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высшего образования Московской области

«Университет «Дубна»
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КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА

Тема:

Стилистический анализ фантастического романа «Мор, ученик

Смерти» Терри Пратчетта.
The stylistic analysis of the fantasy novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett

ФИО студента Балаян Анастасия Михайловна

Группа 3041 Направление 45.03.02 «Лингвистика»
Выпускающая кафедра лингвистики

Руководитель работы Волкова С.Б. /____________________/

Оценка __________________ /

г. Дубна, 2020
 CONTENTS
CONTENTS..............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................3
PART 1. METAPHOR AS A STYLISTIC DEVICE...............................................5
1.1. General notes on expressive means and stylistic devices.............................5
1.2. Metaphor as a characteristic of speech and writing....................................12
PART 2. THE USE OF METAPHORS AND RELATED STYLISTIC DEVICES
AS A CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF TERRY PRATCHETT’S PERSONAL
STYLE IN THE NOVEL “MORT”........................................................................17
2.1. The stylistic analysis of the novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett.......................17
2.2. The stylistic analysis of the image of Death as one of the central images in
the novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett....................................................................24
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................31
BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................32

2
 INTRODUCTION
Works of literature have always been a matter of interest for linguists,
philosophers, psychologists, sociologists. Since they possess a great potential to
influence our emotions and even the way we see the world, it is important to pay
special attention to how texts are composed and what makes them be such a
powerful means to excite readers’ imagination.
This course paper is devoted to the study of the personal style of a famous
English writer Terry Pratchett and the usage of metaphors and related stylistic
devices as a characteristic feature of his novels. The material that served as a
source of examples is the novel “Mort”, one of the Discworld novels, focusing
mainly on the character of Death. Belonging to the genre of fantasy, this novel is
wonderful representative of the author’s genius. It justifies the practical
importance of the present work, since this genre has an immense potential for
studying the peculiarities of a personal style of any author, thus contributing to the
whole study of the English language.
The subject matter of this work is the study of how peculiarities of stylistic
devices help Terry Pratchett create his own fantasy world, which fascinates the
loyal readers all over the world.
The main aim of this course paper is to study the nature of stylistic devices
employed by Terry Pratchett most frequently and to analyse their role in the
realization of the author’s purport. It presupposes setting and accomplishing the
following tasks:
 To study main approaches to stylistic devices and to underline their
important role in works of literature.
 To speak about the nature of metaphor, the approaches to it as a
language phenomenon and its role in works of literature.
 To single out related stylistic devices, which also contribute to the
better and dipper understanding of the author’s purport.

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  To carry out a lingua-stylistic analysis of the novel “Mort” by Terry
Pratchett, also employing elements of lingua-poetic analysis.
 To highlight the peculiarities of metaphors and related stylistic
devices the author resorts to.
In the present work the following methods have been employed: continuous
sampling method, descriptive method, methods of lingua-poetic and lingua-
stylistic analysis.

4
 PART 1. METAPHOR AS A STYLISTIC DEVICE
1.1. General notes on expressive means and stylistic devices
Before dealing with the main topic of the research, it would be reasonable to
define the basic notions first, to highlight their interrelations as well as to
determine possible difficulties.
According to I.V. Arnold, stylistics is a branch of linguistics, which studies
the principles and effect of the choice and usage of lexical, grammatical, phonetic
and other language means with the aim of rendering of thought and emotions under
different communication conditions [1, p. 13]. This definition illustrates the vital
role of different expressive means and stylistic devices in the process of
communication. With their help, one can intensify the expressiveness of the
utterance, create a certain tone, emphasize a particular idea, make a description
more vivid and figurative, etc.
It begs a question, however, of the differences between expressive means
and stylistic devices, since these notions are of practical importance for this work.
Professor I.R. Galperin suggests the following definitions, presenting the ideas in
demonstrative terms:
Expressive means are ".... phonetic, morphological, word-building, lexical,
phraseological and syntactical forms which exist in language-as-a-system for the
purpose of logical and/or emotional intensification of the utterance" [2, p. 27].
Stylistic devices is "... a conscious and intentional intensification of some
typical structural and/or semantic property of a language unit (neutral or
expressive) promoted to a generalized status and thus becoming a generative
model..." [2, p. 29-30].
From the suggested definitions, it becomes evident that both terms deal with
the expressiveness of an utterance and they are utilized on all levels of language to
make the speech more eloquent and colourful. The main difference between these
notions lies in the codification: if the former is registered in dictionaries, the latter
is an abstract pattern. Thus all stylistic devices (being a "generative model" [2, p.

