Antithesis “Life – Death” in the Novel by John Braine “Room at the Top”

Yuliya Alexandrovna Kutsevich

doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20170206.11

Abstract

The article studies the images of two towns, Warley and Dufton, in the famous novel by John Braine “Room at the Top” (1957). The authors of the article compare the images in question and find out the stylistic devices (metaphor, detachment, alliteration, polysyndeton, etc) that enabled John Braine to create two opposite literary images related to each other through the antithesis “life − death”, in which, in the hero’s view, the notion of life is associated with Warley, whereas the notion of death is implied by Dufton.

Highlights

“Room at the top”, a well-known piece of fiction written by the English novelist John Braine, can be regarded as an anti-manifest of “success philosophy” (2010, 4)
The aim of this research is to bring to light the most significant conceptual constituents of the two contrasting literary images − those of Dufton and Warley − as well as find out the linguistic means of various levels that emphasize the aforementioned components of the images under study
Linguistic Expression of the Image. In this part of our study we will consider the linguistic aspects of the aforementioned Examples 9-15, to highlight the stylistic devices that contribute to the formation of the integral image of Warley

Summary

Introduction

“Room at the top”, a well-known piece of fiction written by the English novelist John Braine, can be regarded as an anti-manifest of “success philosophy” (2010, 4). Dufton, a small provincial English town, is far from Joe’s idea of the place, where well-off and successful people live With all his heart wishing to free himself from the routine and poverty of Dufton, Joe leaves it with a view to settling down in the town of big opportunities − Warley. Arriving at this town, sparkling with cleanness and beckoning invitingly, Joe continues thinking of Dufton, remembering its streets, its citizens and their hard life, and comparing all these with the advantages of Warley. The ultimate result of this analytic approach to the novel is a better understanding of “the author’s image of the world, expressed in a literary text by means of the system of key images, themes, and expressive language means” (Alexandrovich, 2014)

Artistic Details of the Image

Linguistic Expression of the Image

Artistic Details of the Image of Warley

Conclusion