Chapter II.

Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices in Fifty Shades

Darker
2.1 Phono-graphical level

There are many literary devices, from allegory to allusion and imagery to
metaphor. The main reason literary devices are used is to connect with the reader.
When we read, we want to connect to the story in a way to better understand. To
truly enjoy what is written we need to become a character in the story. Readers
usually tend to look at the beauty of what you are putting into words and how
sophisticated and stylish it is. And literary devices help us to better see and feel the
storyline. Action, love, suspense, fear and hate are all present when literary devices
are used. These devices draw the reader in, paint a picture, heighten the senses, and
pull at us emotionally. A good storyline captures all of our senses in a way to take
us to the place, either mystical or historical, futuristic or present time that makes the
story relevant to the reader. This is why E L James has done everything possible to
garnish her work with numerous stylistic devices. Without it we may as well read
a math flash card.

Fifty Shades Darker is one more example of a rich writing style among
modern literature. The text of the novel includes a great variety of expressive
means and stylistic devices on every level of the language. This course paper
includes analysis of the most commonly used devices on phono-graphical,
morphological, lexical, syntactical and lexico-syntactical stylistic devices found in
the novel “Fifty Shades Darker”.

First of all, we will start with the phono-graphical level and its
representatives such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, capitalization, bold type, italics
and hyphenation which were found as the most commonly used in the text of the
novel. Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates,
resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. It seems to me that in this novel,
onomatopoeia is observed as the most frequently used among other stylistic devices.
E L James uses it if not on every then exactly on every second page.

The examples of indirect onomatopoeia:

"A chilling wail wakes him."[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 3]

"No, it doesn't. I groan in frustration, rolling my eyes heavenward, and Christian

narrow his eyes." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 13]

""Jose is just a friend," I murmur." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 19]

""I have to go," I mutter mulishly"[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 26]

""Wench?" I giggle"[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 71]

""Oh, Christian, please." I moan"[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 288]

The direct onomatopoeia more rarely used in the text but still I could find it
also quite often. Here are some examples:

"Oh, the backseat of the car...hmmmm." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 56]

"Whoaaa, what? He's not smiling - he's dead serious." [E L James, Fifty Shades
Darker, p. 429]

It is clear that the use of onomatopoeia gives a special atmosphere to the text.
This makes the descriptions livelier and more interesting, appealing directly to the
senses of the reader.

The next phonological stylistic device is alliteration. Alliteration has a very

vital role in poetry and prose. It creates a musical effect in the text that enhances the
pleasure of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and recitation of the poems
attractive and appealing. Furthermore, it renders flow and beauty to a piece of
writing.
Here some examples are given:

"Torturous memories flash through my mind - the gliding, holding hands, kissing,
the bathtub, his gentleness, his humor, and his dark, brooding, sexy stare." [E L
James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]

"That night in bed, I toss and turn, trying to sleep and it's the first time in a while i
haven't cried myself to sleep." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 11]

" He smells of linen, fabric softener, body wash, and my favorite smell - Christian.
For a moment, I allow myself the illusion that all will be well, and it soothes my
ravages soul." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 14]

"In the distance lies Bainbridge Island, and father still on this crystal-clear evening,
the setting sun sinks slowly, glowing blood and flame orange ..." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 425]

It was noticed that alliterative words are interrupted by other non-alliterative

words (especially in our novel) among them but the effect of alliteration remains the
same.

The author in her work also uses graphical means, such as capitalization,
italics, bold type and hyphenation. It is crucial to remember to capitalize the titles of
books, movies, TV shows, essays, and any other piece of work, literature, art, and
so on. But sometimes we use capitalization to highlight an important word, phrase
(as it is in most cases in out text) or even full sentence.

The examples of capitalization:

"WE SIT IN SILENCE as our driver takes us to the gallery. My anxiety..." [E L

James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 19]

"I WAKE, TOO WARM, and I'm wrapped around a naked Christian Grey."[E L
James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 86]
"CHRISTIAN OPENS MY DOOR, and I climb back into the passenger seat." [E
L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 206]

"ONCE AGAIN, WE WAIT for the elevator, my body thrumming with

anticipation."[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 439]

Capitalization is real goal is to point out and separate specific, individual

things from general things, which helps us identify them in a sentence. So, we use
capitalization to mark the beginning of a sentence and to identify all types of proper
nouns, names, and titles. But the author's intension of capitalization usage is a little
bit different in this text. By capitalizing and bolding words here, E L James shows
to us every time a new scene, a new place or a new episode of life of her characters.

