Text analysis Essays - Charles, Gregory House, House, Roo

Text analysis THE LIGHT THAT FAILED The text under analyses is an extract from R. Kiplings novel The Light That Failed. R. Kipling is a short-story writer, poet and novelist of the late 19th early 20th c. His best works are known all over the world. Among them are: The Jungle Book, Kim, various verse and tale, and The Light That Failed as well. The main character of a given extract is Dick Helder, a successful artist, who unexpectedly notices some problems with eyesight and decides to visit an oculist the best in London. Out of the blue he comes to know that he is going to become blind due to the old wound gotten during the war time. In this extract we can trace the concurrence of the title of the novel and the event that reflects the title, that is Dicks oncoming blindness, we come to know that LIGHT is literally going to FAIL. The extract is told by the 3rd person narrator who is omniscient; however it is interposed with the 1st person narrator thoughts Dick himself. The present text is written in a very emotional way. The mood of the text is rather suspenseful, and this mood remains throughout the extract. We are able to feel Dicks emotions from the very beginning , when he seeks the best oculist in London, which proves the fact that he is worried about the spots before his eyes. Dick tries to convince himself that he can see as well, as he ever could by saying Ive neglected the warning of my Lord Stomach too long. Hence these spots before the eyes, Binkie. As we learn the mood Dick dwells in, we come to the setting of the story the hospital. We plunge in a terrifying atmosphere of FEAR that resembles throughout the text. FEAR is a key word in the text and it is repeated throughout the extract. It is described very profoundly when Dick enters the dark hall, leading to the consulting-room and a man with a sick and worried face cannons against him. A great fear comes upon Dick, a feat that makes him hold his breath. The oculist waiting-room is described with the help of several epithets reflecting the gloominess of the surroundings, such as HEAVY-CARVED furniture, the DARK GREEN papers, the SOBER-HUED prints on the walls. All these create the dull atmosphere and foreshadow bad news. On the walls Dick recognizes a reproduction of one of his own sketches, which proves the fact that he is a popular artist in London. The unpleasant atmosphere is also forced by a FLAIMING RED-GOLD Christmas-carol book, these colors are associated with smth aggressive and demoniac, and even the verse printed in RED ink irritates Dick as it contains words about blindness. The next good joy that Marry had, It was the joy of three, To see her good Son Jesus Christ Making the blind to see; Making the blind to see, good Lord, And happy may we be. Praise Father, Son, and Holly Ghost To all eternity Dick reads and re-reads the verse till his turn comes and the doctor was bending above him seated in an armchair. By this we notice how helpless Dick is, and nothing is in his power. Then the whirl of words comes, Dick catches only allusions to scar, frontal bone, optic nerve, extreme caution and avoidance of mental anxiety. By this, reader may feel that ground goes under his feet, and his world is divided into BEFORE and AFTER. By the sentence He finds a glass of liquor brandy in his hand we again notice the accentuation of Dicks helplessness. Dick can hardly speak, a good metaphor is used to describe it : He speaks coughing above the spirit. As he leaves the doctor he is rapturously received by Binkie, his dog, his friend and his only support. Binkies role in this text is very significant. It is well known that dog is considered the best friend of a men, who gives all itself to the master and doesnt ask anything in return. At the moment of such a grief, Dick needs exactry this kind of support. Dicks state of mind is expressed by an oxymoron LIVING DEAD, he cant imagine life without seeing the world around him, he wont