5
30]) are expressive means and are considered to have been derived from them, but
not every expressive means can be considered a stylistic device.
There are different approaches to the question of the classification of
expressive means and stylistic devices, which were developed by linguists and
philologists. The first to propose such a system of classification was Aristotle, a
Greek philosopher and polymath. In his books "Rhetoric" and "Poetics”, he
divided language into two functional styles (literary and colloquial) and
discriminated between tree classes of stylistic means, basing them on: [4, p. 37-38]
 the choice of words, dealing with lexical expressive means and
metaphor;
 the choice of word combinations, which involved the order of words,
word combinations as well as rhythm and period;
 the choice of figures of speech, where he included antithesis,
assonance of colons and equality of colons;
According to Cicero, Greek poets considered all the changes of words to be
tropes and all the changes in the form of sentences and speech to be figures [5, p.
158]. This classification was further developed and made more detailed in ancient
Rome (the so-called Hellenistic Roman rhetoric system), where stylistic devices
and expressive mean were divided into three main groups [4, p. 39-45]:
 tropes (metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, epithet, antonomasia, etc.);
 rhythm (figures of speech: different kinds of repetition, polysyndeton,
zeugma, ellipsis, antithesis, etc.);
 types of speech (first attempts to discriminate between the functional
styles).
All the oncoming researches in one way or another used these principles in
their own classifications of expressive means and stylistic devices. Geoffrey Leech
was one of the first linguists to develop and renovate the ancient model.
As stated in his book “A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry”, “...poetic
language may violate or deviate from the generally observed rules...” [11, p. 5].

6
Poets and creative writers are free to choose different language units the way they
feel, not taking into account formal rules of their usage. Such a deviation can be
observed in any other branch of art. We appreciate how an abstract painting differs
from the reality it depicts or how musicians change established musical patterns in
order to create something astonishingly different. Thus, the main opposition
underlying G. Leech’s classification is that between a norm and a deviation. The
author used a notion of "foregrounding" for any deviation from the norm, thus
treating tropes as ‘’foregrounded irregularities of content’’ [11, p. 131]. There are
different kinds of foregrounding, depending on what is foregrounded. It can be a
certain regularity (e.g. parallelism, repetition) [11, p. 73]; a semantic oddity (e.g.
pleonasm, oxymoron, tautology, paradox, etc., where a linguistic unit is put “…
into a context which it does not fit”) [11, p. 132]; or a meaning, acquired in the
given context (e.g. metaphor, where a figurative meaning is derived from the literal
one [11, p. 151], hyperbole, litotes, irony, etc.). Notwithstanding all the advantages
of the system suggested by G. Leech, one cannot but agree that in this case the
division of different stylistic devices and expressive means into groups presents a
certain difficulty, since the boundaries between them are not clear-cut.
Another well-known approach was suggested by Professor I.R. Galperin.
His classification is detailed and level-oriented, i.e. he distinguished between three
main groups of expressive means and stylistic devices, which coincide with three
levels of language: phonetic, lexical and syntactical [2]. The former group includes
such means and devices as onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme and rhythm. The
latter two groups, being larger and including more means and devises, are further
subdivided into subgroups.
Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices comprise three groups,
depending on what they are based. The characteristic, which unites all the
subgroups here, is the fact that all of them deal with semantic structure of linguistic
units.
 the interaction of different types of lexical meaning

