Tara, et al.
Analysis of paragraph, p. 274-5
·
Structure:
technique throughout; here, contrast story with summary and moral
·
Semi-Animated
Elements: ascribed limited degree of agency and
“character” (the pathetic fallacy)
·
Amplificatio:
description of devotees
·
Religion:
Catholicism / Protestantism
·
Culminating
Parallels
·
Religious
Nihilism
·
Old
/ Young
·
Important
/ Trivial
|
# |
Narrative Segment |
Comment |
|
1 |
‘Gradually the
isle lost its bad character for terror; |
Isle
semi-animate – has “lost” and has a “character” |
|
2 |
and in spite of
some old devotees, who told their blood-discoloured beads, and talked of
Seeva and Harree, and even held burning splinters of wood to their scorched
hands, and stuck sharp pieces of iron, which they had purchased or stolen
from the crews of European vessels, in the most fleshy and sensitive parts of
their bodies, – and, moreover, talked of suspending themselves from trees
with the head downwards, till they were consumed by insects, or calcined by
the sun, or rendered delirious by their position, – in spite of all this,
which must have been very affecting, |
Religious
symbolism; Description of devotees’ practices; Old |
|
3 |
the young people
went on their own way, – the girls offering their wreaths to Camdeo, and the
youths invoking Krishnoo, |
Young |
|
4 |
till the
devotees, in despair, vowed to visit this accursed island, which had set
every body mad, and find out how the unknown deity was to be recognised and
propitiated; |
Religious
nihilism |
|
5 |
and whether
flowers, and fruits, and love-vows, and the beatings of young hearts, were to
be substituted for the orthodox and legitimate offering of nails grown into
the hands till they appeared through their backs, and setons of ropes
inserted into the sides, on which the religionist danced his dance of agony,
till the ropes or his patience failed. |
Culminating
parallels |
|
6 |
In a word, they
were determined to find out what this deity was, who demanded no suffering
from her worshippers, – and they fulfilled their resolution in a manner
worthy of their purpose. |
Summary and
moral |
|
7 |
‘One hundred and
forty beings, crippled by the austerities of their religion, unable to manage
sail or oar, embarked in a canoe to reach what they called the accursed
isle. The natives, intoxicated with
the belief of their sanctity, stripped themselves naked, to push their boat
through the surf, and then, making their salams, implored them to use
oars at least. The devotees, all too
intent on their beads, and too well satisfied of their importance in the eyes
of their favourite deities, to admit a doubt of their safety, set off in
triumph, – and the consequence may be easily conjectured. |
Amplificatio –
horizontal elongation of a subject; Religion |
|
8 |
The boat soon
filled and sunk, and the crew perished without a single sigh of lamentation,
except that they had not feasted the alligators in the sacred waters of the
Ganges, or perished at least under the shadow of the domes of the holy
city of Benares, in either of which cases their salvation must have been
unquestionable. |
Important and
trivial given equal weight; conclusion to story of devotees and implicit
moral |
Document created November 9th 2000