Language

Style of language

The language in the short story “The Legacy” is mostly formal, for both the narrative and for the dialogue. There are not many descriptive words, as the focus is on characters not setting. The narration uses many words from the beginning to middle 20th century, when the story takes place. An example of this is the word tiffs: “he could not call them quarrels, say tiffs”, or the word tweeds: “dressed as they always did in tweeds”.

The narration uses many words with positive meanings when Gilbert refers to himself, such as “distinguished”, “attractive”. These highlight the good opinion Gilbert has of himself and his focus on physical attractiveness. In contrast, the narration uses negative words, such as “violent”, “narrowminded”, “stubby little man” when ref...