7
 o dictionary and contextual (e.g. metaphor, metonymy, irony);
o primary and derivative; logical and emotive (e.g. interjections,
epithets, oxymoron);
o logical and nominal (antonomasia).
 the intensification of a certain feature (e.g. simile, periphrasis,
hyperbole)
 peculiar use of set expressions (e.g. cliché, proverbs and sayings,
quotations )
Syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices are also subdivided into
smaller groups, depending on what they are based:
 “the juxtaposition of the parts” [4, p. 54], i.e. compositional patterns
of syntactic arrangement (e.g. stylistic inversion, parallel
constructions, climax);
 “the type of connection” [4, p. 54], i.e. particular ways of combining
parts of the utterance (asyndeton, polysyndeton, gap-sentence link);
 particular use of colloquial constructions (e.g. ellipsis, represented
speech, break-in-the-narrative);
 “transference of structural meaning” [4, p. 54], i.e. stylistic use of
structural meaning (rhetorical questions, litotes)
Such approach, though simple and convenient for use as it may seem, is still
considered rather controversial among linguists. For example, T.A. Znamenskaya
says, that it is questionable to put a subgroup of “peculiar use of set expressions”
into the group of lexical expressive means and stylistic device. It is also quite
unclear, why the subgroup of “the intensification of a certain feature” is restricted
only to simile, periphrasis, euphemism and hyperbole, because, judging by the
formulation of the name of it, such subgroup may as well include metaphor,
metonymy, epithet and some others [4, p. 57].
Y.M. Skrebnev invented another approach, which is also well-known and
accepted. In contrast to Galperin, Skrebnev firstly divided stylistics into
8
paradigmatic (“stylistics of units” [7, p. 32]) and syntagmatic (“stylistics of
sequences” [7, p. 32]) and then described expressive means and stylistic devices on
five different levels off language within each type of stylistics. Yet another striking
dissimilarity between these two approaches is that Skrebnev singles out
semasiology, as a separate level of language [7, p. 32].
1. Paradigmatic Stylistics (“stylistics of units”)
 Paradigmatic Phonetics depicts phonetic peculiarities of the oral
speech in a written text (e.g. italics, capitalization, repetition of
letters, onomatopoeia).
 Paradigmatic Morphology deals with the choice of a certain
grammatical form on the basis of a stylistic purport of the
author (e.g. the use of historical present).
 Paradigmatic Lexicology presupposes the use of different levels
of vocabulary for achieving certain stylistic effect: “positive
(elevated)”, “neutral”, “negative (degraded)” [7, p. 55]).
 Paradigmatic Syntax deals with different sentence paradigms (it
concerns completeness of sentence structure. It may be
expressed in:
o the completeness of sentence structure (e.g. ellipsis,
one-member nominative sentences);
o the changes in the word order (inversion);
o the choice of peculiar communicative types of
sentences (e.g. quasi-affirmative, quasi-interrogative);
o certain types of syntactic connection (e.g. detachment,
parenthesis).
 Paradigmatic Semaseology is concerned with tropes. Since they
have the ability to rename, they are called “figures of
replacement” [7, p. 102]. Paradigmatic semasiology “… pays
little or no attention to the differentiation of levels…”, because
9
 one and the same semantic phenomenon may be observed on
almost all levels of language (excluding phonemes) [7, p. 98-
99].
o figures of quantity (hyperbole, understatement, litotes);
o figures of quality (metonymy, synecdoche, paraphrase,
metaphor, epithet).
2. Syntagmatic Stylistics (“stylistics of sequences”)
 Syntagmatic Phonetics “... deals with prosody and interaction of
speech sounds in sequences” [7, p. 122] (e.g. alliteration,
assonance, paronomasia, rhythm, metre, rhyme).
 Syntagmatic Morphology is concerned with the stylistic value
of morphemes and morphological meanings (e.g. the use of
morphological synonyms of the genetive – the possessive case,
prepositional «of – phrase» and an attributive noun).
 Syntagmatic Lexicology studies the consequences of various
combinations of words with different stylistic connotation.
 Syntagmatic Syntax deals with “a chain of sentences, …
constituting a text” [7, p. 139] (e.g. parallelism, anaphora,
epiphora, framing, anadiplosis, chiasmus).
 Syntagmatic Semaseology is concerned with the stylistic effect,
created by the relationship of semantic units throughout the
text, thus they are called figures of co-occurrence.
o figures of identity (e.g. simile, synonymous
replacement);
o figures of inequality (e.g. clarifying synonyms, climax,
anti-climax, zeugma, pun);
o figures of contrast (e.g. oxymoron, antithesis).
Even a brief outline of each classification of expressive means and stylistic
devices shows the diversity of approaches to the same subject matter.
10
Notwithstanding their conspicuous advantages, none managed to acquire a status
of a universal model. What is important here is the fact that attempts to categorize
these phenomena made scholars study them in details, explore their nature and see
how they contribute to the better and dipper understanding of the author’s purport.

