Complete List Stylistic Devices

Complete List of Stylistic Devices

Expression

Description

Adynaton

Adynaton (plural adynata) (from Greek: a-: without and dynasthai: to be powerful) is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to suggest a complete impossibility.

I cannot speak enough of this content

It stops me here; it is too much of joy.

—Shakespeare, Othello 2.1.196-97

Allegory

As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor.

A symbolic representation: The blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice.

Justice to break her sword ! One more, one more.
(3318- Act 5, Scene 2)

Alliteration

(Alliteration Stabreim)

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of neighbouring words

alliteration: links words by the initial letter (“the wind whistles”)

Effect: sound device, musical effect

Example: O wild west wind, …;

Full fathoms five thy father lies,..

Allusion (Anspielung)

Allusion (Anspielung)

A reference to a famous person or event; may be literary, historical, biblical, …

Example:

Effect: emphasis, to give credibility, to show off one´s education

Allusion [E`lu:Gn] (Anspielung):
a brief reference to a person, place, thing, event or idea in history or literature. Allusions require common reading and cultural experiences shared by the writer and the reader. (v. to allude to sth., n. an allusion to sth.)
The old man and the computer (allusion to The Old man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway)

alternate rhyme:

alternate rhyme: abab,

envelope pattern: abba,

tail rhyme: abcabc.

Ambiguity

Ambiguity [ÃmbI`gju:Eti] (Ambiguität, Zwei-/Mehrdeutigkeit):
the deliberate use of a word or phrase that has two or more relevant meanings.
Ambiguity is the basis for a lot of wordplay. (adj. ambiguous [Ãm`bIgjUEs]))

Anachronism

An accidental or deliberate inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other.

Anacoenosis

Posing a question to an audience, often with the implication that it shares a common interest with the speaker.

"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could I

have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" Isaiah 5:3-4

Anacoluthon

An anacoluthon (pronounced /ænəkəˈluːθɒn/ AN-ə-kə-LOO-thon; from the Greek, anakolouthon, from an-: 'not' + akolouthos: 'following') is a rhetorical device that can be loosely defined as a change of syntax within a sentence. More specifically, anacoluthons (or "anacolutha") are created when a sentence abruptly changes from one structure to another. Grammatically, anacoluthon is an error; however, in rhetoric it is a figure that shows excitement, confusion, or laziness.

"Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart."

Anadiplosis

Anadiplosis (pronounced /ænədɨˈploʊsɨs/, AN-ə-di-PLOH-sis; from the Greek: ἀναδίπλωσις, anadíplōsis, "a doubling, folding up") is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence.

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." —Yoda, Star Wars

Anangeon

Anangeon is the admission of a charge, but then excusing it by stating its necessity.

Example

Yes, I shot him, but it was kill or be killed.

Indeed I kissed her, but if I had turned away it would have embarrassed the poor thing.

Sorry about the noise but I need to get to work.

anapaest:

two unstressed –stressed (xx/, “marguerite”)

Anaphora (Anapher)

Anaphora (Anapher)

The same word or expression is repeated at the beginning of 2 or more lines or sentences

Example: Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Effect: emphasis

Anastrophe

Anastrophe is a figure of speech involving an inversion of a language's ordinary order of words; for example, saying "smart you are" to mean "you are smart". In English, with its settled natural word order, departure from the expected word order emphasizes the displaced word or phrase: "beautiful" is emphasized in the City Beautiful urbanist movement; "primeval" comes to the fore in Longfellow's line "This is the forest primeval." Where the emphasis that comes from anastrophe is not an issue, "inversion" is a perfectly suitable synonym.

Yoda from the Star Wars series commonly uses anastrophe.

"Told you, I did. Reckless is he. Now matters are worse."

"Mind what you have learned. Save you it can."

"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."

Antanaclasis

antanaclasis: A form of pun in which a word is repeated in two different senses In rhetoric, antanaclasis ("reflection") is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.

"Put out the light, then put out the light." —Shakespeare's Othello

"She is nice from far, but far from nice!" – popular saying

anthimeria:

In rhetoric, anthimeria, traditionally and more properly called antimeria is the use of a word as if it were a member of a different word class (part of speech); typically, the use of a noun as if it were a verb.

"The thunder would not peace at my bidding". (Shakespeare, King Lear, IV, vi.)

"I'll unhair thy head." (Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, II, v.)

anthropomorphism:

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to animals or non-living things, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse.

Example:

a smiling moon, a jovial sun

In "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath, for example, the mirror--the "I" in the first line--is given the ability to speak, see and swallow, as well as human attributes such as truthfulness.

I am silver and exact.

I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful[...]

Anticlimax

Anticlimax

Often surprising descent from the important to the unimportant, normally in a series of statements

Example: He pawned his life, his watch and his word.

Effect: surprise, humour

antimetabole:

In rhetoric, antimetabole (pronounced /æntɨməˈtæbəli/ AN-ti-mə-TAB-ə-lee) is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order (e.g., "I know what I like, and I like what I know"). It is similar to chiasmus although chiasmus does not use repetition of the same words or phrases.

"Eat to live, not live to eat" - Attributed to Socrates

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.

"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us." Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, Washington Heights, NY, March 29, 1964.

"With my mind on my money, and my money on my mind." Snoop Dogg

"Fair is foul and foul is fair." The witches, Macbeth

antiphrasis

An antiphrasis is a figure of speech that is a word used to mean the opposite of its usual sense, especially ironically. The use of a word or phrase in a sense contrary to its normal meaning for ironic or humorous effect, as in a mere babe of 40 years.

Antithesis (Gegenüberstellung zweier Gedanken

Antithesis (Gegenüberstellung zweier Gedanken)

Contrasting statements are balanced against each other.

Example: To err is human, to forgive divine.

Effect: to create emphasis

antonomasia

antonomasia: Substitution of a phrase for a proper name or vice versa

aphorism

aphorism: Tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage aphorism: Tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion, an adage

apophasis

apophasis: Invoking an idea by denying its invocation*apostrophe:

Aporia

Aporia (Ancient Greek: ἀπορία: impasse; lack of resources; puzzlement; doubt; confusion) denotes, in philosophy, a philosophical puzzle or state of puzzlement, and, in rhetoric, a rhetorically useful expression of doubt.

Aposiopesis

Aposiopesis (pronounced /ˌæpəsaɪ.əˈpiːsɪs/ from Classical Greek, ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a rhetorical device wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to continue. An example would be the threat "Get out, or else—!" This device often portrays its users as overcome with passion (fear, anger, excitement) or modesty. To mark the occurrence of aposiopesis with punctuation an em dash or an ellipsis may be used.

archaism

archaism: Use of an obsolete, archaic, word(a word used in olden language, e.g. Shakespeare's language)

Assonance

Assonance (Gleichklang)

The repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within stressed syllables or neighbouring words

Example: fate and lake

Effect: musical

Assonance [`ÃsEnEns] (Assonanz):
the repetition of internal vowel sounds in neighbouring words that do not end the same.
sweet dreams / fertile - birth

Asyndeton

Asyndeton (unverbundene Reihung von Satzgliedern)

Words are not linked by conjunctions; they are separated only by commas

Example: .. another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, … covering…

Effect: staccato-like

Auxesis

Form of hyperbole, in which a more important sounding word is used in place of a more descriptive term

Cacophony

(Missklang ))

Cacophony is the claim or study of inherent pleasantness or beauty (euphony) or unpleasantness (cacophony) of the sound of certain words and sentences. Poetry is considered euphonic, as is well-crafted literary prose. Important phonaesthetic devices of poetry are rhyme, assonance and alliteration. Closely related to euphony and cacophony is the concept of consonance and dissonance

caesura

A comma, colon or full stop within a line indicates a pause (caesura).“To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine.”

(Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism”)

catachresis

Mixed metaphor (sometimes used by design and sometimes a rhetorical fault) (Katachrese, Bildbruch)

Using a word in a sense radically different from its normal sense.

"'Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon's purse" — Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

Using a word to denote something for which, without the catachresis, there is no actual name.

"a table's leg"

Using a word out of context.

