本科生期末论文设计
( 2009 级 )
题
目：Analysis of Early Autumn's characters
and writing techniques
学
院：
专
业：
外 国 语 学 院
英
语
学生姓名：
李丽容
学号：
09090309
指导教师：
江玉娇
职称：
教授
完成时间：
成
绩：
2011
年
12
月
浙江师范大学本科期末论文正文
目
1
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
1.1
1.2
2
Analysis of Mary .......................................................................................... 2
Analysis of Bill ............................................................................................. 3
Writing techniques .................................................................................................. 3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
4
Introduction of the author ............................................................................. 1
Brief introduction of the prose ..................................................................... 1
The character analysis ............................................................................................. 2
2.1
2.2
3
录
Setting ........................................................................................................... 4
Surroundings description .............................................................................. 4
Imagery ......................................................................................................... 5
Narrative ....................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 5
Analysis of Early Autumn's characters and writing
techniques
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction of the author
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an
American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the
earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known
for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that
"Harlem was in vogue."
Hughes, like many black writers and artists of his time, was drawn to the promise
of Communism as an alternative to a segregated America. Many of his lesser-known
political writings have been collected in two volumes published by the University of
Missouri Press and reflect his attraction to Communism.
Through his poetry, he condemned racialism and injustice of the ruling whites ,
while singing the praises of black life and culture , by which he tried to awaken the
black people and their sense of pride. His works had a great impact upon the Civil
Right Movement in which the blacks strived for the freedom and equality.
1.2 Brief introduction of the prose
"Early Autumn" by Langston Hughes describes everyday life situations between
people. Hughes uses the essay to show how irrational decisions can alter lives. He
mentions the time of day "nearly sunset" and "early autumn" to illustrate the
relationship between the two characters was almost over and time was running out.
The place, "Washington Square", is a busy street and the people going by shows that
life goes on.
"The leaves fell slowly from the trees in the Square. Fell without
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wind."
"autumn dusk" depicts the relationship cannot be saved. "Early Autumn" by
Langston Hughes uses descriptive words and setting to demonstrate how the
relationship between the two characters has evolved.
2 The character analysis
There are two characters in this prose: Mary and Bill. They used to be lovers, but
broke up because of a simple misunderstanding never spoke any more. They married
different people and lived different lives.
2.1 Analysis of Mary
Mary is the image of Eve, who is emotional and irrational. In the story, she ended
the relationship with Bill because something not very important and married a man
she thought she loved impulsively. Thus, she lived an unhappy life, in her inner heart,
she still loves Bill.
When she saw Bill for the first time in years, she was very excited and surprised.
"Unconsciously, she lifted her face as though waiting for a kiss, but he held out his
hand.", we can see from this sentence that they loved each other before and she used
to love by kissing. Although many years passed, she still democracy this
unconsciously, which shows she love him, but he loved her. And in the following
conversations, she asked many questions about emotion. "Always wondered what
happened to you", there Hughes used "always", which implied Mary still loves Bill
and misses him all the time these years. "Married yet?" In this question, Mary was in
hope of getting a negative answer, but it was out of her hope, which made her so
disappointed. At the end of this prose, when she remembered that she had forgotten to
give him her address--or to ask him for his--or tell him that her youngest boy was
named Bill too, she became totally disappointed.
"We have three children. I work in the bursar's office at Columbia." She
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answered when Bill asked her about her husband. She tended to avoid to mention her
husband because she doesn't love him and live an unhappy life with him. As a woman
in that time, she had a nice job, but she looked much older than Bill, which was
resulted from her unhappy life with her husband.
In the whole story, her emotion changed from exciting to disappointed and at last
totally disappointed. Her emotion was affected by every words Bill responsed to her.
She regrets so much, and she loves him so much.
2.2 Analysis of Bill
Bill is rational and clam, and his love for Mary had vanished completely. "At
first he did not recognize her, to him she looked so old." Bill can not recognized Mary
in the first sight, which implied that he forgot her completely. There must have
similarly ages, but now Mary become much older than him, because he had a happy
and rich life these years. What's more, his spiritual life has been satisfied.
"You and your husband must have dinner with my family some night. Any night.
Lucille and I'd love to have you." Bill unconsciously mentioned his family and his
wife, he must love his wife very much. "I' m a lawyer. Nice firm, way downtown."
"Sure. Two kids." Bill's words always come in a simple way, which show his calm,
cold and indifferent.
In the whole story, Bill remained his cold to Mary, regarding her as an old friend,
exactly a passerby, but not his old beloved. He is content with his life now, and totally
forget the old sweet days with Mary.
3 Writing techniques
In the prose, Hughes used many techniques, such as symbolism, setting,
surroundings description, imagery, dialog, narrative, and leaving out details about the
characters and other peripheral aspects. I will introduce four of them.
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3.1 Setting
The story is set in Washington Square, a busy place with lots of people walking
by, at the end of an autumn day. This setting sets a sad mood for the story and also
suggests that time is passing too quickly.
3.2 Surroundings description
In this prose, every surroundings description is echoed with the characters inner
heart and reflect their emotions.
"A great many people went past them through the park. People they didn't know.
It was late afternoon. Nearly sunset. Cold." Mary and Bill was lovers, but in someday,
they will be strangers just like the people passed by and they don't know each other. It
was in early autumn, late afternoon, nearly sunset, which is a time to miss the past and
nothing would goo back any more. Mary's heart was disappointed just like the cold
weather for she can never held Bill's hand and loved by him any more.
"The leaves fell slowly from the trees in the Square. Fell without wind. Autumn
dusk. She felt a little sick." There was no wind but leaves fell down, just as Mary's
mood became down and down with every words from Bill.
"Suddenly the lights came on up the whole length of Fifth Avenue, chains of
misty brilliance in the blue air." "misty" is like Mary's heart, with tears falling down.
"brilliance" is in Bill's heart, he is rich and has happy life, and he is rational when
facing Mary. And "the blue air" reflected that his heart is gray, grim and without
affection.
"the bus was ready to pull off." Bus is just like mary, who is unwilling to go and
want to continue the talk with Bill.
"The lights on the avenue blurred, twinkled, blurred." Lights blurred and
twinkled because Mary's eyes were wet wit tears, she was so sad that the lapsing love
will never come back again.
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3.3 Imagery
The author uses imagery "the leaves fell slowly" and how they "fell without
wind," to allow the reader to sense the mood of the characters. Autumn is a reminder
that time is passing and that, perhaps, the good times are behind us.
3.4 Narrative
The narrative is consistent with the setting and imagery. The author shows us that
lost opportunities to foster meaningful relationships has a long-lasting emotional
effect.
The sadness is reinforced in certain passages of the narrative "Then a little frown
came quickly between his eyes" and how Mary was (perhaps because she was on the
verge of crying) "Afraid it would be impossible to utter a word." The description of
how the lights "blurred, twinkled, blurred" remind us of how tearful eyes blur, twinkle
and blur.
We also learn from the narrative that Mary and Bill still haven't learned their
lesson about the importance of meaningful communication. There are many things
both characters thought about saying but didn't. Thus we witness even more
opportunities being lost and how easy it is to lose them.
4 Conclusion
The author shows us how easy it is to let meaningful opportunities slip by, even
after a lifetime of experience. We also see in Early Autumn how deeply the tragedy of
lost love affects us. Even after "many years" have gone by the old feelings can still
rise to the surface quickly and easily.
The author seems to be suggesting that we should take care not to be hasty in life.
We need to recognize opportunities to foster meaningful relationships because time
passes so quickly and often with regrets.
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