11
 1.2. Metaphor as a characteristic of speech and writing
“There is not perhaps any Figure of Speech so pleasing, as THE
METAPHOR” [11, p. V]. This is the very first sentence of the book “A Linguistic
Guide to English Poetry” by G. Leech, which is in fact a quotation of James Harris.
“METAPHOR IS VERY COMMON in English and other languages. … Many
familiar words and phrases have metaphorical meanings, although we do not
usually realize this when we use them” – is a quote by Dr. Rosamund Moon, which
is used as an epigraph for a special section of the Macmillan English Dictionary,
devoted to metaphors [12, p. LA4].
These quotations prove that metaphors are indeed of big importance both in
oral and written forms of language. They are an indispensable part of our life.
Nevertheless, very little of us try to understand its nature, since we take this
phenomenon for granted, not thinking about its complexity, value and power to
influence our minds.
It would be reasonable to start investigating this phenomenon with the
definition of the term, denoting it. The following one is offered by the Macmillan
English Dictionary: “Metaphor – LITERATURE a word or phrase that means one
thing and is used for referring to another thing in order to emphasize their similar
qualities” [12, p. 944]. Such a definition illustrates the main principle of this
phenomenon: a transfer of the name of one object to another on the basis of their
similarity, affinity, likeness.
For centuries philosophers, linguists and philologists have been studying
metaphor from different angles. Almost each of them tried to describe it from new
point of view, thus finding fresh and original approaches to the subject matter. It is
a direct proof of metaphor having a complex and complicated nature, as there are
so many different disciplines involved in the study of it (philology, linguistics,
psychology, philosophy, sociology). Since it is impossible to describe each
approach in details in one single work, it would be better to present a brief

12
summary of the most prominent ones, highlighting the main ideas and showing the
diversity of opinions.
Metaphor has been subjected to research from the ancient times. Aristotle,
for example, described it in a broad sense. He considered every kind of transfer (he
singled out four of them: “… either from genus to species, or from species to
genus, or from species to species, or by analogy…” [9, p. 77]) to be a metaphor,
including what we now call metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, stylistic comparison
and some others [6, p. 76]. A Roman rhetorician Quintilian, on the contrary,
discriminates between metaphor and metonymy and emphasizes, judging by the
examples he provides, that in the case of metaphor the transfer is based on
similarity of two things compared. What unites the approaches of Aristotle and
Quintilian is the fact that both of them described three main functions of metaphor
[6, p. 76]:
 nominative (when something, which did not exist before, is to be
named, quite often we turn to analogy and use the name of something
similar: “a leg of a table”);
 evaluative (metaphors help to express an attitude to what is being
said);
 aesthetic (metaphors are to make speech beautiful and pleasant to
hear).
The antique study of metaphors served as a foundation for future scholars,
who used the works of Greek and Roman rhetoricians to conduct an extensive and
more detailed research into its nature.
A notable linguist of the XX century, Professor I.R. Galperin in his book
“English Stylistic” suggested his view of the classification of expressive means
and stylistic devices and described the within his approach to the issue. According
to his approach metaphor is a lexical stylistic device, in which an interaction of
dictionary and contextual meanings takes place. He agrees with antique
philosophers that “language” is “a dictionary of faded metaphors” [2, p. 140].