"Can't you hear that? Are you blind?"

Creating an illogical mixed metaphor.

"To take arms against a sea of troubles..." – Shakespeare, Hamlet

Misuse of a word out of a misunderstanding of its meaning.

Justice to break her sword ! One more, one more.
(3318- Act 5, Scene 2)

Chiasmus (Überkreuzung)

Chiasmus (Überkreuzung)

The syntactic structure is criss-crossed; inversion in second phrase of order in first phrase

Example: to stop too fearful, and too faint to go

Effect: emphasis

circumlocution

circumlocution: "Talking around" a topic by substituting or adding words, as in euphemism or periphrasis Addressing a thing, an abstraction or a person not present

Cliché/ Generalization

A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, "played out", rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. The term is frequently used in modern culture for an action or idea which is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. It is likely to be used pejoratively. But "clichés" are not always false or inaccurate; a cliché may or may not be true. Some are stereotypes, but some are simply truisms and facts. A cliché may sometimes be used in a work of fiction for comedic effect.

Climax

Words are arranged according to the value of their importance; the most important word is the climax.

Example: We strive for the good, aim for the better, and seize the best.

Effect: to increase tension, emphasize importance

commiseration:

commiseration: Evoking pity in the audience

Contradictio in adjecto

Contradictio in adjecto is Latin for a contradiction in itself or a contradiction in terms. It is "the characteristic that is denoted by the adjective stands in contrast to the noun." It is a kind of oxymoron, for example, "There was a deafening silence in the room."

Contrast

In literature, an author writes contrast when he or she describes the difference(s) between two or more entities. For example, in the first four lines of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, Shakespeare contrasts a mistress to the sun, coral, snow, and wire.My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red ;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

consonance

Consonance [`---] (Konsonanz):
the repetition of consonant sounds at the end of neighbouring words which have different vowel sounds.
strength - earth – birth / home - same

correctio:

Linguistic device used for correcting one's mistakes, a form of which is epanorthosis

dactyl:

stressed – two unstressed (/xx, “damnable”)

denominatio:

Another word for metonymy

double negative:

Grammar construction that can be used as an expression and it is the repetition of negative words

dysphemism:

Substitution of a harsher, more offensive, or more disagreeable term for another. Opposite of euphemism

Ellipsis/ Clipping

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") is a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word in the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis) (apostrophe and ellipsis mixed). When placed at the end of a sentence, the ellipsis can also inspire a feeling of melancholy longing. The ellipsis calls for a slight pause in speech.

The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods or full stops (...) or pre-composed triple-dot glyph (…). The usage of the em dash (—) can overlap the usage of the ellipsis.

end rhyme:

in the shape of a

couplet: aabb

alternate rhyme: abab

envelope pattern: abba

tail rhyme: abcabc (Schweifreim)

end-stopped line:

end-stopped line: “Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.[...]”

(William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 73”)

Enjambment

Enjambment (Zeilensprung)

A sentence runs across 2 lines

Example: I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high oér vales and hills

Effect: fluent, flowing

Elegy

Enumeration

Enumeration (Aufzählung):
the listing of words or phrases. It can stress a certain aspect e.g. by giving a number of similar or sy n­onymous adjectives to describe something.
Today many workers find their labor mechanical, boring, imprisoning, stultifying (lähmend), repe titive, dreary and heartbreaking.

epanados:

Repetition in a sentence with a reversal of words. Example:

epanorthosis:

Immediate and emphatic self-correction, often following a slip of the tongue

Epiphora

Repetition of one or more words at the end of two or more lines or sentences

Example: Whirl your pointed pines,

Splash your great pines

Effect: emphasis (front and end positions are always emphasized)

A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman! (Othello)

erotema:

Synonym for rhetorical question (not commonly used)

Euphemism

Euphemism (Euphemismus)

A direct, unpleasant statement is replaced by an indirect, more pleasant one to avoid bluntness.

Example: to put an animal to sleep, instead of: to kill it because it is ill

Effect: to avoid bluntness, to be polite

euphemism: Substitution of a less offensive or more agreeable term for another

Exemplum

An exemplum (Latin for "example", pl. exempla, exempli gratia = "for example", abbr.: e.g.) is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.

Exergasia

Exergasia is used to make a point or bring home a powerful idea. Repetition is a good way of making a point, but without the restatement of the idea it tends to become boring. As such, it is used by many great writers and orators. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I Have a Dream" Speech says

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy;

now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice;

now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood;

now is the time to make justice a reality for all God’s children.

eye-rhyme:

eye-rhyme: looks similar but sounds different (“move – dove”)

feminine rhyme:

feminine rhyme: astressed syllable followed by an unstressed one

(“gender – bender”)

Figura etymologica

Figura etymologica is a rhetorical figure in which words with the same etymological derivation are used adjacently. Note that to count as a figura etymologica, it is necessary that the two words be genuinely different words, and not just different inflections of the same word. For example, the sentence Once I loved, but I love no more is not a figura etymologica since, although love and loved are obviously etymologically related, they are really just inflections of the same word.

An example of a figura etymologica can be found in Romans (1:25) - "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator".

Forshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary technique used by many different authors to provide clues for the reader to be able to predict what might occurlater on in the story. It is a literary device in which an author drops hints about the plot and what may come in the near future. It suggests certain plot developments will come later in the story. It gives hints about whats going to happen next in your story.

Glittering generality

Glittering generalities (also called glowing generalities) are emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly-valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly-valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is to emotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom, glory, and honor. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists

Grapevine (gossip)

The usual implication is that the information was passed person to person by word of mouth, perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues. It can also imply an overheard conversation or anonymous sources of information. For instance "I heard through the grapevine that Brad was getting fired."

Greguería

A greguería is a short statement, usually one sentence, in which the author expresses a philosophical, pragmatic, or humorous idea in a witty and original way. A greguería is roughly similar to an aphorism or a one-liner joke in comedy. It is a rhetorical and stylistic device used in Spanish and Latin American literature.

Hendiadys

Hendiadys (pronounced /hɛnˈdaɪ.ədɨs/, a Latinized form of the Greek phrase ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, hèn dià duoîn, "one through two") is a figure of speech used for emphasis — "The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by a conjunction to express a single complex idea.

English names for hendiadys include two for one and figure of twinnes.

The typical result of a hendiadys is to transform a noun-plus-adjective into two nouns joined by a conjunction. For example, "sound and fury" (from act V, scene 5 of Macbeth) seems to offer a more striking image than "furious sound". In this example, as typically, the subordinate idea originally present in the adjective is transformed into a noun in and of itself. Another example is Dieu et mon droit, present in the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. In fact, hendiadys is most effective in English when the adjective and noun form of the word are identical. Thus "the cold wind went down the hall" becomes "the cold and the wind went down the hall."

Hendiatris

Hendiatris (from the Greek: ἓν διὰ τριῶν, hèn dià triôn, "one through three") is a figure of speech used for emphasis, in which three words are used to express one idea. For example, the phrase "wine, women and song" uses three words to capture the concept of hedonistic life.

If the units involved are not single words, and if they are not in any way synonyms but rather "circumnavigate" the one idea expressed, the figure may be described more correctly, precisely, and succinctly as a triad.

Tripartite motto is the conventional English term for a motto, a slogan, or an advertising phrase in the form of a hendiatris. Perhaps equally well-known throughout the world are Julius Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" (an example of a tricolon) and the motto of the French Republic: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, also "Peace, Order and Good Government" is used as a guiding principle in the parliaments of the Commonwealth of Nations.

"Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll"

hermeneia:

hermeneia: Repetition for the purpose of interpreting what has already been said

Homeoptoton

The homeoptoton (from the Greek homoióptoton, «similar in the cases»), is a figure of speech, characteristical of the flexive languages, consisting in ending the last words of single parts of the speech with the same cases: for instance, in Latin, two consecutive and correlated sentences ending both in accusative.

"Hominem laudem egentem virtutis, abundantem felicitates" ("Am I to praise a man abounding in good luck, but lacking in virtue?").

