The Prince Of Tides Analysis

The text under analysis entitled “Susan” belongs to the emotive prose style and to the genre of short story. It is an excerpt /ˈek.sɜːpt/ from the novel “The Prince of Tides” written by Pat Conroy. This episode takes place in a concert hall and is told from the perspective of the main character, and consequently protagonist, Tom. The story tells the reader about the relationships between Tom and the other characters, his sister’s psychiatrist by the name Susan, her husband called Herbert, Monique and music.
There are three types of discourse in the text: dialogue, narration and description. The main type of discourse in the text is description which relies on Tom’s senses. Tom uses many verbs of perception and link-verbs such as “Susan Lowenstein was already in her seat“, “I could hear”, “I had never seen”, “we listened”, “all colors seem”, “her skin was eggshell-lustered”. First of all the reader meets Susan’s description and gets immediately involved in the romantic atmosphere of the scene. This effect is achieved with the help of the repetition of the word “black”, with this colour making a contrast with “white shoulders” and other shadows of white (“eggshell”, “pale chinoiserie”). The contrast places emphasis on Susan’s outlook. The appropriate atmosphere is created also by the use of the words ”beauty”,

It is also very informative for disclosure of the characters. Susan’s speech sounds natural and relaxed, while Tom speaks ironically, deliberately emphasizing and obviously exaggerating the gap in their social positions (“Who else do you know that is famous, Susan?”, “I can brag a lot when I get back down to South Carolina”). The irony in this case demonstrates the reader Tom’s internal tension. Actually, further in the text the reader learns that he “felt some shame” and the reason for this is that he was feeling “the most wonderful stirring of lust” for