13
However, he stresses the fact that metaphor in the nominative function is not a
pure stylistic device, since it does not produce any effect on the reader and it is not
the case of interaction of two meanings (the original meaning is hardly perceived).
Professor I.R. Galperin also suggests a semantic classification of metaphors (they
can be “trite” (commonly used in speech) and “genuine” (quite unexpected)). The
division is unstable though, as “genuine metaphors may, through frequent
repetition, become trite and … trite metaphors may regain their freshness through
the process of prolongation...” [2, p. 143]. A very important remark about trite
metaphors was made by Skrebnev Y. M., who himself analysed Phraseological
Dictionary by Koonin A.V. and calculated that 30% of set expressions of the
English language were metaphors [7, p. 113].
In the XX century, with the development of cognitive linguistics, which
presupposes that language represents our thoughts and feelings in a symbolic way,
new interpretations of metaphor arose. One of the most prominent works that
adopted this approach is “Metaphors We Live By” by George Lakoff and Mark
Johnson. Metaphor here is viewed as possessing not only stylistic value, but also a
power to influence the way we perceive the outer world. That is why here we talk
about conceptual metaphor, which “… plays a central role in defining our
everyday realities” [10, p. 3]. With the help of analyzing language data George
Lakoff and Mark Johnson managed to illustrate on classic examples that a
language is full of metaphors, which we quite often do not notice. For instance, the
conceptual metaphor “LOVE IS A PATIENT”, which is realized in particular
examples, shows one of the aspects of how we perceive the concept of “love”: love
sometimes makes a person endure pain, fever, agony. Metaphor from the point of
view of the cognitivists is interpreted as a means of exchanging information, the
way we perceive the world rather than a stylistic device meant to create an image
and it is one the most important functions of that phenomenon.
There exist other theories, which consider metaphor from different points of
view and highlight this or that function. However, the ones, which have been

14
described above, are of higher importance for this work and are going to be used as
a theoretical basis for the research.
Another significant theoretical aspect that worth discussing is the stylistic
devices, which are related to metaphor (allusion, personification, metaphorical
epithet, etc.). All of them are used to create a particular image in our mind. Since
their structure is based on metaphor, they are a bright and eye-catching way to
make the reader experience necessary emotions. Taking into account the fact that
all the above mentioned devices enhance the effect of metaphors in the work of
literature, it would be of use to describe their nature and relations to metaphor
before getting down to the analysis.
The most widely used device is a metaphorical epithet, which has an element
of comparison in its nature [8, p. 60]. If we consider an example “there were roses
flowering on her cheeks”, we deal with a pure metaphor. But if we look at the
phrase “she had rosy cheeks”, where the word “rosy” is used attributively, we deal
with a metaphorical epithet. In that case, a comparison can be perceived: her
cheeks grew pinkish like the colour of rose petals. It is not a pure metaphor and it
cannot have its full figurative power. Nevertheless, it creates a certain vivid image,
helping to draw a particular picture in the reader’s imagination [8, p. 60]. But it is
an honorable mention still that not all figurative epithets are based on metaphor, as
there are ones based on simile (“a sun-like smile” – it can be transformed into “a
smile like the sun”, which is a pure simile) and on metonymy (“a brave heart” –
heart is an indispensable part of human body, so the concept of “being brave” is
applied to the human being as a whole [3]).
The next stylistic device is an allusion. Allusion is “… an indirect reference,
by word or phrase, to a historical literary, mythological, biblical fact or to a fact of
everyday life…” [2, p. 187]. Looking at the structure of this stylistic device, it is
evident that the author uses a word or a phrase as a hint to a certain fact, and,
talking in stylistic terms, as a form for a new meaning. Thus, to illustrate this
stylistic device the following example can be used: “Don’t carry the world upon

15
your shoulders” (a line from the song “Hey Jude” by Beatles). It is a reference to
Atlas, a titan from Greek mythology, who had to actually carry the weight of the
world on his shoulders. It became a widely used English idiom. What makes
allusion a certain kind of metaphor is the fact that it also presupposes an implicit
comparison (the example provided shows that a person is compared to Atlas, who
has to overstrain his strengths) and that this comparison is realized through an
additional, non-literal meaning of the phrase. Allusion is a very powerful means to
express the idea with the minimum of words. Moreover, the usage of this device
evokes associations in the certain area of the reader’s mind, which put him or her
in a mood, desired by the author. It not only helps to convey the message, but also
creates an image and atmosphere.
A stylistic device close to an allusion is a quotation. Professor Galperin
defines it in the following way: “A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or
statement from a book, speech and like used by way of authority, illustration, proof
or as a basis for further speculation on the matter in hand” [2, p. 186]. Though
usually quotations stand out in the written text by means of inverted commas,
dashes or some graphical means, such as italics, it is not always the case. The
words which are quoted are seen as possessing two meanings simultaneously: the
one it had in the original context and the one imposed by new context. It helps to
convey and support the idea, expressed by the author.
The last stylistic devise to describe, which is in fact the closest to metaphor,
is personification. Professor Skrebnev Y. M. suggests the following definition of
the term: “personification is attributing human properties to lifeless objects –
mostly to abstract notions, such as thoughts, actions, emotions, seasons of the year,
etc.” [7, p. 116]. It would be better to start first with the example: “Because I could
not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me…” (a poem “Because I could not
stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson). The usage of personal pronoun “he” and the
capitalization of the word “Death” indicate the stylistic device of personification.
But looking closely, it becomes evident that it is also a kind of metaphor: death is

16
compared with a human being and the word “death” gains an additional meaning
of being someone, who is able to “stop”. Personification is a very powerful device,
which makes the description more figurative and dynamic.
1.3.

