Language

The language of Robert Fox’s short story “A Fable” is generally simple and straightforward, making it easy to follow and understand.

Style of writing

The story relies on the dialogue between the characters but also on the descriptive passages presented by the narrator. The narrator’s language is generally formal, which helps convey the unemotional tone of the story.

Contractions such as “I’m”, “it’s”, “don’t” etc. are used to give authenticity to the dialogue. Some of the words in the dialogue in the story appear in italics to emphasize ideas and convey the characters’ tone: “ ‘What shall I do?’ ” (p. 31, l. 13); “ ‘I knew it, I knew it.’ ” (p. 31, l. 27)

Although the young man’s language is usually informal, he uses formal language to ask for the mother’s permission to marry her daughter, and to propose, suggesting that he wants to follow tradition and add the appropriate solemnity to the moment of proposal: “ ‘May I have the honor of having your daughter’s hand in marriage?’ ” (p. 32, ll. 23-24); “ ‘My dearest one,’ he said, ‘will you marry me?’ ” (p. 33, l. 20)

Imagery

Imagery is constructed in connection with the characters: “clean shaven and neatly dressed” (p. 31, l.1); “beautiful girl with blond hair and soft-looking skin” (p. 31, ll. 10-11).

Imagery is also employed by the author to show how the young man approaches the girl. He changes his seat, so he stays “over the girl and her mother.” (p. 31, l. 24). They “whispered back and forth and looked up at him” (p. 31, ll. 24-25), and he gets closer by taking a seat next to her: “the young man blushed but quickly took it.” (p. 32, l. 26). Then, he taps her, and she jumps (p. 31, l. 28).

In the short story, the sense of sound is explored: the mother whispers to her daughter (p. 31, l. 13), the man “cleared his throat very carefully for a long time” (p. 32, l. 23), he shouts his proposal (p. 32, l. 31), and the people in the car applaud (p. 32, l. 32).

Imagery is also used at the...