Homeoteleuton

Homeoteleuton, also spelled as homoeoteleuton and homoioteleuton, (from the Greek ὁμοιοτέλευτον, homoioteleuton, "like ending") is the repetition of endings in words. Homeoteleuton is also known as near rhyme.

Hook (rhetoric)

A hook in rhetoric is a rhetorical device that gets the attention of the audience and makes them want to listen to the rest of the speech. Hooks can often be metaphors, playing on emotional appeal, and they can also be a series of intriguing questions, a statistic, a fact, or any other rhetorical device that captures a listener's attention.

Hypallage

Hypallage (pronounced /haɪˈpælədʒiː/, from the Greek: ὑπαλλαγή, hypallagḗ, "interchange, exchange") is a literary device that is the reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in "her beauty's face").

One kind of hypallage, also known as a transferred epithet, is the trope or rhetorical device in which a modifier, usually an adjective, is applied to the "wrong" word in the sentence. The word whose modifier is thus displaced can either be actually present in the sentence, or it can be implied logically. The effect often stresses the emotions or feelings of the individual by expanding them on to the environment. For example:

"On the idle hill of summer/Sleepy with the flow of streams/Far I hear..." (A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad) — idle hill... sleepy is a hypallage: it is the narrator, not the hill, who exhibits these features.

"The plowman homeward plods his weary way, / And leaves the world to darkness and to me" (Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard") — Weary way is a hypallage: it is the plowman, not the way, that is weary.

"Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time" -Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum est

"restless night" — The night was not restless, but the person who was awake through it was.

"happy morning" — Mornings have no feelings, but the people who are awake through them do.

"female prison" — Prisons do not have genders, but the people who are inside them do.

"condemned cell" — It is not the cell that is condemned, but the person who is inside it.

"careless error" — The error is not careless, but the person who commits it is.

"distracted driving" — The driving is not distracted, but the person doing it

hyperbaton:

hyperbaton: Words that naturally belong together are separated from each other for emphasis or effect

(HYPALLAGE (high-PAL-uh-jee)

A type of hyperbaton involving an interchange of elements in a phrase or sentence so that a displaced word is in a grammatical relationship with another that it does not logically qualify, as in: Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
--- Shakespeare, Othello, IV.ii

)

hyperbole:

Hyperbole (Übertreibung)

Example: Sue is extremely rich. She is rolling in money.

I haven´t seen you for ages!

Effect: used for exaggeration; to attract the reader´s attention; to emphasize statements

hyperbole: Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis

Hypocatastasis

Hypocatastasis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions are available. (November 2006)

Hypocatastasis is a figure of speech that by implication declares or implies a resemblance, representation or comparison. It differs from a metaphor, because in a metaphor the two nouns are both named and given; while, in hypocatastasis, only one is named and the other is implied, or as it were, is put down underneath out of sight. Hence hypocatastasis is an implied resemblance or representation: that is an implied simile or metaphor. A hypocatastasis has more force than a metaphor or simile, and expresses as it were a superlative degree of resemblance.

Bullinger gives the following example: one may say to another, “You are like a beast.” This would be simile, tamely stating a fact. If, however, he said, “You are a beast” that would be metaphor. But, if he said simply, “Beast!” that would be hypocatastasis, for the other part of the simile or metaphor (“you”), would be implied and not stated. This figure, therefore, is calculated to arouse the mind and attract and excite the attention to the greatest extent.

hypophora:

Answering one's own rhetorical question at length

hysteron proteron:

hysteron proteron: Reversal of anticipated order of events; a form of hyperbaton

iamb:

iamb: unstressed - stressed (x/, “above”)

identical rhyme:

identical rhyme: includes the consonants before the vowel (“know – no”)

impure rhymes:

impure rhymes: less “perfect” than pure or true rhymes (“loads – lids or foam – moan”)

innuendo:

Having a hidden meaning in a sentence that makes sense whether it is detected or not

internal rhyme:

internal rhyme: (“East,West,home’s best.”)

Inversion

Inversion (Umstellung von SPO)

Example: away they fly; up go the windows, out run the people, …

Effect: to emphasize or dramatize an event

Inversion (Inversion):
a change of the ususal word order (subject-verb-object).
A lady with a dulcimer (Hackbrett) / In a vision once I saw

invocation:

Apostrophe to a god or muse

Ipse-dixitism

An ipse-dixitism is an unsupported or dogmatic assertion; it is a term sometimes used to point out a missing argument.

Someone guilty of perpetrating an ipse-dixitism does not explicitly define it as an axiom, and certainly not as a premise, but often appears presented in syllogistic form, as: "The economy needs more scientists, so expansion of science education will boost the future economy". The proposition rests on an ipse-dixitism unless the speaker gives reasons why "the economy needs more scientists".

irony:

Irony

A meaning is expressed that is the opposite of the intended one.

Example: the noble Brutus

Effect: ridicule; often didactic

irony: Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning

Isocolon

Isocolon is a figure of speech in which parallelism is reinforced by members that are of the same length. A well-known example of this is Julius Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came; I saw; I conquered), which also illustrates that a common form of isocolon is tricolon, or the use of three parallel members.

It is derived from the Greek ἴσος (ísos), "equal" and κῶλον (kôlon), "member, clause".

[edit]Examples

"They have suffered severely, but they have fought well." Winston Churchill Speech to the House of Commons June 18, 1940

"Let each man search his conscience and search his speeches." Winston Churchill Speech to the House of Commons June 18, 1940

"I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse." Charles V

"Many will enter. Few will win" Nabisco

"No ifs, ands, or buts." English Proverb

"With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage" Claudius, Act 1 Scene 2 of Hamlet

kataphora:

Repetition of a cohesive device at the end

litotes:

Understatement, often ironical, expressing an affirmative by the negative of its contrary

Example: she is not stupid (= she is quite clever)

Effect: emphasis

Emphasizing the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite

Understatement (Untertreibung): the opposite of hyperbole; the deliberate presentation of something as being much less important, valuable etc. than it really is.
“These figures are a bit disappointing” instead of “… are disastrous (katastrophal).”
"He was quite upset” instead of “He went into a terrible rage”

malapropism:

A malapropism (also called a Dogberryism or acyrologia) is the substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound, in which the resulting phrase makes no sense but often creates a comic effect. It is not the same as an eggcorn, which is a similar substitution in which the new phrase makes sense on some level. Occasionally a phrase, rather than a single word, replaces the original word, for example Stan Laurel said "What a terrible cat's after me!"

malapropism: Using a word through confusion with a word that sounds similar

Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Bottom says he will "aggravate" his voice when he really means he will "moderate" it. (Act 1 Scene II)

masculine rhyme:

masculine rhyme: similarity of the last syllables stressed in two lines

(“man – fan”)

meiosis:

Use of understatement, usually to diminish the importance of something

merism:

In rhetoric, a merism is a figure of speech by which a single thing is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its parts, or which lists several synonyms for the same thing.

metalepsis:

Metalepsis is a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to by something else which is only remotely associated with it. Often the association works through a different figure of speech, or through a chain of cause and effect. Often metalepsis refers to the combination of several figures of speech into an altogether new one. Those base figures of speech can be literary references, resulting in a sophisticated form of allusion.

A synonym for metalepsis is transumption, derived from the Latin transsumptio invented by Quintilian as an equivalent for the Greek.

[edit]Examples

"I've got to go catch the worm tomorrow."

"The early bird catches the worm" is a common maxim in English, advocating getting an early start on the day to achieve success. The subject, by referring to this maxim, is compared to the bird; tomorrow, the speaker will awaken early in order to achieve success.

metaphor:

Metaphor

A figure of speech that implies more of a comparison than a direct impression (Without “as” or “like”!!)

Example: You are the wind beneath my wings.

Effect: emphasis; appeals to our imagination; creates a vivid picture in the reader´s mind

metonymy:

Metonymy

A word is substituted by another with which it is associated.

Example: crown stands for monarchy

Effect: visual effect

neologism:

Neologism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Wikipedia policy on neologisms, see Wikipedia:Avoid neologisms

A neologism (pronounced /niˈɒlədʒɪzəm/); from Greek νέος (neos 'new') + λόγος (logos 'speech') is a newly coined word or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event.

