COMPLETE STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

   The short story under analysis, "An Angel in Disguise", is written by the popular 19th-century American author, novelist,journalist, publisher and editor Timothy Shay Arthur. He was a voluminous writer of tales of domestic life, and also prepared a series of histories of the different states of the union.The entire number of volumes of Mr. Arthur`s works exceeds one hundred. Among his books are "Lights and Shadows of Real Life","Tales for Rich and Poor",  "Library for the Household", "Ten Nights in a Bar-Room" and "Steps to Heaven". All his stories have some moral end in view, many of them being devoted to the support of the temperance cause.
   An Angel in Disguise is a short story with extremely moving and thrilling plot. It describes the destiny of a little Maggie, who is hopelessly diseased (some years ago she fell out from the window and injured her spine). After her mother`s death some neighbours took the eldest 12-years old boy, and the girl of 10-11 years. But nobody wantet to take a poor little Maggie. The reason was clear- her inability to go, and even to leave a bed. But, the author proved us, that the were still some good people in the world. Joe Thompson, the wheelwright, took Maggie to his house, while he couldn`t even predict his wife`s reaction. She was irritated and displeased at the arrival of the girl. But than, the author described how a person can be improved under the influence of love, kindness and glistened eyes of little innocent girl.
   The story has only a two-sentences-discription of the place it occured. The place the story happened is the old tumble-down hut looks like a place of shelter from summer heats and winter cold. The discription of the living place of the family shows us it`s financial position. This discription is very short ,but the author has used it very accurately.
   The main character of the story is a little hopelessly diseased girl, named Maggie. Se has a brother John, who is 12, and a sister Kate, who has 10 or 11 years. Maggie`s mother is dead; a poor little girl is alone in this big cruel world. But the world is not without good people. Joe Thompson, the wheelwright, had a good heart, and it was very tender in some places. He liked children, but life has not given him his own children. Joe had a mind and strong temper, and exactly this helped him make a decision to take a girl to his house. Then we meet another character, who is no less important than previous one. This is Joe`s wife Mrs. Thompson. She was happened to be childless, and was not a woman of saintly temper. She was against this child in her house. Joe Thompson considered his wife to be vinegar-tempered, he was afraid of her reaction concerning this little child. Mrs. Thompson tried to hide her hostility while communicating with Maggie, but love would save the world!!! Mrs. Thompson became kinder, her heart filled up with the light and love. The sweetness of that sick girl was so honey to her soul, that she carried her in her heart as a precious burden.
   In order to reveal the main idea and render the general mood of the passage vividly and convincingly the author of the analysed passage resorts to the following devices: metaphor is widely used in the story, some examples are idleness, vice and intemperance had done their work; death touches; pity took the place of anger; a fall from a window had injured her spine; sad eyes and patient face touched many hearts; soft feeling crept into her heart. The author used metaphor to embody some feelings, some lifeless things into alive, and make them more vivid; to show the sad atmosphere of the story. The other stylistic device, which is of great importance in the novel, is epithet: miserable work; undisciplined thing; puzzled air; painful effort; sainty temper; soft feeling; unwonted eloquence; hurried air. The epithets are used to depict strong emotions of characters. Simile: gentles almost of a woman; as if in answers from her lips; as a weight lifted itself from his heart; as if surprised at her question. As for syntactical devices, the text contains ellipsis: “The poorhouse is a sad place for a sick and helpless child”. – “For your child or mine”; “How soon will supper be ready?” – “Right soon”. This device is used in the dialogues, as it is typical of conversational language. Inversion in the question: “Your name is Maggie?” Polysyndeton: “Wait a moment for explanations, and be gentle;” and, passing in, carried Maggie to the small chamber on the first floor, and laid her on bed. Allusion: “whosoever gave them even a cup of cold water should not go unrewarded”, such an expression was taken from the Bible. The author wanted us to understand the seriousness of Joe Thompsons` doings and sayings. The repetition of words such as sore, irritable, ill-tempered, and self-afflicting; dark, and cold and miserable shows us the state, the wheelwrights wife was before the child appeared in her life, and There is also alliteration, for example, she had fallen upon the threshold of her own door in a drunken fit. The sound r is classified as frightening, it creates sad and negative emotions. The author used it to demonstrate us the miserableness of the children`s mother. Hyphenation is also happened in the text, to-morrow; to-night; double hyphenation: she understood him, and answered, -- “She can wait until we are done…”. The double hyphenation is used to lay an emphatic stress on the answer, on it`s seriousness and importance for the speaker.
Summing up the analysis of the given text, one should say that Timothy Shay Arthur brilliantly used all the stylistic devices, mentioned above, which help to reveal the main character`s nature and to create a true-to-life atmosphere of the events depicted. The author compelled us to feel and experience the life of the characters.