The text under analysis is the extract from the book «Doctor in the house» by
Richard Gordon.
Richard Gordon was born in 1921. He has been an anesthetist at St. Bartholomew's
Hospilal,1 a ship's surgeon and an assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. He
left medical practice in 1952 and started writing his "Doctor" series. "Doctor in the
House" is one of Gordon's twelve "Doctor" books and is noted for witty description
of a medical student's years of professional training.
The style of the story is belles lettres. By genre this literary work can be
characterized as psychological as the author shows us the inner state, feeling and
emotions of the characters through the whole text.
Speaking on the form of narration it is the first person narration with some elements
of dialogue, it also includes a lot of elements of description which expose the
characters in their natural qualities.
As for the setting, we can not exactly state the time the events took place but we can
say that the actions happened in London, at Cambridge thorough such words as the
Old Bailey which is the Central Criminal Court, situated in London and St Swithin,
Cambridge.
The main problem exposed within this story is the student`s attitude, his feelings and
emotions while they prepare for the examination, the during and after it. The author
shows us that the final examinations is a great psychological pressure on medical
students. We can prove it through the author`s word choice such as: prize-fighter,
depressing, to swot up etc.
The symbol of the text is a textbook because it is represented as the most important
thing the students need during their examinations. We can prove it through such
words: fondling the pages of his battered textbook in a desperate farewell embrace,
do learning general medicine from textbook.
The main character of the story is the narrator who is a medical student. He is the
protagonist of the story. This character is dynamic as we can see how his feelings
and inner state are changing through the events of the text. The author does not give
us any details of his appearance but he shows us his attitude and his feelings towards
the final examinations. The author uses such words as I felt as I had finished an
eight-round fight. I struggled my way…»
At the beginning of the text the author shows us what the final examination is meant
for medical student. It is a simple investigation that shows what the student is
capable of. The author represents the examination as a contest between the student
and the examiner.
Then the process of the examination is described by the author. First of all, the
students take the writing part of the exam during which the invigilator and the porters
watch over the students trying to see of they cheat in the exam.
The narrator of this story is represented as one of the medical student who also takes
the exam. After the exam he meets Grimsdyke who explains to him the examiners
mark the candidates` papers. Then the oral part of the examination is held. The
results of this part do not come out immediately the students have to wait a few days.
The results are also announced according to a specific scenario. They come out at
noon when the Secretary of the Committee and the porters and the porters com down
the stairs and the elder porter calls out the candidates` numbers and the Secretary
tells them if they pass the exam. At the end of the text we learn that the narrator has
passed the exams and goes upstairs.
According to the structure we can divide the text into three parts:
The exposition of the story contains the information about the students` feelings
towards the final examinations. The tone of this part is ironical, worrying and tense.
We can prove it through stylistic devices used by R. Gordon as the examination is
something like a death. The author uses the simile to show us that it is unescapable
step of the students` life that means a lot for them. The case of metaphor It is nothing
more than an investigation of man`s knowledge is used because at the examination
the students face a lot of questions from different spheres as the examiners go over
every detail and the students should know everything.
After the general description of the examination the author proceeds to the exams
themselves. Here comes rising actions. At first, the written part of the examination
is described by the author. R. Gordon points out the students` inner state, emotions
and their actions during the written part of the examination. The metaphor students
ran a final breathless sprint down the well-trodden paths of medicine shows us the
level of the students` preparation for the exam. Then the author gives the description
of the oral part of the examination. Describing this part the author uses different
stylistic devices. The paraphrase poor victims is used to show the author`s attitude
toward the students. The tone of this part is ironical which is seen from the sentence,
Whether these people were so brilliant they were able to complete the examination
in an hour and a half or whether this was the time required for them to set down
unhurriedly their entire knowledge of medicine was never apparent from the
nonchalant air with which they left the room . We can also state that the tone is rather
tense, stressful because the author uses similes like mistakes and omissions, like
those of life, can be made without the threat of immediate punishment; struggling
like a cow in a bog to show… The allusion judgment day is used by the author to
show us that the exam has two ways: you pass or fail just like in judgment day when
you`ll go to hell or paradise.