Let's move to italics. Lynne Truss in her "The Zero Tolerance Approach to
Punctuation" warns readers that italics are "a confession of stylistic failure". It is
worth to argue here that in English italics have a communicative function that is
rather more complex and specific than Truss suggests: the typographical salience of
a word may signal its informational salience; in other words, italics, can be used to
reproduce in written form the focal stress that is conveyed prosodically in spoken
English. Because they take the place of the tonic accent, their effect is reminiscent
of spoken language and they are associated with a more informal and involved tone
of language.

Examples of italics in Fifty Shades Darker:

"Inside me? Inside me where? My heart lurches into my mouth." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 491]

"...and I think he's embarrassed. So he should be! my subconscious snarls." [E L

James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 503]

"...bitchy friend Lily, two women I don't recognize at all, and...oh no. My heart
sinks. That woman. . .Mrs. Robinson." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 515]
"It's just your imagination, my subconscious snaps. Who the hell would you want to
shoot you?" [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 264]

And now we can clearly see the aim of using italics in the novel. All the
story is narrated from the first person (Ana), but beside her, through the italics, we
can clearly read her inner world. We are aware not only about what Ana says and
does, but also what she thinks about. The question arises right away: What do we
need italics for, as her thoughts could be written also in usual type? And that is the
main. Without italics it would be difficult to distinguish the real acts of Ana and her
thoughts . The whole text would be monotonous if we don't take into consideration
dialogues.

In the text of Fifty Shades Darker we have also managed to find some
examples of hyphenation.

""In-ad-e-quate." She tests the word, sounding it out, seeing how it feels on
her tongue." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 311]

The main function of hyphens is to separate words into parts, or to combine

separate words into a single word to clarify meanings. Hyphens in the most cases
serve to remove ambiguities from sentences, but here it was used for reader to feel
the strained and somehow glooming atmosphere of the scene.

Generally speaking, graphical SDs serve to convey in the written form those
emotions, which is in the oral speech are expressed by intonation and stress. In
written form they are just shown mostly with the help of punctuation and deliberate
change of a spelling of a word . So, now we can clearly see, how important are
those SD, which from the first sight might seem totally useless.

2.2 Lexical Level

One of the most prominent characteristic feature of E L James' novel "Fifty

Shades Darker" in a wide circle of used stylistic devices on the lexical level such as
epithet, metaphor, personification, rhetorical question and many other means of
expressiveness. The possible explanation for their frequent appearance is the desire
of the author to make the described image more enigmatic, or bizarre, and thereby
introduce multiplicity into the story.

Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in songs or poems only, and

that it has nothing to do with our everyday life. In fact, all of us in our routine life
speak, write, and think in metaphors. We cannot avoid them. Metaphors are
sometimes constructed through our common language, and they are called
"conventional metaphors." Metaphorical text is meant to communicate complex
images and feelings to readers, as it was done by E L James in her novel. In most of
cases the author uses metaphors to show the feelings and emotions as close to us as
it possible.

"Tears swim in my eyes. I hastily leave my desk and bolt to the restroom to escape
into one of the stalls." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]

"He's pressing me to his chest. I melt." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 14]

"My voice wavers as I see the concert etched on his oh-so-familiar face, but I have
to hold myself together." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 21]

This is another example of a good metaphor where we can clearly feel

Anastasia's strained feeling.

"The blood drains from my face and bile rises in my throat." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 317]

E L James has beautifully used metaphors to describe different situation. Just

read the next phrase to see this metaphorical beauty.