17
PART 2. THE USE OF METAPHORS AND RELATED STYLISTIC DEVICES
AS A CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF TERRY PRATCHETT’S PERSONAL
STYLE IN THE NOVEL “MORT”
2.1. The stylistic analysis of the novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett
Being one of the most famous British authors of today, Terry Pratchett
became the second best-selling writer in 2005 (outdone only by J.K. Rowling, who
herself admits that she was greatly influenced by his works). Terry wrote and
published his first serious novel “The Carpet People” when he was seventeen,
while being apprenticed to the editor of a local newspaper. This event brought him
hope for a future career as a fantasy writer. Indeed, he managed to become a
legend of fantasy genre and can be ranked alongside with such important authors
of today as J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling and George R.R. Martin. Terry had a
wonderful gift for turning ordinary everyday things into something, which
fascinates the readers. A very bright example is The Luggage (a large chest with
legs, its own character and the ability to follow its owner wherever they go), which
Terry created in his mind, when he saw a woman, trying to move her enormously
big suitcase. He sought for inspiration in the real world, that is why his novels are
so lively and close to the hearts of the readers. Terry Pratchett is a true master of
the word and each character, animate or inanimate, is full of life, action, passion.
Each character has a story to tell, that is the very thing that fascinates millions of
devoted fans of the Discworld all over the world.
The novel under analysis is a wonderful example of the belles-lettres style. It
is a part of the series of books about Discworld, so the plot takes place on the Disk,
a huge flat planet, resting upon the backs of four tremendous elephants, which in
turn are standing on the vast back of the Giant Star Turtle, Great A’Tuin. It is
obvious that the idea is based on an ancient legend about flat Earth, which might
have been developed by Terry due to his passion for mythology. “Mort” is the first
story fully devoted to Death of the Discworld, though it is important to mention
that Death appears in almost every novel in the series. One of the main characters,

18
Mort, is a young boy, whose parents are country people and who is to acquire
some profession. But his will to learn the nature of the universe, in combination
with awkwardness and clumsiness, makes his father think that he will be of no use
on a farm. And during the fair, where young boys are seeking apprenticeships,
Mort is chosen by Death himself. He is to take care of the dead, while Death is
having a little vacation, fishing, drinking alcohol, working as a cook. However,
Mort’s being a human with heart and soul made him contravene the rules: he saves
a young princess Kelly from death and kills her assassin instead, thus breaking up
the march of time.
Since Death is not the only interesting character of the novel, which can be a
demonstrative example of the sophisticated use of language by the author, it seems
reasonable and fair to look at other cases where stylistic devices (and metaphors in
particular) are employed for making the description bright and memorable.
One of the main heroes, Mort, has to cope with difficulties and find solutions
for serious problems. He is put in the circumstances, which demand his making a
stark choice: to follow his heart or to follow the rules. This constant pressure and
the weight of responsibility for the deceased make Mort’s character alter. Below
are the examples of these changes:
 He [Mort] was tall, red-haired and freckled, with the sort of body that
seems to be only marginally under its owner’s control; it appeared to
have been built out of knees [13, p. 12].
 For example, while he [Mort] still has plenty of knees and elbows
about his person, they seem to have migrated to their normal places
and he no longer moves as though his joints were loosely fastened
together with elastic bands. … In short, Mort no longer looks like
something the cat brought in and then brought up [13, p. 155].
 Mort’s eyes glowed like crucibles, his expression was a furnace, his
voice held enough heat to melt iron. [13, p. 168].