The term neologism is first attested in English in 1772, borrowed from French néologisme (1734).

In psychiatry, the term neologism is used to describe the use of words that only have meaning to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning. This is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder (indicative of a psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia) in adults.

People with autism also may create neologisms.

Use of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury.

In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is one who proposes either a new doctrine or a new interpretation of source material such as religious texts.[citation needed] Neologism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Wikipedia policy on neologisms, see Wikipedia:Avoid neologisms

A neologism (pronounced /niˈɒlədʒɪzəm/); from Greek νέος (neos 'new') + λόγος (logos 'speech') is a newly coined word or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event.

The term neologism is first attested in English in 1772, borrowed from French néologisme (1734).

In psychiatry, the term neologism is used to describe the use of words that only have meaning to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning. This is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder (indicative of a psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia) in adults.

People with autism also may create neologisms.

Use of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury.

In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is one who proposes either a new doctrine or a new interpretation of source material such as religious texts.[citation needed]

Nimism

In aesthetics, nimism is a particular kind of trope or symbol characterized by exaggeration. The term is derived from Latin (nimis), "too much" and (nimietas), excess. Unlike a hyperbole or paradox, it is not applied to linguistic or rhetorical phenomena only, but usually refers to other forms of disparity, e.g. disproportions in sculptures and paintings, or certain sorts of discrepancies in appearance or behaviour (in theatre plays, movies etc.). Thus nimism, by means of symbolic parallels or analogies, is meant to help the reader, viewer etc. to see the truth. A negative nimism hints at something bad (a weakness, vice, sin, crime etc.), the less frequently used positive nimism indicates something good (a virtue or something heroic).

[edit]Examples

King Duncan’s cloak, too wide for his murderous successor Macbeth. (Shakespeare)

The feet of the two haughty stepsisters, too big (and bloody) to fit Cinderella’s tiny shoe, hence an obvious evidence of their wrong claim. (Brothers Grimm)

Elizabeth Bennet’s look at the nude male sculptures in Darcy’s art gallery, cast much too long to conceal her sexual awakening. (Jane Austen)

onomatopoeia:

Onomatopoeia (Lautmalerei)

Word whose sound tries to imitate its meaning

Example: hum, buzz, crash, swish, cuckoo, shhhh, hush

Effect: sound device, creates an especially vivid impression

oxymoron:

Oxymoron (scheinbarer Widerspruch)

Two contradictory terms are used together in a phrase.

Example: sweet death; wise fool; cruel love

Effect: provokes thoughts; emphasis
- a condensed (komprimiert) form of paradox in which two contradictory words
(mostly adjective and noun) are used together.
sweet sorrow / wise fool / bittersweet
“O hateful love! O loving hate!” (Romeo and Juliet)

parable:

Extended metaphor told as an anecdote to illustrate or teach a moral lesson

paradiastole:

Extenuating a vice in order to flatter or soothe

paradox:

Paradox

A statement which is obviously absurd or contradictory, but has a deeper meaning. A statement that seems to be self-contradictory (widersprüchlich) or opposed to common sense. On closer examination it mostly reveals some truth. Example: The King is dead! Long live the King!

So fair and foul a day I have not seen.

Effect: thought-provoking

(The child is father of the man. (Wordsworth)
It is awfully hard work doing nothing. (Oscar Wilde)

paralipsis:

Drawing attention to something while pretending to pass it over

parallel irony:

An ironic juxtaposition of sentences or situations (informal)

Parallelism

Parallelism

Arrangement of phrases, sentences or paragraphs, so that structure and/or meaning are similar; a form of repetition

Example: Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volleyed and thundered.

Paraphrase

Rewriting a phrase (sentence, literary piece) in your own words. E.g. Donald began to feel shaky, his lips began to tremble and he sank to the ground thanking God that he finally reached the homeland which he had believed to be lost forever.

Paraphrased: Donald was emotionally overwhelmed when he learned that he had eventually returned to his native country and he kneeled down in a thankful prayer.

paraprosdokian:

paraprosdokian: Phrase in which the latter part causes a rethinking or reframing of the beginning

Parisosis

In rhetoric, parisosis occurs when clauses have very similar lengths, as measured by syllables. It is sometimes taken as equivalent to isocolon.

paronomasia:

paronomasia: A form of pun, in which words similar in sound but with different meanings are used

pathetic fallacy:

pathetic fallacy: Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human

pentameter:

pentameter: “When I do count the clock that tells the time” (William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”)

periphrasis:

periphrasis: Using several words instead of few

Personification

Personification (Vermenschlichung)

Attributes a human quality to animals or inanimate things

Example: Justice is blind; dancing daffodils

Effect: to emphasize similarity

Pleonasm

Pleonasm is the use of more words or word-parts than is necessary for clear expression: examples are black darkness, burning fire, digital download or redundant pleonasm. Such redundancy is, by traditional rhetorical criteria, a manifestation of tautology. The term "tautology" is derived from two Greek words meaning It says this, i.e. the same thing.

"This was the most unkindest cut of all." —William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.

"Beyond the garage were some decorative trees trimmed as carefully as poodle dogs." —Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep.

"Let me tell you this, when social workers offer you, free, gratis and for nothing, something to hinder you from swooning, which with them is an obsession, it is useless to recoil ..." —Samuel Beckett, Molloy.

praeteritio:

praeteritio: Another word for paralipsis

Priamel

A priamel is a literary and rhetorical device found throughout Western literature and consisting of a series of listed alternatives that serve as foils to the true subject of the poem, which is revealed in a climax. For example, Fragment 16 by the Greek poet Sappho (translated by Mary Barnard) begins with a priamel:

Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων

οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ᾽ ἐπὶ γᾶν μέλαιναν

ἔμμεναι κάλλιστον ἔγω δὲ κῆν᾽

ὄττω τὶσ ἔπαται.

Some say a cavalry corps,

some infantry, some, again,

will maintain that the swift oars

of our fleet are the finest

sight on dark earth; but I say

that whatever one loves, is.

Other examples are found in Horace, Villon, Shakespeare, and Baudelaire, as well as in the Bible:

And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

procatalepsis:

procatalepsis: Refuting anticipated objections as part of the main argument

prolepsis:

prolepsis: Another word for procatalepsis

proslepsis:

proslepsis: Extreme form of paralipsis in which the speaker provides great detail while feigning to pass over a topic

proverb:

proverb: Succinct or pithy expression of what is commonly observed and believed to be true

pun:

Pun (Wortspiel):
a play on words that have the same (or a similar) sound but different mean ings. There are a lot of puns in English because of its many homophones, i.e. words with the same sound as another. Homophones lose their am biguity as soon as they are written
At the drunkard’s fu neral, four of his friends carried the bier. (bier Totenbahre vs. beer Bier)
A word with the same form as another but with a different meaning is called homonym:
“Is life worth living?” – “It depends on the liver” (liver = sb. who lives vs. liver Leber)

repetition:

Repetition (Wiederholung)

Words or phrases are repeated.

Example: water, water everywhere

Effect: to emphasize; can seem monotonous

repetition: Repeated usage of word(s)/group of words in the same sentence to create a poetic/rhythmic effect

Rhetorical question

rhetorical question: Asking a question as a way of asserting something. Or asking a question not for the sake of getting an answer but for asserting something (or as in a poem for creating a poetic effect)

Rhetorical question

Asked for rhetorical effect, not expecting an answer

Example: A simple child, … What should it know of death?

Effect: emphasis

Rhyme

Rhyme

Similarity or identity of vowels (several types: end-rhyme, cross-rhyme, embracing rhyme)

Example: In the drinking-well

Which the plumber built her

Aunt Eliza fell,

We must buy a filter.

Effect: musical

Rhythm

The study of rhythm, stress, and pitch in speech is called prosody; it is a topic in linguistics. Narmour describes three categories of prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions which are additive (same duration repeated), cumulative (short-long), or countercumulative (long-short). Cumulation is associated with closure or relaxation, countercumulation with openness or tension, while additive rhythms are open-ended and repetitive. Richard Middleton points out this method cannot account for syncopation and suggests the concept of transformation.

