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.