Аракин 4 курс полностью

11. Answer the questions and do the given assignments: 
a) 1. Who was the man who arrived one Sunday afternoon to the house? 2. Why was the 
man looking for the young woman of colour? 3. Why was the girl Sarah accustomed to 
sitting at the window? 4. What made Sarah ask Mother send the visitor away? 5. Why 
was Mother outraged when she returned downstairs? 6. Why did Mother decide to give 
him more of a visit next time? 7. Why did the Negro suffer no embarrassment in the 
parlour? 8. How did the Negro describe his career as a pianist? 9. What was the source of 
Father's irritation when he finally asked the Negro to play the piano? 10. Why did the 
Negro agree to play the piano for them? 11. What was it in the music he played that 
changed the mood of the family. 12. Do you think the Negro accomplished what he had 
hoped for from the visit? 
b) The title "Ragtime" is supposed to be the symbolic representation of the atmosphere 
which characterizes the scene of the novel. Do you feel that the rhythm and the intonation 
of E. Doctorow's prose imitate those of ragtime? (whose characteristic features are 
syncopation, swing, high tension, fluctuation between the regular rhythm of sharp 
harmonic accents and a lively irregular ragged melodic line, the incongruity, that is a 
special charm of the music). 
c) 1. Discuss the stylistic means the author uses to create tension:
1) the incongruity of the sensational plot and the dry tone in which it is described, 2) the 
common situation and the formal tone, 3) the contrast of different styles, 4) the contrast 
of actions and their implications.
2. Describe how the author contrasts the young man's behaviour and appearance with the 
music he plays. Pay attention to the epithets, similes, metaphors, repetitions and 
gradation, abrupt changes from short sentences to long ones, and then back again. 
Observe the proportion of short sentences, the telegraphic style, the use of asyndeton, 
polysyndeton, inversion and parallel constructions; how is the compact, dynamic way in 
the speech of the characters presented? Pay attention to the fact that the characters have 
no names. What effect is achieved by this? Should proper names have been used, in your 
opinion? Justify your answer, hi whose voice is the narration of the story? Where do the 
narrator's sympathies lie?

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Практический курс английского языка. 4 курс под ред. В.Д. Аракина
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