Hello, everyone.
Welcome to today's lecture.
Today we'll talk about the writing style,
writing techniques used
in the story a dill pickle
First, let's look at the implication of the Title
How does a dill pickle taste?
A dill pickle tastes sour,
spicy, bitter and sweet.
Any implications here?Yes
It may symbolize the feeling of Vera,
a mixture of flavors.
After you tasted dill pickles,
would you enjoy them a lot?No,
you wouldn't enjoy them very much,
because they are not a luxury.
They only serve as appetizer.
You would not use them as a main course.
Very good,now let's come to
Look at the implication of the title
from two perspectives:
the woman's perspective
and the man's perspective.
Now let's focus on the woman's perspective:
Here pickle refers to
the whole encounter of the man.
Vera's life is very dull.
So the meeting serves as an appetizer
just as a stone is thrown into the motionless water
and stirs up various desires
to break the dull life of Vera.
On the whole,
a dill pickle appeals to you
with attractive colors: greenish jar, red chili.
But once you open the jar,
one is enough and you won't finish the whole jar,
which implies that
the meeting will not bring Vera full satisfaction.
Ok, now let's come to the other perspective,
exactly, that is the man's point of view.
In the man's life,
Vera is just an appetizer,
not a main course,
meaning she is not a person
that the man would like to spend
the whole life with.
She only makes his dull life a little colorful.
Ok, now we'll come to the second topic.
We'll try to portray the two characters,
especially their changes.
Now we'll focus on Vera's change.
Vera's change is first demonstrated
in her physical appearance：
Six years ago,
she was beautiful and happy.
Yes, she was a beautiful and happy young girl.
However, six years later,
she became poor, less better off,
and what is worse,
she was in poor health.
Then what is the spiritual change in Vera?
Six years ago
She had nothing to worry about.
However, she had to suppress her dream and desire.
But she was longing
and she had aspiration
to travel to oriental countries, esp. Russia.
Six years later ,
she became fragile.
She felt not so well.
She was fragile physically
but she was still strong-willed
for the fact that she resisted the temptation.
She was too romantic.
She focused too much on spiritual life.
And then we'll try to figure out
the unchanged personality of Vera.
Six years ago, she belonged to the leisure class.
She was well-educated
which was demonstrated in the fact that
she used to know a lot of flowers,
and she liked perfume,
music and oriental places.
However, six years later,
although she was still well-educated,
she was still in the middle- class,
she was now in a very difficult situation.
And she was sensitive and tolerant
because she was very considerate
and sensitive to others' feelings,
and she was not willing to hurt others,
including the man.
And she was a feminist.
She had the spirit of idealism.
If she couldn't gain spiritual satisfaction,
she would give up.
And there is one point she kept for 6 years.
She never told the man
why she left him.
She wanted the man to feel her desire
rather than tell him.
That just created such a trouble:
She wanted this,
but the man was insensitive.
Ok, now let's come to analyze the man.
We'll focus on the man's change.
First, his change in appearance:
Six years ago,
he was young, handsome and good-looking.
Six years later, he was still very sweet,
far better looking,
but that was only material looking.
He was well-dressed
he wore admirable clothes)
Ok, we come to focus on the man's change
in his financial status.
Six years ago, he was poor.
And six years later, he was financially secure.
He had made money.
He was well-traveled and quite experienced.
So now we talk about his change in experience.
Six years ago,
he was young, unpractical,
out of all proportion to the occasion.
And six years later,
he became attractive, experienced,
mature, very sophisticated,
and what the most importent thing is
he become very confident,
now he was behaving with an air of man.
Then we come to his change in career.
Six years ago,
he was vague about future and life;
he was dreamy,
Yes, he was day-dreaming
and indecisive.
He had not then found his career.
But now he became successful,
having established his career in society.
Then you may ask:
what is the unchanged personality of the man?
Ok, I'll talk about it.
The unchanged personality of the man is:
he was still self-centered,
insensitive, talkative, conceited,
and inconsiderate.
Ok, then we talk about:
What do the man and Vera have in common?
Both of them are interested in music, traveling
and both of them are lonely
Now we talk about the writing techniques
of the story.
