Language

Choice of words and style of writing

In his short story “The Larder”, author Morris Lurie employs descriptive language which helps the reader understand more about the action and the meaning of the story. Contractions are used in the dialogue, but not in the narration: “ ‘Bastards, aren’t they?’ said the real-estate agent. He had sat himself down on the grass and had one in his lap (…) ‘That’s awfully cruel,’ said the schoolteacher, and shuddered” (p. 92, ll. 30-33). This conveys the informal tone of the characters when they talk, and helps with the realism of the story. The real-estate agent also uses informal expressions which convey natural speech patterns: “‘Love to see her getting all those home, ha ha’ ” (p. 91, l. 33-34) or “‘Naah (…). They don’t feel a thing’” (p. 92, l. 34)

The dialogue is distinguished from the narration through quotation marks. To convey the collective voice of the tourists, the narrator uses indirect speech, which is not distinguished from the narration: “It was wonderful, they said, how cleanly the creatures had come out. The shells were not harmed at all” (p. 93, ll. 41-42). Another example of this is: “They were a good size, they said, for your mantelpiece. (…) Anyhow, they couldn’t possibly fit them all into their luggage.” (p. 93, l. 45-p. 94, l. 2)).

You may also notice the use of onomatopoeia, which is associated with the shells dropping: “All through lunch you could hear the shell...

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