"I don't think my heart could stand the strain of another e-mail like that, or..." [E
L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 365]
 Among all the text of the novel, there is a metaphor, that drove my attention
at once. It is such a crushing millstone has been tossed aside. Christian is a
beautiful, bizarre man, whom Ana once thought of as her romantic hero - strong,
solitary, and mysterious. Her heart swears with joy, but also pain for Gray's
sufferings. And Ana knows in this moment that her heart is big enough for both of
them. Her "hear is a whole world", which belongs to Christian. Ana hopes it is big
enough for both of them.

From the above explanations and examples, we can easily infer the function
of metaphors; both in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using appropriate
metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers, sharpening their
imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them. Moreover, it
gives a life-like quality to our conversations and the characters of any literary work.
Metaphors are also ways of thinking, offering the listeners and the readers fresh
ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities

between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with
the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

All bosses are dissatisfied when their employees are late at work or break the
rules. Naturally, Ana's boss is the same fussy person. When she is late, her boss is
"like an angry bear with a sore head and poisonous ivy in his ass." [E L James,
Fifty Shades Darker, p. 28] The comparison shows that workers should cherish their
work, or they will pay for it.

After a passionate night, Anastasia is tired, still reeling from all the
disclosures of yesterday, while "Christian is bright as a button." The comparison
shows that Christian is the most handsome and attractive man, whom all women
want to get.
 The next, not less important, stylistic device which I want to pay attention to
is metonymy. Metonymy is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing
with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. Here are
presented several examples of metonymy which we came across in Fifty Shades
Darker.

"He knows my shoe size; an e-mail address is hardly going to present him with
many problems." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]

Here the author, through the metonymy, says that for him it is not difficult to
find the e-mail and write a letter to Ana. Exactly, under the notion of an "e-mail" E
L James means "writing a letter".

"During our third beer, a large cruiser with heavily-tinted windows pulls up next to
the Audi in front of the apartment." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 314]

Metonymy based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and

contextual meanings, a relation based not on affinity, but on some kind of
association connecting the two concepts which these meanings represent on a
proximity. The proximity may be revealed between the symbol and the thing it
denoted, in the relations between the instrument and the action performed with this
instrument, in the relation between the container and the thing it contains, etc. In
this case under the notion of a "third beer" is meant the third glass of beer or the
third bottle of beer. Actually it wasn't mentioned exactly, was it the first or the
second one. So, E L James uses metonymy based on imaginary resemblance.

When Ana says that "she has a tiger by the tail", it means that she has
angered Christian, when her outfit did not impress him. Christian is going to be
mad, when Ana gets back.

Generally, metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism, meaning it

gives more profound meanings to otherwise common ideas and objects. Texts
exhibit deeper or hidden meanings, thus drawing readers’ attention. In addition, the
use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness. Furthermore, like other literary
devices, metonymy in "Fifty Shades Darker" is employed to add a poetic color to
phrases to make them come to life. The simple ordinary things are described in a
creative way to insert this “life” factor to literary works.

As it has been already mentioned, the lexical level is also presented by

personification in the novel. Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing –
an idea or an animal – is given human attributes. The non-human objects or some
objects deprived of life are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability
to act like human beings. 

"Ah... your twitchy palms can't stay still for long, cant they?" [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 364]

Here, twitchy palms are not considered to be as a usual part of human body
that are subordinate to it but rather as something, that is separated and self-
possessioned.

"My subconscious has her arms crossed and is wearing Burberry check. The
song finishes and Christian grins." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 420]

This example is better-directed. Here we can observe subconscious as

something endured with life.

Also, Leila's gun personifies a threat to Anastasia's life and even death.
Masks, which are worn by Christian, Ana and their guests during the party,
personify mysteriousness and secret.

Personification is not merely a decorative device, but serves the purpose of giving
deeper meanings to literary texts. It adds vividness to expressions, as we always
look at the world from a human perspective. Writers and poets rely on
personification to bring inanimate things to life, so that their nature and actions are
understood in a better way. Because it is easier for us to relate to something that is
human, or which possesses human traits, its use encourages us to develop a
perspective that is new as well as creative.

