Stylistic devices

The special atmosphere of the short story is created with a help of numerous stylistic devices that also contribute to the understanding of the inner world of the main character, his actions and feelings and their causes.

The metaphor the prick of the thorn has been already presented while analyzing the character and now let me present the most vivid extracts and analyze the role of different stylistic devices there.

1.     “He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly. He shuddered at the thought that to others, before now, the garments of his soul must have appeared sorry and threadbare. Vanity and conceit? These were the joints in his armor.”

In this fragment the emotional state of despair and broken hopes is depicted

with the usage of metaphors. The character hides his real essence substituting it with egoism and pretence. That is why these qualities are compared to garbs that are worn to cover the body. This metaphor can also be interpreted as the protection of the personality that tries to exclude other people from his/her surroundings. Another metaphor the joints in his armor proves this point of view that vanity and pretence are considered to be the means of “war” that Trysdale leads against himself and others.  Now the protagonist suffers because he is starting to see the real dark sides of his personality and to put emphasis on the idea that his vanity is unnecessary, stupid and consequently broken, the author uses the metaphor turn to rags of folly. The character understands he has become a kind of moral degrading outcast and his soul is metaphorically depicted as useless, dirty garments.  

2.     “It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him; so modest (he told himself); so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere.”

The given sentence represents the attitude of a woman to the main character.

It is the metaphorical interpretation of her flattery that is characterized by the marked epithets. The sentence includes also parenthesis to refer to the thoughts of the character and put emphasis on the point that it is just his own vision of her attitude to him.

3.     “She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents, and he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit.”

            This fragment also depicts how the beloved treats Trysdale. Here the author expresses the idea that in some way there was also her fault, because she contributed to the growth of vanity. To emphasize the idea of flattery O. Henry uses hyperbole almost supernatural number, and polysyndeton. Very interesting is the case of usage of metaphor invested that means that the woman was expecting some feedback and outcome from her actions. In this way she wants to seduce Trysdale, catch his attention. Trysdale takes this flattery for granted and enjoys it and it is depicted with the help of simile he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit. And again we see that Trysdale has no intentions to give the expected attention to the woman, because his soul is compared to dessert where nothing can grow. We can make a conclusion that their relations are condemned from the very beginning.