Language

The language employed in the short story “To Feed the Night” is fairly simple. “To Feed the Night” by Philip Hensher employs British English, and he does not over-embellish the story, making it easy to understand.

Narrative and descriptive passages are combined with dialogue. The replies that the two spouses exchange are plain and they mirror the emptiness in the couple’s relationship:

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In what follows, we will look at several other linguistic and stylistic devices employed by Philip Hensher in the short story.

Imagery

Imagery is connected to the use of descriptive language in literature. In the short story “To Feed the Night”, imagery is mostly employed when the different properties owned by the spouses are described:

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Similes

A few similes are employed in the story to highlight certain features of characters, actions, or places. For instance, Mr Bell is “running a pen along his lips like a harmonica” (l. 47). This could suggest that the husband is dancing to Mr Bell's tune, always following his proposals.

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Repetition

The most important example of repetition in the short story can be found in the following examples: “In her job, she earned eleven thousand pounds a year, and he earned thirteen thousand pounds a year” (ll. 2-3); “His wife earned eleven thousand pounds a year. He earned thirteen thousand pounds a year” (ll. 32-33); “He earned thirteen thousand pounds a year; she earned eleven thousand pounds a year” (ll. 114-115).

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