the thin figure drying herself. He came out of water beside the Mouse, and the Freak had handed him her damp towel. The sunlight, the trees, the intuition of watching eyes; what faint shadows of embarrassment he still felt had very little to do with the girls… or only with the whiteness of her skin beside theirs.

About the author

John Fowles was an award-winning post-World War II novelist of major importance. While his works are reflective of literary tradition reaching back to Greek philosophy and Celtic romance, he was very much a contemporary existentialist, and his writings received both popular and critical acclaim.

John Fowles was born on March 31, 1926, to middle-class parents living in a small London suburb. He attended a London preparatory school, the Bedford School, between the ages of 14 and 18. He then surved as a leutenant in the Royal Marines for two years, but World War II ended before he saw actual combat. Fowles then spent four years at Oxford, where he discovered the writings corresponded with his own ideas about conformity and the will of the individual. He received a degree in French in 1950 and began to consider a career as a writer.

In late 1960 Fowles completed the first draft of The Collector in just four weeks. He continued to revise it until the summer of 1962, when he submitted it to a publisher; it appeared in the spring of 1963 and was an immediate best-seller. The critical acclaim and comercial success of the book allowed Fowles to devote all his time to writing. Then followed The Aristos (1964), The Magus (1965), The French Leutenant's Woman, the most commercially successful of Fowles' novels (1969), Poems, a collection of poetry (1973), Daniel Martin (1977), Mantissa (1982), A Maggot (1985).

He also worked on translations from the French, including adaptations of Cinderella and the novella Ourika. His translation of Marie de France's 12^th century story Eludic served as an inspiration for The Ebony Tower, a novella and four short stories that appeared in 1974.

John Fowles was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999.

Fowles, with his second wife Sarah by his side, died in Axminster Hospital, 5 miles from Lyme Regis on November 5, 2005.

Analysis

The extract is taken from The Ebony Tower, a novella about David Williams, a young abstractionist, who also worked as an art critic. David came to Breasley's house to collect information for the book about Breasley, a famous realist painter. The fragment under interpretation describes the feelings of David becoming to like the Mouse, one of the girls who lived with Breasley. The main problem may be formulated in the following way: David is married but still he finds out he is a man and there is something he can't resist in his nature. Since the inner thoughts and feelings are revealed in the passage, the prevailing mood is emotional.

The extract falls into two logically complete parts. The first paragraph describes dinner, the second is focused on David's recollections about the day. Both parts represent a 3d Person Narration, but the reader may feel as if it was done in the 1^st Person, because it is clear that all the description is given through David's eyes.

The author makes an abundant use of various stylistic devices to make the reader better understand the feelings and emotions of the character.

The sentences of the passage are long and the reader perceives it as flowing of thought, as if wondering. The motion of feelings is like that of wave - becoming stronger then weaker. The reader feels it through the choice of words, through the convergence of stylistic devices. From the very first sentence of the extract the author describes the Mouse. The metonymy the same head faced him across the dinner table is used to underline that David thought of the Mouse. His perception of everything concerning the girl becomes a kind of poetic. Describing her appearance, the author uses figurative periphrasis (based on metaphor) a black shirt and another long skirt, striped browns and a burnt orange; night and autumn and antithesis classically elegant and faintly disheveled. Then the "wave" of an emotion comes revealing in gradation (climax) the more he learned her, the more he watched her, the more he liked her and simile+gradation as temperament, as system of tastes and feelings, as female object. The break in the narrative in this and the very last sentence of the passage contributes to the effect of reading the inner monologue of the character: He knew it, and concealed it... not only to her; had very little to do with the girls... or only with the whiteness of his skin beside theirs. Parenthesis (for he had also begun to believe what the Freak had said) in this sentence also adds to this effect. The stylistic devices and expressive means in this sentence are linked and interwoven to produce the joint impression of great tension and contradictory feelings inside David. Thus, we find parallel construction blend of the physical and the psychological, the reserved and the open, the controlled and the uncertain which is a climax and antithesis. In the next sentence the reasoning continues. The use of pronoun you makes the reader even more absorbed in the problems of the character inviting him/her to think and compare their own life and emotions with the described ones. Metaphor out of the blue and personification these things hit; see them approaching add to the expressiveness of the narration, as well as the choice of words in the following sentence bewitched, possessed. The intenseness of the emotions David experiences may be judged by the adverb enormously used to describe his enjoyment. But thenn the "wave" of contradiction comes with the antithesis combined with climax densely woven and yet simple; so crowded with the new experience and at the same time primitive, atavistic, time-escaped.

The next part of the suggested extract is devoted to David's recollections about the picnic with girls and Breasley. The young man realized it was needed to prove he was a sport. The informal phrase serves to underline once more that the atmosphere was not formal, like a talk to somebody who is familiar, close. Then the author draws a romantic picture: a young man and a young woman trod water and chat. The enumeration about the lake, the temperature, the niceness of it is suggestive of the warm friendly conversation. The enumeration the sunlight, the trees, the intuition of watching eyes makes the reader understand that everything around David was important for him, was noticed by him. A metaphor faint shadow of embarrassment implies the depth of the emotion felt by the character.

The episode is presented through the perception of the character. This type of presenting a picture of life as if perceived by a character creates the so-called effect of immediate presence. The reader experiences the highest degree of involvement in the thoughts and feelings of the character, his views, his perception of the surrounding things. This is due to making an abundant use of various stylistic devices by the writer to achieve the atmosphere of growing excitement. Fowles succeeds in it. That is why his books are read and enjoyed in many countries and he is considered one of the best contemporary writers.