SETTING

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 423.

ANALYSIS

COMPREHENSION

GLOSSARY

to lament

to lounge

to dawdle

to loaf

to squander

to indulge in dissipation

beaker

gem

moody

to make do with

reconnaissances

bedraggled.

buzzards

offal

motley people

ducks

pertinaciously

solicitations

grimy

urchins

to importune sb

maimed

a thong

to scamper

swarthy

mop of hair

tatters

foul

singlet

starveling

abject

alms

destitution

a wreck of humanity

siesta

squabbling

roost

with the crushed air

mien

fecklessness

emaciated features

scarecrow

to elude

to beseech

to give sb whack with sth

to wince

to whip sb's memory

thoughts were in turmoil

to aghast

to defer hopes

to grind to the dust

a lamentable object

to scrunch sth up

1. Why was the narrator stuck up in Vera Cruz?

2. What did he occupy himself with?

3. How did the newsvendors importune him?

4. How many times did he encounter the red-haired beggar?

5. Why did the narrator think that the beggar had recognized him?

6. What made the red-haired boy unpopular in Rome?

7. Had his character changed? In what way?

8. What did the narator give the beggar? What feeling of the latter did it arouse?

1) What thematic groups of words can you single out in the paragraphs? What atmosphere do they sustain?

2) What can you say about the structure of the sentences? How does the syntax reinforce the atmosphere sustained by the words?

3) Circle the words and expressions adding to the theme of ‘beggars' in ph 4. What is the effect of accumulation of these words in two sentences?

4) What impression if maintained in the same paragraph by enumeration and parallel constructions?

5) Pick out the extracts where the image of buzzards is juxtaposed to the description of beggars? What is the ground of the parallel the author makes? Can this setting be considered symbolic?

6) Point out the extended personification in ph 4. What effect is reinforced by alliteration used in convergence with the same device?

7)Consider the word-combination ‘merciless splendour': what stylistic device is employed?

Re-read the descriptions of the place and pick out other words reinforcing each of the opposite notions

8. Focus on the TEMPORAL PERSPECTIVE

a)What devices does the author employ to give the impression of slow-moving time?

- lexical indicators (adverbs and adjectives, such as slowly, etc.)

- sentence structure (simple/complicated; balanced/unbalanced)

- Continuous Tense forms

- Participles I

- predominance of stative verbs over dynamic verbs

b) What is the aim of the flashback?