This fictional story
is an extremely good example of
how a writer can use different literary aspects
to bring about an understanding of the character.
Ok, now we'll come to talk about
the genre of the story:
It is Modernism.
Modernism uses images as subtle symbols
evoking emotion in readers' hearts;
It has the tendency
to present human experiences in fragments
that readers have to
piece together in their own minds;
Modernism uses the techniques
of realism and naturalism
subjects previously considered too trivial
or too unpleasant for literature;
Attention to the new psychological insights
of Freud, Jung, and other pioneer psychologists
and the inner workings of characters' minds.
In the text, the author tried to
present human experience in fragments,
the arrangement of which reveals
the relationship between Vera and the man.
We readers have to piece together the fragments
of the woman's thought.
The narration of their past love is not in a common order:
Time jumps back and forth.
Ok, let's go on.
Now we talk about the second genre of the story:
Namely Feminism.
Feminism, in the novel,
is reflected in the author's choice
of the topic and the description of fine details,
with fine perception and sharp sensibility.
Through the portrayal of one character,
values and ideas of a novel find its full expression.
The author tried to express her feministic idea:
Vera is designed to magnify women's desire for
spiritual satisfaction.
If she couldn't gain it, she would give up.
Now we focus on the writing devices of the essay.
The most conspicuous one is: Symbolism
A symbol is an object, sign, or image
that is used to stand for something else.
Symbolism is used to reveal hidden ideas
and give a deeper meaning to the novel.
And symbolism can add to the inherent meaning
of a variety of texts,
from music to movies to novels.
It creates an even deeper meaning
than found in surface reading.
In following the tendencies of most Modernist writers,
everyday objects in this story carry a great deal
of significance
in piecing together the overall meaning.
Now we'll talk about the Symbolism
found in "A Dill Pickle".
Symbolism is used to reveal hidden ideas
and give a deeper meaning to the novel.
Then what is the symbolic meaning of "A Dill Pickle"?
We talk about the symbolic Meaning of A Dill Pickle
from two perspectives.
Do you still remember that?
Yes, from the perspective of the woman
and that of the man.
Now we talk about it further.
We'll focus on its symbolic meaning.
The most typical image of this story is "a dill pickle".
It appears twice,
one is in the man's description of his travel on Volga,
and the other appears in Vera's imagination.
So a real one and a virtual one.
What are the possible implications of "a dill pickle"?
1. A dill pickle may symbolizes Vera's imaginary ideal life.
It represents Vera's wish for a better life.
In that faraway and mysterious country - Russia,
a coachman is willing to share dill pickles with the people
he doesn't know.
This shows the care and warmth between people.
On the contrary,
Vera leads a lonely life without warm sunshine,
even from her lover-the man.
What she feels is coldness, indifference,
his narcissus, let alone others.
2. now I'll talk about the second implication
of A Dill Pickle.
A dill pickle can also be understood
from the perspective of their love.
The endurance of love
needs the sincere mutual devotion
and sacrifice of two lovers.
However, though the two
were attracted by each other,
Vera is passive, sensitive and reversed,
while the man is selfish, unpractical,
and self-engrossed.
This love is doomed to become a tragedy
since the beginning.
Six years later,
when they came across in a cafe,
just the used-to-be sweet love,
like a dill pickle,
had lost its original relish
and become sour and bitter.
Yesterday could not come once more.
3. From the view of Feminism,
a dill pickle symbolizes Vera.
At the beginning of the 20th century,
women hadn't got financial
and spiritual independence
and were still subject to men.
But Vera, who looked frail,
has her self-esteem and a strong mind.
Tortured by the frustrations in life,
she never yields, just like a dill pickle,
when preserved for a reasonable long time,
will taste delicious.
A woman who survives the plights,
will be more charming.
Do you think so
4. A dill pickle—
After hearing her friend's story,
Vera conjured up a false image of a dill pickle
(a red chili like a parrot's beak).
This is symbolic of the false impression
Vera also formed of her friend.
Such misconceptions ensure that
a rekindling of their romance will never occur.
