Language and symbols

Style of writing

The language featured in Graham Swift’s short story “Fusilli” can appear fragmented. Comments and explanations are sometimes inserted in the middle of a sentence: “Their being nice to themselves and splashing out – Waitrose not Tesco’s – now the lad had left home” (ll. 63-64). This is done to draw attention to the line, bring clarifications, or strengthen the message of the text.

The choice of words indicates an informal style of writing. Certain informal expressions, such as “to get his goat” (l. 99), “dropped away” (l. 37) are used. Contractions such as “he’d”, “couldn’t”, “hadn’t”, etc. are present throughout the text.

The text frequently features short sentences, often without a verb: “Such things. It couldn’t be done, it just couldn’t be done any more. Their little foodie fads, their fancy cooking” (ll. 62-63). They are meant to imitate the thought-process of the character and are part of the stream of consciousness narrative technique, illustrating the father’s feelings of confusion and how his thoughts wander through past and present as he strives to avoid thinking of his tragic loss. For the same reason, some sentences also appear incomplete: “She was standing exactly where…” (ll. 116).

Similes and personification

A simile is a figure of speech in which two things are explicitly compared to each other. For example: “He fe...