19
  She stared into the blue, pupil-less pools of his [Mort’s] eyes. It was
like looking down a rushing tunnel [13, p. 272].
At first, he is nothing more than a simple, clumsy boy, with his head
constantly in the clouds. His body is “built out of knees” – a metaphor, which is
strengthened by the hyperbole. A knee is a joint that helps one’s leg to bend and, in
the case of Mort, there are too many of them, so that his movements are awkward
and ungainly. It gives an ironic tone to the description of his appearance. But as he
continues working as an apprentice of Death, the readers notice the changes in his
personality, which though still have a touch of irony. Terry extends his metaphor
about knees, telling that at least now they are in the right place. It is interesting to
point out a stylistic device of zeugma here: “to bring in” is a verb with a
preposition, used in the literal meaning, whereas “to bring up” is a phrasal verb,
which means “to vomit”. Such a play upon words adds to the ironic attitude of the
author towards Mort. Having worked as death for a considerable period of time,
Mort becomes a strong man, whom even Terry begins to treat with a certain
respect and awe. A simile (“eyes glowed like crucibles”) and two metaphors (“his
expression was a furnace”; “his voice held enough heat to melt iron”) show the
power, growing inside him. These changes reach their peak, when Mort starts
talking in small capital letters and his eyes flash with blue light. His eyes become
depthless “pools”, “a rushing tunnel”. Here metaphors obviously lack any irony
and the readers realize that Mort has become a true Death.
Another important character of the novel is the daughter of Death, Ysabell.
Her real parents were killed and he brought her to his domain. But unfortunately
there is no such a phenomenon as time where Death lives. That is why Ysabell has
been sixteen for more than thirty years. Almost all the time she is alone and she
has nobody to bewail her fate. The only salvation is biographies of people, kept in
the library. But reading about how people live, love and hate cannot fill the hole in
her heart, she desperately wants to be a part of the world she no longer belongs to.

20
Death’s Domain, though big and spacious, is hollow for her. That is why Ysabell
knits and puts laces on every possible surface in her room to fill this emptiness.
 Mort looked around him. Ysabell was heavily into frills. Even the
dressing table seemed to be wearing a petticoat. The whole room
wasn’t so much furnished as lingeried [13, p. 201].
Metaphor “the room was lingeried” is interesting not only from the point of
meaning, but also from the point of view of the use of language, as there is no such
a verb “to lingerie”. This word is a nonce word, formed by means of verbification
of the noun “lingerie”.
And that is not the only example of a nonce word. The following quotation
describes the Disc itself. Metaphors “streamers of flame hung from the roof of the
world”, “curtains of octarine glow danced” are meant to evoke a more bright and
colourful image in the readers’ imagination. In comparison with the previous
example, this quotation sound rather triumphant and high-flown.
 Great silent streamers of blue and green flame hung from the roof of
the world. Curtains of octarine glow danced slowly and majestically
over the Disc as the fire of the Aurora Coriolis, the vast discharge of
magic from the Disc’s standing field, earthed itself in the green ice
mountains of the Hub [13, p. 99].
Disc is the place where magic exists and to make this magic different from
any of those described by other fantasy writers, Terry invents a word, denoting the
colour of magic – “octarine”, which is also the eighth colour of rainbow, visible
only to wizards and cats. Looking at the derivation pattern of this word, it becomes
evident that one part of the root is derived from the Latin word “octo” (other
examples with similar derivation pattern: “octopus”, “octane”, “octosyllable”),
meaning “eight”. The other part of the word “octarine” is similar to that of many
names of colours, such as “carmine”, “aquamarine” and “citrine”. It is also
interesting to mention here that almost every time talking about wizards Terry
turns to the number “eight”, here it becomes a symbol of magic.