The climax is reached in the moment when the Secretary called the narrator`s name
out and pronounced the result and the author emphasizes this very moment using
such stylistic devise parallelism the world stood still. The traffic stopped, the plants
ceased growing, men were paralyzed, the clouds hung in the air, the winds dropped,
the tides disappeared, the sun halted in the sky that shows us how important this
exam was for the narrator and how much he worried about it. The tone of the climax
is exciting and tense. We can see it through simile , used by the author, as the room
had suddenly come to a frightening, unexpected silence and stillness, like an
unexploded bomb, it highlights how much the students are anxious and excited.
In the denouement we see that the protagonist has passed the examination and he
goes upstairs. The tone of the denouement is excited. Once again the simile blindly,
like a man just hit by a blackjack is used to show the inner state and emotions of the
main character of the story.
The characters and their behaviors are revealed through a mixture of stylistically
colored words : neutral, bookish.
Neutral words used in the text are sun, world, winds, man, week, day etc. Any literary
work consists of neutral words as the author uses them to represent the situation and
events in the way easy for comprehension of common people.
The author also uses bookish words as flagrant, nonchalant, thenceforward etc. They
contribute to the author`s ironic and exciting tone. They make the story more
interesting to read.
Reaing the text we face educational terms as the story is connected with the exam: to
mark and grade textbooks, examiners, to fail, answer book, oral exam, written
papers, candidate, Secretary, to pass, porters.
The students` life is shown us through slang words as: cheating, viva, tripos etc.
The author uses medical terminology words: to complain ward rounds, hood, old don,
anatomic, tetanus, to gain weight, gown etc.
The author uses a lot of stylistic devices within his literary work that help him to
create the very atmosphere he wants.
The author widely uses metaphors, making the story more vivid and revealing the
narrator’s emotional attitude. We may find it in the following sentence I felt my
stomach had been suddenly plucked from my body which is used by the author to
illustrate the narrator`s state during the examination, to show how nervous he was.
The metaphor little shreds of success is used by R. Gordon to show how desperate
the students were at the end of their exam.
Among the other stylistic devices we should also mark the use of epithets. The
epithet a desperate farewell embrace shows how students were parting with the
battered textbooks with the help of which they were preparing for the exams. The
epithet a look of admiring submission shows us how hard the students were
preparing so that they even try to give such a look. The examiner is describe by the
epithet a burly, elderly man, we can say that the author used as if to compare him
with difficult final examination. The epithet despondently ticked the days off the
calendar highlight the fear with which the student wait for their exams to begin.
The cases of oxymoron are used. Such as with an awkward expression of selfconsciousness and superiority in their faces, the impression of frustrated brilliance,
these stylistic devices show the students` efforts to look prepared and brilliant in
some way.
There are some cases of simile that we haven`t mentioned such as I walked down the
stairs feeling as if I had just finished an eight-round fight, which shows the difficulty
of the exam. Another stylistic devise, simile, the days after the viva were black ones
is used by R. Gordon to demonstrate the feelings of the examinees when they were
waiting for their results to come out. Another case of simile like a prize-fighter is
used to show how student see themselves during the examination and how important
it is for them. The author shows how the students tried to impress their teacher
comparing them with impressionable music enthusiasts.
The author uses paraphrase depressing experiences to show his own attitude towards
the examinations. The paraphrase terrible displeasure is also used to show the
written part of the exam which determines everything.
The inversion under his arm would be a thick, leather-covered book containing the
results is used to give a greater significance the book where there were results of the
students` works. Another case of inversion in the square outside the first person I
recognized was Grimsdyke is used in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis.
Summarizing my impression on the text I want to say that the problem revealed by
R.Gordon in this story is of great interest especially for students because today
everyone faces final examinations at least at the end of 11th grade at school. But I
think that it is unnecessary to prepare for the exam like it is described in the story
because if you prepare every day during the semester at the end of the semester it
would be much easier to pass the examinations.