A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level, as opposed to a rhythmic gesture which does not .

run-on line (same as enjambement)

run-on line: “Come let me write,‛And to what end?’ To ease

A burthned hart, ‘How can words ease, which are

[...]” (Sir Phillip Sidney, “Sonnet 34”)

satire:

satire: Use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. A literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. A literary genre comprising such compositions

Sarcasm”

Sarcasm [`sA:kÃzm] (Sarkasmus):
bitter and aggressive humour used to express mockery (Spott, Hohn) or dis approval (Ablehnung). It is a strong form of verbal irony used to hurt someone through mockery (Spott, Hohn) or disapproval (Ablehnung). (adj. sarcastic)
“We could easily solve the population problem if we simply stopped the habit of giving charity to Third World countries.”

simile:

Simile (Vergleich mit „like“ oder „as“)

Example: ..ensnare as great a fly as Cassio.. (Act II, Scene 1 line: 957)

Effect: conveys a vivid picture to the mind by linking up unrelated objects

snowclone:

Quoted or misquoted cliché or phrasal template

A snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as "a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants".

An example of a snowclone is "grey is the new black", a version of the template "X is the new Y". X and Y may be replaced with different words or phrases – for example, "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll". Both the generic formula and the new phrases produced from it are called "snowclones".

Don’t ask what your bank can do for you, but what you can do for your bank. (Instead of: Don’t as what your country…)

May the money be with you. (Instead of: May the force be with you)

Sound bite

Before the actual term "sound bite" had been coined, Mark Twain described the concept as "a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense." It is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that deftly captures the essence of what the speaker is trying to say. Such key moments in dialogue (or monologue) stand out better in the audience's memory and thus become the "taste" that best represents the entire "meal" of the larger message or conversation.

E.g.

"The only thing we have to fear is - fear itself". (the most famous phrase in Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Inaugural Address in 1933)

"Ich bin ein Berliner" John F. Kennedy at 26. June 1963.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong from the Apollo 11 mission

"Houston, we've had a problem." (said by James A. Lovell in the Apollo XIII mission)

"Elvis has left the building" was an announcement often heard on the public address system after an Elvis Presley concert to disperse crowds lingering for an encore.

spondee:

spondee: two stressed (//, “artwork”)

superlative:

superlative: Saying that something is the best of something or has the most of some quality, e.g. the ugliest, the most precious etc.

syllepsis:

Syllepsis (Zeugma)

Form of pun, in which a single word is used to modify two other words, with which it normally would have differing meanings.

One word modifies or governs others although it fits with only one.

Example: He took leave and his hat.

Effect: comical

Synaesthesia

Words describing different sensations (e.g. colour, smell, vision)

Example: murmuring light; cold colour

Effect: poetic; provokes thoughts; strikes as unusual

Symbol

A symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible. For example a dove stands for Peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot. The word is from the Greek word symbolom. All language is symbolizing one thing or another.

In Othello: The handkerchief is a symbol for Othello’s love for Desdemona

Symploce

In rhetoric, symploce is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used successively at the beginning of two or more clauses or sentences and another word or phrase is used successively at the end of the same. It is the combination of anaphora and epistrophe. It derives from the Greek word , meaning "interweaving".

[edit]Examples

"When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it."

Bill Clinton

"Let England have its navigation and fleet—let Scotland have its navigation and fleet—let Wales have its navigation and fleet—let Ireland have its navigation and fleet—let those four of the constituent parts of the British empire be under four independent governments, and it is easy to perceive how soon they would each dwindle into comparative insignificance."

syncatabasis (condescension, accommodation):

adaptation of style to the level of the audience

Synchysis

Synchysis is an interlocked word order, in the form A-B-A-B; which often display change and difference. This poetry form was a favorite with Latin poets. They are often employed to demonstrate such change within the event in which they are situated; on occasion, there are synchyses within a poem which were not intended but happened to be written in such a way.

A synchysis may be opposed to chiasmus, which is in the form A-B-B-A.

synecdoche:

Synecdoche

Uses a part of something to refer to the whole

Example: He was sent behind bars (= prison)

Effect: vivid impression

synecdoche: Form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole

Synesis

Synesis is a traditional grammatical/rhetorical term derived from Greek σύνεσις (originally meaning "unification, meeting, sense, conscience, insight, realization, mind, reason").

A constructio kata synesin (or constructio ad sensum in Latin) means a grammatical construction in which a word takes the gender or number not of the word with which it should regularly agree, but of some other word implied in that word. It is effectively an agreement of words with the sense, instead of the morphosyntactic form.

Example:

If the band is popular, they will play next month.

Here, the plural pronoun they co-refers with the singular noun band. One can think of the antecedent of they as an implied plural noun such as musicians.

synesthesia:

synesthesia: Description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.

tautology:

Tautology (synonyme Wortwiederholung)

Superfluous repetition of words that does not clarify a statement

Example: to divide into four quarters

Effect: for emphasis

Needless repetition of the same sense in different words

Tautophrase

A tautophrase is a phrase or sentence that repeats an idea in the same words. The name was coined by William Safire in The New York Times.

Examples include:

"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" (John Wayne)

"If you want to fix the text, fix the text." (John R. Bolton)

"A rose is a rose is a rose." (Gertrude Stein)

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." (Sigmund Freud)

"I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam!" (Popeye)

"Let bygones be bygones."

"What's done is done."

"Facts are facts."

"A deal is a deal is a deal."

"Once it's gone it's gone."

Telling name:

a name that conveys certain character traits.
Darth Vader (dark + death, invader) / Lord Voldemort (“flight of death”) / Willy Loman (low man)

tetrameter:

tetrameter: “Goe and catche a falling starre” (John Donne, “Song”)

transferred epithet:

transferred epithet: Placing of an adjective with what appears to be the incorrect noun

tricolon crescens:

Combination of three elements, each increasing in size The children gathered in a round circle

tricolon diminuens:

Combination of three elements, each decreasing in size Combination of three elements, each decreasing in size

trimeter:

trimeter: “That I did always love” (Emily Dickinson, US, 1830-86)

triple rhyme:

triple rhyme: parallels three syllables (“glamorous – amorous”)

trochee:

trochee: stressed - unstressed (/x, “falling”)

truism:

truism: a self-evident statement

zeugma:

A figure of speech related to syllepsis, but different in that the word used as a modifier is not compatible with one of the two words it modifies

zoomorphism:

Applying animal characteristics to humans or gods


Sonntag, 17. Oktober 2010

ESSAY: The Concept of Desire in the story The Doll in Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta


G2: Current Indian Fiction

19 July 2009

The Concept of Desire in the story The Doll in Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta

Introduction

Desire is by definition the absence or the lack of something. Whatever this lack consists of is the object of desire. The story The Doll deals with different concepts of desire and each concept is attached to one or more different objects of desire. This essay will examine the different concepts of desire and their functioning as driving forces behind the caracters’ actions. Identifying the longing of the characters will help to analyse their behavioural patterns more precisely. Since it appears, that all the character’s actions in The Doll are mere results of their desires, it will be interesting on focusing on whether free will for the characters in the fictional story world of The Doll exists or if the characters’ actions seem to follow a strictly composed pattern that leaves no room for optional actions. The attempt to make the character’s individual desires as motivational states visible is intricate but when achieved nonetheless rewarding, since every person constantly desires something. In addition to that it is an interesting fact that “Because we continually experience desire, we are oblivious to its presence in us.”( Irvine 3).

Desire is within every single aspect of our daily lives.“Desire animates the world. It is present in the baby crying for milk, the girl struggling to solve a math problem, the woman running to meet her lover and later deciding to have children, and the old woman, hunched over her walker, moving down the hall of the nursing home at a glacial pace to pick up her mail.

