An Awfully Big Adventure Analysis

In this passage of Beryl Bainbridge’s An Awfully Big Adventure, Bainbridge uses the old British traditional style of writing such as using the word “theatre” instead of theater in order to achieve a more authentic writing as it adds to the story line. In addition to British spelling, Bainbridge uses jargons such as “the stage was poorly lit”, “The fire curtain”, and “Rialto cinema (Bainbridge 30)” to add to the authenticity and helps connect the novel to the commercial intrigue of the age of the theatre in the 1950s. With the use of diction, jargons, and syntax techniques, Bainbridge captures the dramatic style of theatre and develops a distinct voice for each character.

Bainbridge gives each character a specific voice that becomes even clearer as the novel goes on. For this development, Bainbridge uses diction to help further differentiate characters. By using different vocabulary ranges, the overall complexity of each character can be understood. “He kept throwing up words whose meaning Stella more or less understood but would never have had the nerve to thread into a conversation. She was shaky on pronunciation (Bainbridge 30).” Stella’s informal diction , like using the word “muckier”, helps to portray her youth and innocence because there is not much complexity to it. This is very important to the development of the novel because it correlates with Stella’s fascination of being more of an adult and gaining experience. Bainbridge shows the sophisticated voice of Geoffrey by having him recite formal poetry lines from T.S. Elliot. The reader is able to grasp the idea that Geoffrey more experience and is older than Stella. Bainbridge uses this contrast between Stella and Geoffrey  help show Stella’s intrigue with this older character as she want to be hurled into adulthood  which is one of the major themes of this novel.

Bainbridge puts the subjects of her sentence in the beginning then uses concrete diction after as a descriptive tool to help illuminate the subject illuminate the subject. “His hair, being coarse and crinkly, sprang back at the moment he let go (Bainbridge 29)”. By using this syntax style, the most important part of the sentence, which is whatever Bainbridge wants you to take from the sentence, is easily transferred to the reader. Bainbridge’s use of incorporating both formal and informal diction with these syntax techniques expresses the overall development of each character, specifically the characterization of Stella.