Book
Analysis
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
Analysis Chapter 18
• Denotative analysis
• Narrative technique
• Characters
• Message
• Setting
• New Language and Info I
Learnt
Denotative analysis
Helen is getting ready for Ralph: she is having a
shower, she changes her clothes and puts so
much attention to choose them.
Later she cleans all her house, the bathroom
included. She forgets her knickers and changes
the sheets of the bed.
While she is waiting for Ralph she thinks if she
would like to have sex with him.
Characters
• Ralph Messenger: professor and director of the
prestigious Holt Belling Centre for Cognitive Science
• Helen Reed: a novelist
• Carrie Messenger: Ralph’s wife
• Martin: Helen’s husband
Setting
Helen’s house.
Narrative technique
Helen is writing her journal in the first person
Message
Helen wonders whether it is right to have sex with
Ralph because he would be the first man after Martin.
She feels guilty and feels it would dishonour Martin’s
memory.
It is as she believed the soul lives after death even if
she agrees with Ralph that the soul does not exist but
what we call “soul” is our consciousness.
Probably it is not Martin’s consciousness.
It has just ceased to exist, except in Helen’s mind and
in her memories.
But this is only a mind construction, a fiction.
New Language and Info I
Learnt
• Inkling: sentore
• heel: tallone
• cheddar: formaggio mezzo stagionato
• to dash: uscire di corsa
• tore: passato di to tear, strappare
• to tidy: ordinare
• simmering: bollire lentamente
• knickers: mutandine
• joint: comune
• burglars: svaligiatore, ladro
• maidens: fanciulle
• entwine: intrecciare
• hailed a cab: fare segno al taxi di fermarsi
• rode: passato di to ride, “cavalcare”
• to giggly: ridere scioccamente
• to achieve orgasm: raggiungere l’orgasmo
• to woo: corteggiare
• coy: falsamente timido, civettuolo
• to crave: morire dalla voglia di
• Karamàzovs: I fratelli Karamàzov è l'ultimo romanzo
scritto da Fëdor Michajlovič Dostoevskij ed è ritenuto il
vertice della sua produzione letteraria e la sintesi delle sue
concezioni filosofiche.
• La trama del romanzo si sviluppa attorno alle vicende dei
membri della famiglia Karamàzov, al contesto in cui matura
l'assassinio di Fëdor, il capofamiglia e al conseguente
processo nei confronti di Dmitrij, il figlio primogenito
accusato di parricidio.
• Ad un livello più profondo è il dramma spirituale scaturito
dalconflitto morale tra fede, dubbio, ragione e libero
arbitrio.
Analysis Chapter 19
• Denotative analysis
• Narrative technique
• Characters
• Message
• Setting
• New Language and Info I
Learnt
Denotative analysis
Ralph is thinking about his date with Helen: he has
realized Helen has prepared all for best and that she did
not accidentally loose her knickers.
But he is unsure too and thinks that it maybe a genuine
oversight and did not have sex with her.
The main point is Ralph is wondering whether Helen
wanted to have sex with him: very strange for him
because he had sex with some women without paranoia.
Characters
• Ralph Messenger: professor and director of the
prestigious Holt Belling Centre for Cognitive Science
• Helen Reed: a novelist writer
• Carrie Messenger: Ralph’s wife
Setting
Ralph does not mention where he is thinking,
but we can suppose he is at home or in his
office.
Narrative technique
Ralph’s stream of consciousness.
Message
Ralph is a man of science, he feels sure and has many
certainties but in front of Helen he has so much paranoia.
He makes so many conjectures and tries to understand if
she wants to have sex with her: he wants to kwon what
she is thinking to act consequently.
This is the first time Ralph makes some paranoia, before
he does what he feels.
In front of love even men science have no certainties.
New Language and Info I Learnt
• spectrophotometer: spettrofotometro, strumento usato nella
spettrofotometria, ovvero la scienza che designa lo studio degli
spettri elettromagnetici
• hanky-panky: qualcosa di losco, imbroglio
• boredom: noia
• niche: nicchia
• wire: fil di ferro
• to swap: fare scambio
• tit-for-tat: rendere pan per focaccia, occhio per occhio, dente
per dente