Banish desire from the world, and you get a world of frozen beings who have no reason to live and no reason to die.”(Irvine 2)Therefore it is vitally important to take a close look at the desires of the characters in order to differentiate the characterizations. The desires of each character can be considered as the basis for the behavioural patterns they show in their fictional story world. In order to illustrate that point we can take a look at the protagonist Yukio. Yukio seems to be constantly forced by desires. His whole characterization is built around his desires and his strategies to fulfill them. It is said that Yukiko comes from a “very ordinary” (176) family and also his father-in-law had dreamed of someone “significant” and “impressive” by his daughter’s side. Not only Yukio is feeling this lack of superiority by wealth, but also his father-in-law clearly states that he is aware of the fact, that due to his social background, Yukio can not contribute as much as he ought as a worthy partner for Minako. His self-esteem is very much based on the having, or better the not-having of material prosperity. As shown on page 177 Yukio is bothered by the fact that he “did not own anything that generated wealth”. The word own is written in Italics which puts a strong emphasize on the importance of the concept of owning something. All the characters that appear in the story have those driving forces. Minako seems to be the character the least determined by desires. But Yukiko and also Mr.Yonekawa both seem to have very strong desires for something which they lack. Yukiko lacks being human and tries to compensate her lack by trying to be pretty or by possessing things of value. Mr. Yonekawa also has a strong materialistic orientation but since he is successful and seems to get what he desires, he does not suffer from his desire as much as Yukio.And this essay therefore will analyse the characters and how they interact with each other in order to demonstrate the concepts of desire that form the basis of their actions.The first part of this essay will examine how the characters in the story are presented and how their characterization functions in order to present abstract concepts.

Yukio’s characterization needs to form the basis for any other characterization since we learn the story through his perspective as the protagonist. Every judgment that is made throughout the story The Doll can be considered to be his evaluation.

The Different Types of Characters

There are only few round characters in The Doll. Yukio who is the protagonist of the story is the most round and dynamic character. This character is quite complex concerning the length of the story. As the story continues the reader gains a deep insight in Yukio’s behavioural patterns. Even though Yukio’s inner monologues are rare his actions and his different objects of desire characterize him very vividly and leave his character open for interpretations. Since we do not discover inner monologues that exactly point out, what Yukio is thinking most of the time, we have to analyse the character by his actions and his interactions with others. As a fictional character of the story world we could describe Yukio’s character as a round as well as a dynamic one. However, since Yukio’s character is not fully explained it has to be remarked that as far as the conception of his character is concerned we need to speak of an opaque character who is rather psychological which means that he is only ordinarily self-aware and perceptive ( Meyer 2008:81).

General Characterization of Yukio

The general description of Yukio begins with an important information. Yukio is described as a person who is ever since striving to impress and longing for recognition. This becomes already clear in the first sentences of the story, when it is said that Yukio “ wanted to be a computer genius” (175) or “ a great artist” (175) or “baseball hero or an astronaut” (175). His desire for being extra-ordinary and his want to impress follow Yukio throughout the story as driving forces behind his actions. The fact that Yukio wants and maybe even lives to be more impressive by gaining recognition is also underpinned by the second passage on page 175 when it is said that Yukio’s business cards were “ each one more impressive than the last” (175). However another trait of character that will stick to this character throughout the story is mentioned on the first page of the story – Yukio has difficulties making up his mind when it comes to his different objects of desire. It is said that he “always wavered” (175). Yukio knows that he wants to achieve something already when he thinks about his future career and job perspectives, but he is not able to set his heart on one single option.

Yukio is a very career-orientated person, he does not become an astronaut but a job at the pharmacy company Novartis in Tokyo where he quickly makes progress since he wants to gain more recognition.In section 1.4 we learn about how Yukio is perceived by his future father in law Mr.Yonekawa and his future wife Minako. This section is important since we take a look at the character Yukio through the eyes of Mr. Yonekawa and his daughter.

Minako states that Yukio is going to “be something” (176), that he has achieved much akready and all this “despite his background” (176). She also points out that Mr. Yonekawa has recognized Yukio’s good manners when being in society (176). But Mr. Yonekawa speaks straight to Yukio. When referring to the decision of Minako to marry Yukio he says that he wanted “someone more impressive” and a “significant man” for Minako. He makes it known to Yukio that he considers his daughters decision to marry Yukio a “disappointment”(176).

The Relationship between Yukio and Mr. Yonekawa

Section 1.4 is also relevant when it comes to describing “the background” of Yukio’s family. They are simply described as “ordinary”. This is not a bad thing, but the way it i stated in this section it is obviously a problem for Yukio and he considers “ being ordinary” as a lack. This lack again can be taken to explain his wish for being extra-ordinary no matter what it costs.The relationship between “Japan’s leading property developer” Mr.Yonekawa and Yukio is marked by an obviously unequal distribution of power. Whereas Mr. Yonekawa is rich, owns “shopping malls” etc.(176) and has “built most of Tokyo’s tallest buildings” (176) Yukio feels intimidated when he finds out about the potency of his prospective father-in-law. The feeling of shameful intimidation becomes even worse when Mr. Yonekawa tells him his discomfort with the decision of his daughter. Yukio then feels like a “schoolboy caught masturbating in class”.(176) When we compare the two characters we discover the concept of sexual potency. The “tallest buildings”(176) can be seen as a reference to phallic symbolism and when we compare Mr. Yonekawa with his “tallest building” to Yukio who feels like a “ schoolboy caught masturbating” this becomes strikingly prominent. This concept of lacking potency will later in the story be transfered to Yukio’s sexual relationship to the doll, where he first believes having found a weaker partner for whom he must appear strong and potent.

Mr. Yonekawa

Mr. Yonekawa’s character is strongly related to his achievements in life. The main information we learn about his character is related to his work as a property developer. When we argue that settings in a book can function in a way that describes the characters who appear in this setting, we have to look at the main settings or surroundings of Mr.Yonekawa in order to find out about his character. The setting that mostly appears within context with Minako’s father Mr. Yonekawa are skyscrapers. He is “japan’s leading property developer” (176) and he had “built most of Tokyo’s tallest buildings” (176). Establishing gigantic monuments like Mr.Yonekawa does, refers to a strong desire within oneself to live beyond death. To built massive edifices which are designed to last longer than a lifetime can be considered the classic image for a narcissistic disorder.

The Concept of Success

The first word printed in Italics in this story is the word “successful man” on page 177. in this passage it is said that Yukio had considered himself a successful man until he had met Minako. One page before that we had learned that Mr. Yonekawa was in the position of owning a lot of things. The desire to own something himself becomes stronger and the word “own” is also printed in Italics which puts an emphasis on it. Yukios desire now is to own something “that generate[s] wealth” (177). Yukio curses himself for “the error of his ways” and sets his heart on working to own something. His desire still is to gain more and more recognition but he knows that without owning something of his own, like a company or “land” or “buildings” (177) gaining recognition won’t be possible. His wish to own something can be considered as a stage victory he would have to reach in order to reach his final goal of being recognised for his power and potency.

In order to reach this final goal Yukio begins to withdraw from his former life. He quits his job at Novartis and works day and night for his new business. He lacks affirmation, he is not able to go slow he seems to be thirsty for success and very afraid of failure. Yukio has no time to spare any more and is completely caught up in his business plans. His relationship to Minako begins to suffer. She tells him that he was “ not the man [she] married anymore” (182) and that he should give himself a rest. She tells him that “everyone needs rest” , “ a social life” and a “marriage[1]”. She states that she herself needed these three things as well.

Yukio’s Aspirations to become Something More

Yukio’s reaction to her kind advise hints that Yukio has already gone through a change. He becomes aggressive and obviously for the simple reason that he believes Minako would keep him from making his dream, his ideal come true. “I’m not everyone. I 've got passed that. I’m becoming something more. I’m building something important. It takes all my concentration (182).” He is obviously not doing this for Minako since he is only referring to himself by using “I’m” twice and then talking about “my concentration”. He does not mention Minako once in his statements. Even worse he yells at her “I am sick of all your clichés” and “it’s very boring to hear you going on like this”. He is hurting Minako’s feelings intentionally which means that they are not as important to him. His egotistic manner becomes very prominent in this particular passage. If he did all that for Minako and not for himslef we could not find any proof for it since it is never stated that he feels sorry for what he had said or that he believed she was ungrateful for what he was trying to do for her. It must therefore be concluded that he is not for the sake of his wife eager to have success with his bussiness but mainly because he needs to serve his own desire to be “something more” (182).