It is also significant that
Vera described the pickle as sour,
a word that could also describe
the couple's past love affair.
Then have you noticed Vera's glove in the story?
The man looked more like 6 years ago
when he did not know how to hold Vera back
he held the wrong thing,
for glove was not strong enough to keep her.
Now he still did not know
how to do it
and he tried to clutch the wrong thing, too.
Now let's focus on another symbol?
Have you guessed what it is?
Yes, it is the strange beast—
In Para. 31, the author describes:
Her strong long-cherished desire to travel to
all those distant and mysterious places
had been hidden deep
in her heart for quite a long time
because it was impossible for her
to realize it given her financial and health conditions.
But now this old wish seemed to be suddenly awakened.
Let's look at Para 59:
Her long-buried love for the man
seemed to wake up again.
Now let's come to Metaphor,
a writing technique
or a figure of speech of the story.
In the text,
the use of metaphor always
overlaps with that of symbolism.
There is another example
as mixture of both:
That is a Carpet
a Carpet symbolizes protection for Vera
from sharp stones and mud,
and also hardship and difficulties in life.
There is another figure of Speech:
Yes this one is antithesis
let's look at Para. 2
"She smiled, he frowned."
Antithesis is used here
to show a contrast between them,
bringing an ironical effect.
After talking about antithesis briefly,
we'll come to transferred epithet.
A transferred epithet is,
as its name implies, a figure of speech
where an epithet
( an adjective or descriptive phrase )
is transferred from the noun it should rightly modify
to another to which it does not really belong.
Generally, the epithet
is transferred from a person to a thing or idea.
移就是一种超乎常格的语言现象,
也是词语搭配的创造性运用.
通过词语的移用,
将人的情绪、状态同事物联系起来,
不需要耗费更多的笔墨,
极简练地把人的情绪、思想、性格
鲜明地表达出来,
或将事物的形状、本质突出出来,
而且使语言出奇制胜,
富于变化,饶有情趣.
移就的主要种类有：
移人于物和移物于物.
首先 移人于物,
它是指把原来形容人的修饰语移用于物
举个例子来说
郁达夫《还乡记》中有这样一句
"我女人经过的悲哀的足迹,
现在有我一步步的践踏过去！"
"悲哀"原是表现人的心情悲凉、哀伤,
他在这里用来修饰"足迹".
朱自清的名篇《荷塘月色》中有这样一句
"叶子底下是脉脉的流水."
"脉脉"是指默默地用眼神或行动表达情意,
形容人含情的样子 有"脉脉含情"
"盈盈一水间 ,脉脉不得语"之词句
这里却用来修饰"流水".
再来看一个例子
陆游《过采石有感》：
"明日重寻石头路,醉鞍谁与共联翩."
"醉"的本是放翁 表现其情态,
这里却移用于"鞍".
下面我们来讲一下移物于物,
把形容甲事物的修饰语移用于乙事物.
举个例子来说
鲁迅《纪念刘和珍君》中
把描摹颜色的"浓黑"来修饰"悲凉",
用来表现"悲凉"的沉重浓烈
"我将深味这非人间的浓黑的悲凉......"
峻青《海滨仲夏夜》中"晚霞"原不会"燃烧",
这里却把此词移用来
形容"晚霞"的形态和色彩.
"西边的天空,还燃烧着一片橘红色的晚霞."
李瑛《一月的哀思》中
把描摹颜色的"苍白"同来修饰"日子",
表现"日子"让人伤恸
"我不相信,一九七六年的日历,
会埋藏着这样苍白的日子 "
let's look at Examples:
His story achieved nothing but cheap laughs.
That was a stupid place to keep your money.
I buried my head under the miserable
sheet and rug, and cried like a child.
He said "Yes" to the question
in an unthinking moment.
He passed a dreary thoughtful day.
The old man put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
They prolonged the clasp for the photographer,
exchanging smiling words.
After appreciating and talking about
the story of a dill pickle
Do you now have a better
and a deeper understanding of love
I hope so
and up to now
We have finished our discussion of the 4th unit
A Dill Pickle
I hope you will enjoy it.