In this essay I will discuss how the narrator, of the passage quoted below, uses style to reveal his attitude toward the people he describes.
In this short prose essay, the
reader discovers the narrator’s respect for the industrious and disdain for the
idle. How the narrator addresses his opinions in talking to different groups of
people, his syntax, diction, and tone all add to the richness of the essay and
help the reader to see the narrator’s attitude toward the different types of
people he is describing.
The narrator shows the reader his
viewpoint by directing his comments to two distinctly different audiences,
while using imagery to illustrate his points. He begins by explaining some of
his own observations (lines 1-11). Then he depicts incidents for the reader to
imagine as a bystander to the events (lines 11-18). Next the narrator talks
directly to those he calls, "intellectual" and proposes their actions
are because of boredom (lines 18-27). By calling them empty headed and saying
their hands are idle, he not only personally attacks them, but builds up for
the reader that this way of life is not to be preferred. Finally he commends
the people who spend their time at work, not play or experimentation, simply
because that is what they "must do" to survive (lines 27-33). The narrator
presents his argument by explaining his experiences, depicting images in the
readers mind, talking to the experimenters and talking to those who have no
time for what his writing obviously shows, he views as useless.
In lines 11-12, the narrator excites,
disgusts and grabs the reader’s attention by
saying "you see my young master, or my young mistress, poring over one of
the spider's insides with a magnifying-glass;..." By intensifying the
scene your imagination has begun depicting, he is able to greater illustrate to
the reader his point that this experimentation is nasty and not to be coveted
by those who do not have the leisure time to participate in it. Again, his use
of syntax to exemplify his message is commendable. In lines 17-18 as he uses
repetition to further engrain his ideas, he says "the poor souls must get
through the time, you see--they must get through the time." His attitude
here is quite obvious. The way he constructed this sentence in woeful pity
shows how he assumes that because these "gentlefolks" enjoy
experimenting in cruel ways as children do, that it must be because they simply
have too much time on their hands and must find something to do with it. Lines
22-27 is a sentence that seems to go on and on. Likewise the narrator thinks
these people spend their time in "nasty" activities that also
seemingly go on and on.
The narrator's word choice and how
he displays those words also helps the reader to adequately see the his attitude. “Gentlefolks” is used to
describe those in a wealthier status with more time on their hands. In lines 6
and 7, the narrator states several commonly believed viewpoints of society. He
then proceeds to contradict these so called facts with his personal opinion.
This sequence of stating ridiculous actions and then showing how they are
absurd is repeated throughout the essay as he tries to prove the idiocy of the
"intellectual type" and how the hard working are superior. The use
of, "miserable wretches" in line 10 to describe the poor spiders adds
to the narrator's view that the use of pitiful animals for one’s own pleasure and
discovery is a "miserable" idea. Then he uses "poring over"
in line 11, helping the reader to realize the depth of curiosity these
interesting people's brains entertain. Next the short sentence, "But
there!" grabs your attention. This diction shakes up the whole essay with
a bit of dramatic flair demonstrating how dramatic this topic is to the
narrator. When the narrator uses "poor souls" in line 17 it
demonstrates how he pities those who have a never ceasing search for something
to do with their lives and minds. As the narrator changes his focus from the
gentlefolk to those of the working class, he uses "forced" to show
that they don't choose to live in ceaseless work. It is their lot in life. Yet
he believes they should be thankful for this busyness as he concludes in lines
31-33, "thank your stars that your head has got something it must think of, and your hands something
they must do."
Throughout the essay the narrator
has a constant air of superiority. The tone that shines through his words is
begrudging, yet passionate. He states in lines 20-22, "the secret of it
is, that you have got nothing to think of in your poor empty head, and nothing
to do with your poor, idle hands." His odd idea is that this richer class
of people simply has too much time on their hands. He indignantly compares the
study of science to children's experimentation. His tone is despairing as he
exclaims, "and so it ends..." and goes on to tell of the so called,
awful things these scholarly people do. The overall tone of the essay is that
of righteous indignation. The narrator seems to believe that his snide remarks
are truly beneficial to the reader. He certainly looks negatively at the
wealthy people who have time for such nonsense. On the other hand the narrator
seems to be encouraging those who are always working and showing them that
their lot is much better than the aimless lot of others.
Gentlefolks in general have a very awkward rock ahead in life—the rock ahead of their own idleness. Their lives being, for the most part, passed in looking about them for something to do, it is curious to see—especially when their tastes are of what is called the intellectual sort—how often they drift blindfold into some nasty pursuit. Nine times out of ten they take to torturing something, or to spoiling something—and they firmly believe they are improving their minds, when the plain truth is, they are only making a mess in the house. I have seen them (ladies, I am sorry to say, as well as gentlemen) go out, day after day, for example, with empty pill-boxes, and catch newts, and beetles, and spiders, and frogs, and come home and stick pins through the miserable wretches, or cut them up, without a pang of remorse, into little pieces. You see my young master, or my young mistress, poring over one of the spider's insides with a magnifying-glass; . . . and when you wonder what this cruel nastiness means, you are told that it means a taste in my young master or my young mistress for natural history. Sometimes, again, you see them occupied for hours together in spoiling a pretty flower with pointed instruments, out of a stupid curiosity to know what the flower is made of. Is its colour any prettier, or its scent any sweeter, when you do know? But there! the poor souls must get through the time, you see—they must get through the time. You dabbled in nasty mud, and made pies, when you were a child; and you dabble in nasty science, and dissect spiders, and spoil flowers, when you grow up. In the one case and in the other, the secret of it is, that you have got nothing to think of in your poor empty head, and nothing to do with your poor, idle hands. And so it ends in your spoiling canvas with paints, and making a smell in the house; or in keeping tadpoles in a glass box full of dirty water, and turning everybody's stomach in the house; or in chipping off bits of stone here, there, and everywhere, and dropping grit into all the victuals in the house; or in staining your finger in the pursuit of photography, and doing justice without mercy on everybody's face in the house. It often falls heavy enough, no doubt, on people who are really obliged to get their living, to be forced to work for the clothes that cover them, the roof that shelters them, and the food that keeps them going. But compare the hardest day's work you ever did with the idleness that splits flowers and pokes its way into spiders' stomachs, and thank your stars that your head has got something it must think of, and your hands something that they must do.
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