In the next passage Yukio is relevating the relationship to Yukio and the discussion in the restaurant. He claims that it is not the time for his marriage or being social at this point of time and that this was not thr result of the ceasing value of his relationship to Minako. He continues working for months until he finally one day realizes that it can not go on like this. “On an impulse he decided to go out and eat” (184). The most important sentence is the last one of the section 4.1. where we discover the freshly awoken desire behind Yukio’s decision to take a break from his work: “He realized he had not had sex for a long time.”(185). This remark points out that the striving forces between Yukio’s actions always seems to be the fulfillment of a current desire. And his desires are obviously focused on the gain of materialistic as well as sexual potency. In passage 4.2. he identifies the bad taste in his mouth as the feeling of loneliness (185). He feels that he is lacking a partner which makes him eager to reunite with Minako. Yukio puts a lot of effort in cooking her dinner but the reunion fails since Minako is already having dinner someplace else. Yukio is deeply disappointed and makes a derogatory remark about how “rich people” were and that they had hearts of stone. It is ironic that this remark is much more of a cliché then what Minako had told him a couple of months earlier and for what she got critizised so harshly (“Everyone needs a rest. A social life. A marriage.” (182)).

Qualifying the Relationship between Yukio and Minako

The relationship between Minako and Yukio has become colder. They both stay out of each others ways and Yukio begins to wander off in the afternoon without knowing yet what he is looking for. The gentle reader however may have already concluded that Yukio’s strolls in the afternoon must have a relation to the newly awoken desire for sexual satisfaction. That Yukio does not find this fulfillment with some ordinary woman he meets on one of his strolls but that he ends up in front of a shop that sells artificial limbs is a major point in the story. Not a simple affair but the creation of an own lover is for Yukio the solution for his lack of a partner. That his lover is a doll which he owns since he has created her is a very important fact about the whole relationship. Yukio’s desire was to own something. He desired potency. Since Minako herself is depicted as a strong woman, he could not expect to highrise above her and gain power over her. So the doll seems the perfect answer for his longing for a devotional subject to dominate. He wants to be admired and needed and his new desire for a reliable partner who admires him and who he can look after has awoken. This becomes prominent when Yukio says to the doll: “I will take care of you Yukiko. You know that, don’t you? I brought you into this world, and I will never let you down.”(189)

Sexual Desire

In section 5 Yukio is finally able to fullfill his desire for sex by making love to the doll. He enjoys it very much and the sexual act seems to offer him a kind of relief: “...he thought his head would burst with his orgasm”. During having sex with the doll Yukio sees a “vast tower” in the sky rising to meet his feet. So the symbol of the tower again appears in a context of sexual potency. And the setting for the final scene also is one of Mr.Yonekawa’s towers. So this vision of the tower is already linked to the events in the forthcome of the story, where Yukio attends the party in the skyscraper where he meets Minako and leaves the building just as if nothing ever has happened between them. If the skyscraper is a symbol for the striving for power, dominance and sexual potency then the decision of the couple to leave the skyscraper in the end can be considered as their turning-away from this power-orientated life.

Development of the Relationship between Yukio and Yukiko

Yukio’s relationship to Yukiko, the doll, begins with him as being the potent creator of a devotional and silent partner at his own disposal. She can not communicate nor can she defend herself. The doll tolerates everything that Yukio does in spite of Minako. When Minako almost discovers the doll while cleaning up Yukio’s messy room he decided that the house is no longer safe for the doll and he hires a small apartment for her. Renting the apartment is the final step into personalizing the doll. She has still subject qualities, but when Yukio first spends time with her in the apartment he takes a picture of the doll with his mobile phone and says to himself that he will print it out and keep the picture in his wallet – just like you would expect it to happen in a regular relationship.The doll is no longer only a subject she is the object of desire for Yukio now.

In section 7 Yukio qualifies his relationship to Yukiko. We learn that this love, this desire again is marked by narcistic love. It is not about the beauty of the doll, Yukio loves the doll because “she was a part of him”(191) “and when he was with her he felt more entirely himself than at any other moment” – he only uses the doll for the satisfaction of his own narcissistic desire. After a while Yukio is not satisfied with the doll as a silent listener – he wants to give her a voice and ears. Again it is his desire to being able to speak to someone not an altruistic decision in order to give the doll a voice to articulate herself. Which of course would not make sense since at this stage the doll still is a real doll without feelings or desires. His joy because he can now really talk to Yukiko is big and his satisfaction is even bigger when she speaks her first word that is Yukio’s name (“Yukio was overjoyed.” (193)). Yukio enjoys teaching Yukiko new phrases. In a way one could say that he enjoys being the master over a young and beautiful creature. The sentences he teaches her do not always make sense. She is made of wood and artificial limbs and yet Yukio teaches her to say “ Oops! I think I’m bleeding.” Maybe this sentence should show us how much Yukio believes in Yukikos being human by now. The relationship still is not evenly balanced in power of course. Yukio is the powerful creator, Yukiko his creature. He even uses her as a computer in order to work. He uses her as a multi purpose add-on for his life. He shifts between pretending she was human and treating her like the latest electronic device. Section 7 only deals with Yukio and Yukiko. Minako does not appear one single time, which shows that for Yukio she has lost importance.

When Yukio has to concentrate on his business again due to some new discoveries and he has no time to spare for Yukio he feels “very negligent” towards Yukiko (195) even though he had never admitted to feel negligent towards Minako. It might be possible that his attachment to the doll is so strong because Yukio narcisstically reflects himself in Yukiko – the choice of her name would admit as much.

The Turning Point in the Relationship between Yukio and Yukiko

The turning point in their relationship happens in section 8.2 when Yukiko answers to Yukios email. She has learned new phrases by browsing through the Internet and her emails seem furious. She is complaining about how negligent Yukio lately acted. And then she forces Yukio to leave his business appointment to it and come to visit her right away. “NOW” (196) is the last email she writes to Yukio before he decides to head for the apartment. The balance of power has been re-established in favour of Yukiko. Now she is in the position to demand from Yukio and he seems too weak to resist her. He immediately drives to the apartment in Chiba where he finds Yukiko listening to a Japanese version of “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” (197). Yukio wants to make love to Yukiko but she tells him since she cannot feel anything anyways and since she detests the sound Yukio makes when they have sex, she tells him that she won’t have sex with him and threatens if he would not accept her ‘No’ she would write emails to “important people telling you’re forcing yourself on me. Harassing young girls.” Now, Yukiko is able to make the rules and she gained power over Yukio.

Balance of Power in the relationship between Yukio and Yukiko

The materialistic desires of Yukiko get in the way with the sexual desires of Yukio. She asks him whether he had brought her a present and when he answers that he had no presents for her and he wouldn’t even know what she was to do with presents anyways since she was just a doll, Yukiko begins to scream and tells Yukio to leave the apartment immediately. Yukiko obviously knows how to defend herself and Yukio has lost his power and confidence to the doll. Yukio comes back with presents, expensive presents. He admits his own stupidity (“I was – very stupid.” (199)) and tries to make up with the expensive presents. The bargain is perfect – Yukiko offers Yukio to have sex with her. In exchange for the expensive presents the doll allows Yukio to get intimate with her. This can be considered an ironic take on modern day life by the author. This passage makes it seem that there are women that do not long for love but for a materialistic compensation for the affection they give to men. And since Yukiko has been compared to the ”kogirls[2] in Shibuya” (189) this might be a critical take on their way of living. Yukiko desires material allowances but more than that does she desire everlasting beauty (“With all this, she said, your girlfriend will be beautiful for ever!” (199) “ Tell me I’m beautiful. I’m not like your wife, all tired and old. I’m going to be beautiful for ever!”(199)). The sentence construction in this case is very much alike a sentence construction Yukio used when he told Minako that he was going to be something more: “I’m becoming something more.” (182). Yukio and Yukiko both have deeply rooted desires. Whereas Yukio wants to be a man of power and be recognized for it, Yukiko desires to be beautiful forever.