In E L James’ novel alongside with aforementioned, there are also other expressive
means and stylistic devices of the lexical level presented in the text. Among them
are epithet, zeugma, hyperbole and rhetorical question which are not so frequently
used in the text of the novel. Epithet is a descriptive literary device that describes a
place, a thing, or a person in such a way that it helps in making its characteristics
more prominent than they actually are. Every epithet of Erika Leonard reflects the
uniqueness of his perception of the world.

"I peek up at the beautiful man beside me, and his mouth is pressed into a hard
line." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 13]

A man is described here with an adjective, which is commonly used for describing
women. As a result, we can imagine a man with a traced women's features. The
writer describe her character more vividly, in order to give richer meanings to the
text. Since they are used as a literary tool, epithets help in making the description of
someone or something broader and hence easier to understand. With the help of
epithets, writers and poets develop suitable images in fewer words. 

Zeugma is a figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective,

applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically
different ideas.

"Seattle and my stomach drop away from us, and there's so much to see." [E L
James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 16]
 We can see that the phrasal verb “drop away” controls two objects (the city
and the body organ) that have different syntactic and semantic relations to it. Thus
the verb is used in its literal meaning with the first object and in figurative with the
second one. This literary device may create confusing or dangling sentences.
However, if used correctly, it adds flavor to literary texts as it helps produce a
dramatic effect, which could possibly be shocking in its result.

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the

sake of emphasis.

"I'm my usual pale self, dark circles around my too-large eyes." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 12]

Here the example of hyperbole is not so strong but still catches attention of
the reader. In our daily conversation, we use hyperbole to create an amusing effect,
or to emphasize our meaning. However, in literature it has very serious
implications. By using hyperbole, a writer or a poet makes common human feelings
remarkable and intense to such an extent that they do not remain ordinary.

A Rhetorical question is asked just for effect, or to lay emphasis on some

point being discussed, when no real answer is expected. A rhetorical question may
have an obvious answer, but the questioner asks it to lay emphasis to the point.

"Are you kidding me, Christian?! Perhaps you should visit a doctor." [E L James,
Fifty Shades Darker, p. 96]

"Can I see him again? Could I bear it? Do I want to see him?" [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 8]

At the moment of asking, Ana already knew the aswers. Yes, he was and yes, she
did. Writers employ rhetorical questions for rhetorical effects, and we cannot easily
quantify the impact rendered by a rhetorical question. The idea becomes all the
more powerful, and our interest is aroused to continue to read and enjoy the
technical and aesthetic beauty that a rhetorical question generates. Moreover, it is a
requirement in persuasive speeches.

Finally, after analysing lexical stylistic devices in E L James’ novel “Fifty

Shades Darker” we have come to conclusion that in the majority of cases they are
used to add vividness and conciseness to the text, catch attention of the reader and
make the process of reading more breath-keeping and gripping.

2.3 Syntactical Level

The stylistic analysis of the novel “Fifty Shades Darker” has shown that this
level is full of stylistic devices even more than the previous one. There are a lot of
different types of repetitions, aposiopesis, detachment and even more.

Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few
times to make an idea clearer and more memorable. There are several types of
repetition commonly used in both prose and poetry.

As a rhetorical device, it could be a word, a phrase, or a full sentence, or a poetical

line repeated to emphasize its significance in the entire text. Repetition is not
distinguished solely as a figure of speech, but more as a rhetorical device. Different
types of this stylistic device are frequently used in the novel as giving logical
emphasis to the utterance is really very important for the author. E L James uses
repetition with this aim in the following examples:

"Of course, I can afford a car - a nice, new car." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker,
p. 5]

"Perhaps - perhaps I can tell him I've changed my mind . . . No, no, no. I cannot..."
[E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]
"I cry to sleep at night, wishing I hadn't walked out, wishing that he could be
different, wishing that we were together." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]

""Alone. All alone," she murmurs." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 311]

""Oh. . .Ana, Ana, Ana," he breathes, his lips pressed against my hair." [E L James,
Fifty Shades Darker, p. 420]

"How do you know? How can you be so sure?" [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p.
330]

"He doesn't stop, just doesn't stop, and my body is climbing - higher, higher." [E
L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 78]

"And I try; I try to stay still despite the heady combination of cold and his
inflaming touch." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 78]

Such kinds of repetitions, when repeated words have fixed position in the
sentence, as anaphora, epiphora, etc., almost are not used in the novel. In most of
cases we can observe ordinary or successive repetition. It can be explained by the
fact that fixed repetition are mostly used in poetry. But still, there are some
exceptions:

Christian and Leila, Leila and Christian . . .together? What is he doing with her
now?" [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 315]

Examples of anadiplosis are also present in the text of the novel:

"His tongue circles my navel as his hands - and his thumbs . . . oh his thumbs -
reach the summit of my thighs." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 289]
 Beside an ordinary syntactical repetition, Erika Leonard James uses also a
metaphorical repetition which cannot be left without attention:

"He smiles and an unknown, unsettling emotion flits across his face, making me
uneasy." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 12]

By using refrain, writers can make their ideas memorable, and draw the
attention of readers toward a certain idea. This is done by using a single line
recurrently throughout a work, allowing readers to take a pause each time they
come upon such repetition.

Another stylistic device of the syntactical level which is frequently used in

the novel is Detachment – a stylistic device based on singling out a secondary
member of the sentence with the help of punctuation (intonation), placing one of
the secondary parts of a sentence by some specific consideration of the writer so
that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. In the novel,
detachment is very often combined with another SD, for instance with alliteration,
as in the following example:

"I can afford a car - a nice, new car." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 5]

"I miss him. I really miss him... I love him. Simple." [E L James, Fifty Shades
Darker, p. 8]

"No. Go. Now. Say good-bye." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 25]

"You. Are. Mine." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 27]

"Forget about her. Come." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 85]

"Roach. Grey. Hyde - I want him out. Now. This minute. Call Security." [E L
James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 372]
 This member is detached from the rest of the sentence by means of such
punctuation marks as commas, dashes or full stops. Being formally torn away from
the word it syntactically depends on this particular element is closely related to it
semantically. It is a stylistic device based on the author's desire to give a greater
significance to a secondary member of the sentence, usually an attribute or an
adverbial modifier.

One more significant stylistic device is aposiopesis. Aposiopesis is a

rhetorical device that can be defined as a figure of speech in which the speaker or
writer breaks off abruptly, and leaves the statement incomplete. It is as if the
speaker is not willing to state what is present in his mind, due to being overcome by
passion, excitement, or fear. In a piece of literature, it means to leave a sentence
unfinished, so that the reader can determine his own meanings.

"Then there is a pair of us - don't tell, they'd banish us, you know . . ." [E L James,
Fifty Shades Darker, p. 81]

"Oh dear . . ." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 421]

"Live here! In this beautiful haven! For the rest of my life . . ." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 425

""What?" I pant. "No . . . I . . ." [E L James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 440]

"He said that the first time he slept with me in my bed. Oh no . . ." [E L James, Fifty
Shades Darker, p. 420]

The purpose of using aposiopesis is to create dramatic or comic effect. The

writers or speakers use it whenever they want to express ideas that are too
overwhelming to finish. Several playwrights use this technique to make dialogues
seem sincere and realistic. But the most effective use of aposiopesis is seen when
readers successfully figure out the missing thoughts that the writer has left
unfinished.

Sometimes in the text we can also find parallel constructions. Parallelism is

the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in
their construction, sound, meaning, or meter. This method adds balance
and rhythm to sentences, giving ideas a smoother flow and thus persuasiveness,
because of the repetition it employs.

"Why hasn't Jose phoned? Come to think - why hasn't anyone phoned?" [E L
James, Fifty Shades Darker, p. 8]

The use of parallel structures in speech or writing allows speakers and writers
to maintain a consistency within their work, and create a balanced flow of ideas.
Moreover, it can be employed as a tool for persuasion.

On the whole, our thorough stylistic analysis of the syntactical level has
shown that the novel “Fifty Shades Darker” is rich in stylistic devices of this level.
Each of them plays an essential role and is inalienable as all together they contribute
to the author’s original writing style. Taking everything into consideration, we can
come to conclusion that all stylistic devices used by E L James in this novel are
equal in their contribution to creating a distinctive coloration of the novel, that has
made it so popular with readers around the world for so many years.