Yukio’s Self-Perception

The relationship between Yukiko and Yukio changes and Yukio seems to be at loss. His behaviour can be considered almost addictive – there is not much difference – he spends much money in order to have a quick moment of joy, he neglects work as well as his wife and he begins to ask himself whether he has still all of his senses together. “Am I losing my mind?”(199) This question is obviously asked by Yukio which reminds us that the whole story is more or less told through Yukio’s eyes. Using free indirect discourse also hints on how strong the characters confusion must be when he asks this question directly and it also shows that there must be something going wrong. In this case the free direct discourse places a caesura on Yukio’s promise that he will be more disciplined from now on (199-200): “From now on, Yukio, you will be more disciplined.”

The Doll’s materialistic Desire

However Yukio’s promise does not last very long. The influence that Yukiko has over Yukio is too strong. This becomes prominent when Yukiko demands from Yukio to get her the Prada dress she wanted so much. When Yukio hesitates and tells her that this dress will be too expensive Yukiko becomes angry (202-203) and she plays Yukio by aiming at his insecurity towards Mr. Yonekawa. “I should just start an affair directly with Mr. Yonekawa rather than going via you.”(203). Despite getting mad or angry with Yukiko, Yukio let her have her way and gives in to her demanding the Prada dress even though he already knows that he cannot pay for it. The consequences Yukio has to face for stealing the dress are heavy. Not only is it a shameful experience for him to be discovered, his father-in-law is also informed about the incident and becomes quite indignant. This clearly shows how his desire, his longing for a working love relationship with Yukiko becomes more and more important for Yukio. The whole relationship has an obsessive character. Not only a tempting desire but a grown obsession forces Yukio to steal the dress and by that acting self-destructive.

The Concept of the Doll

Whereas Yukio shifts through quite a few different position towards objects he desires, the rest of the characters each have their static main concept of desire. The doll even though she is described for quite an amount of pages within the book, has as a basic desire her longing for pretty things. Even her own beauty can be considered as fitting for this desire since her being beautiful is the circumstance that puts her in the position of being able to demand materialistic attention. In addition to this, the doll herself is a “pretty thing” even though she gets deeply upset when Yukio asks: “ But what are you going to do with all those things, Yukiko. You’re just a doll. (198)” Her whole character is merely but the character one would expect from a doll that has come to life. Dolls usually have no more function than getting dressed or to be made up by their owners and this is basically – leaving aside the sexual component – what Yukio does to his doll. He buys and later steals her a dress and he buys make-up for her. She is designed to be a doll and to desire things that dolls naturally admire. Contrasting to her desires we find Yukio’s desires – even though he had created a doll for himself, he had not intended this doll to be like a children’s doll but rather like a doll for adults which would refer to a whole new section of fetish desires.

Fetish Objects

Desiring fetish objects in The Doll is another exciting viewpoint when it come sto the analysis of different concepts of desires. Whereas Yukio’s fetish object is obviously enough Yukiko the doll, Mr. Yonekawa has also a potential for being linked to a fetish object. He is always linked to massive skyscrapers and large buildings which also point at a level of (sexual) potency. The desire for impressive high towers, a common phallic image, also points in the direction that these images are used in order to present Mr. Yonekawa's unfulfilled desire of gaining potency by placing these massive landmarks. Fetish objects for Yukiko, who herself is one too, are designer clothes and brand-name cosmetics. Fashion has often been treated as a fetish in the past. The term “fashion victim” refers to this idea. “It is at this moment that mass-produced, ready-made clothing sold to the middle classes begin to take on a life of its own, to become fetish objects, ...” (Harris 117) For Yukiko a dress is nothing to cover her nakedness, she treats it as a symbol of status and more than that as the content she want to give herself or by which she wants to be defined. Her vivid description of the Prada dress leads also to the conclusion that it is a fetish object for her more than anything else. From all the characters that we have been looking at, Minako seems to have no longing for a fetish object. Despite the fact that she comes from a wealthy beackground it always seems as if she was very rational compared to the other characters.

The Constitution of Minako’s Desires

Minako is maybe the most indigenous character in the story. Her decisions and actions always seem very well-thought and are easily comprehensible. Her comments never seem to be exagerated or driven by a unconscious force. She does not seem to be ruled by her desires but very much in control of herself. Her choice to marry Yukio however is not very rational since her father first objects to the marriage. Minako’s main desire seems to be a good marriage and a balance between private life and work. Her name appears 48 times in the book whereas the name “Yukiko” is mentioned 68 times. But her name appears in the beginning and in the end whereas Yukiko forms the heart of the narration. “Falling in love” is maybe the only thing where Minako’s desires become prominent. “Falling in love is the paradigmatic example of an involuntary life-affecting desire. We don't reason our way into love, and we typically can't reason our way out: when we are in love, our intellectual weapons stop working. Falling in love is like waking up with a cold — or more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. We don't decide to fall in love, any more than we decide to any more than we decide to catch the flu.” (Irvine 12) So Minako’s desire is one of the basic desires we discover in the world around us. Still it is not as striking as the desire of Mr. Yonekawa to built impressive buildings in order to live on through them and it is not as obvious as Yukiko’s longing for expensive items, simply for the sake that it is a common desire and not an extraordinary one like Yukio’s sexual longing for a doll.

Conclusion

Concluding from all we have detected from the story we can say that for the protagonist Yukio desire is a driving force behind his actions and that he seems to be unaware of the strength of his desires. We have seen how the different concepts of desire work on the characters. From this we can also conclude that an exaggerated desire can be considered an obsession. The fetish aspects of some of the longings of the characters cannot be denied and point in the direction of a unconscious obsession. The only magical element is that the doll comes to life. Everything else seems to be realistic and normal. Yukio is not a very reflective character, aside from the passages where he asks himself by using free indirect speech what he is actually doing[3] there seems to be only little reflection on what is going on with him and with the people around him. For the most part of the story he seems detached from reality just like a figure in a Kafka Novel, that does not question any of the strange circumstances that occur throughout the story. The fact that the story is in the middle of the book places an emphasize on its importance for the whole book. Also the title “Tokyo Cancelled” is a reference to the story The Doll. It is possible that the author wanted to point out that the society he describes in the story The Doll is the basis for the entire book. And that the title says “cancelled” can also mean that the author wants to draw an alternative to go back to the madness that it waiting in this city. Who narrates the story? Maybe it is Yukio who narrates the story. The story has an open ending. Maybe because the narrator “within-the-story” is Yukio himself and the story can only come to a final ending when they reach Tokyo. Even though we won’t be able to find out why exactly this story has been chosen to serve as the basis for the title there are reasons for it. There are so many different aspects of our daily lives involved in it but still it always has the gloomy and dark atmosphere of an anonymous mega city. However the main concept that is constantly used is the concept of desire. It is not only the basis for all actions of the characters in the story but also in reality it is the psychological reason for all human actions. Maybe this is the extract of the whole story. All actions by people are not determined by free will but they are the result of our individual desires.

Works Cited

Dasgupta, Rana. Tokyo Cancelled. New York: Black Cat / Grove, 2005.

Harris, Beth. Famine and fashion: needlewomen in the nineteenth century. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005.

Irvine, William Braxton. On desire: Why We Want What We Want. Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Meyer, Michael. English and American literatures. 3.Auflage.Tübingen: UTB, 2008.




[1] This is the third word that is written in italics and therefore needs to be looked at carefully. A marriage seems to be what Minako desires most. Yukio never gives the impression to be in need of a marriage or to desire it as badly as he desires to represent something. The marriage is linked to Minako, it is her want and need. (182)

[2] “kogirls“ is also written in italics. This puts more emphasize on the word and leaves the reader curious whether the author is trying to compare the Shibuya Kogirls to superficial, amoral and materialistic dolls – pretty but with no heart. The remark about the kogirls is interesting although it cannot be analysed within the frame of this particular essay.

[3] „What the fuck am I doing“ (207)

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