21
 Terry’s vivid imagination also spawned another nonce word combination
from the above-mentioned example – “Aurora Coriolis”. Here it means great
cyclones of magic. The first word was taken from the name of a natural
phenomenon “Aurora Borealis”, or “The Northern Lights”, because the colour of
magic to a certain degree resembles the colours of the Northern Lights (fluorescent
greenish yellow-purple). The second part, “Coriolis”, is a reference to the Coriolis
force, which exists in our world and due to which we have cyclones.
As mentioned in the previous section, personification is a bright and
expressive type of metaphor. This novel abounds in various personifications, and
these are interesting examples:
 He’d never plucked up the courage to try Albert’s porridge, which led
a private life of its own in the depths of its saucepan and ate spoons
[13, p. 115].
 There was … a stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling. A stuffed
alligator is absolutely standard equipment in any properly-run
magical establishment. This one looked as though it hadn’t enjoyed it
much [13, p. 85].
 … the books slept. But Mort felt that they slept like cats, with one eye
open. They were aware … Mort could feel the books watching them …
They didn’t exactly resent him, they were just wondering about why
he was here [13, p. 204-205].
In all three of them personification as a stylistic device is used to make the
description more dynamic, vibrant: porridge eats spoons, books are sleeping like
cats, and alligator has his own opinion about his role as a piece of equipment. It
feels as if they are living their own personal life, each speck of dust and each fish
in the pond has an opinion and feelings. This is a characteristic feature of Terry’s
personal style – to breathe a new life into ordinary objects.
Another stylistic device, without which the image of Terry’s style would not
be complete, is allusion. All his books from the Discworld series somehow reflect

22
our real world, and “Mort” is not an exception. Quite often, the author turns to
allusion to provide a ground for a joke. The following quotation is a wonderful
example of it:
 … and the princesses were beautiful as the day is long and so noble
they, they could pee through a dozen mattresses — [13, p. 116].
It is obvious that, firstly, Albert mixed words “pee” and “pea”, as they are
homophones (a stylistic device of homophonic pun). Terry here alludes to a fairy-
tale “The Princess and the Pea”, where a princess was to pass a test to prove her
nobility: she did not manage to fall asleep because one single pea had been put
under a dozen of matrasses. Apparently Albert forgot some details about this tale.
Sometimes Terry uses allusions to laugh at people’s flaws.
 [Kelly] “I shall die nobly, like Queen Ezeriel.”
[Cutwell] “She lived in Klatch and she had a lot of lovers and she sat
on a snake,” said Cutwell, who was winding up the crossbow.
[Kelly] “She meant to! She was crossed in love!”
[Cutwell] “All I can remember was that she used to take baths in
asses’ milk. Funny thing, history,” said Cutwell reflectively. “You
become a queen, reign for thirty years, make laws, declare war on
people and then the only thing you get remembered for is that you
smelled like yogurt and were bitten in the —” [13, p. 188-189].
In this example, Terry presupposes that the readers know Cleopatra, a great
ruler of ancient Egypt and her story of suicide, and Queen Ezeriel of the Discworld
is Cleopatra of our world. The author is being ironical about most people’s
ignorance, as indeed very little of us go into details about her period of reign, her
accomplishments and failures. Many people live, being content with most common
stereotypes, shown in mass-market films (for example, “Asterix & Obelix: Mission
Cleopatra”).
As a conclusion of this part, it is important to summarize the results of the
analysis, bringing out the most characteristic traits of Terry Pratchett’s individual

23
style. Having chosen the genre of fantasy literature, Terry wanted to create
something, which would be completely different from everything written before.
He used this genre to talk about real world and real problems. His works abound in
various stylistic devices. In the novel “Mort” metaphors play a very important role
in depicting not only characters, but also to create the settings. They are used in
combination with various stylistic devices, which emphasize a certain tone:
triumphant, ironic, humorous, and sympathetic. They evoke a whole range of
emotions and convey important ideas. One of the ideas of the novel under analysis
is connected with the concept of death, the way people perceive this phenomenon.
Terry has his own point of view on the question, which he describes through the
nature of the most beloved characters of the whole series of books – Death. The
following part is devoted to the analysis of Death as a character, built on
metaphors and related stylistic devices, employed by the author.

24
2.2. The stylistic analysis of the image of Death as one of the central images in the
novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett
Our world is changing at a fast pace, almost every day humanity makes
important discoveries. The only thing which we might never be able to know is
what happens with us at the end. What will it be like? Will it be hell or heaven or
an eternal darkness? That is why the question of death as a phenomenon, and
especially what happens after, has always been a subject for prolonged discussions.
Since we cannot make an experiment, we can only guess and try to imagine the so-
called “afterlife”. Many filmmakers, writers, poets, painters and musicians of all
times have been giving reign to their imagination to express their attitude to death.
Talking about literature there are innumerable examples of pondering upon life and
death. What matters here is the stylistic devices the authors resort to, as it is a
powerful means to convey the idea and to create a memorable image. The topic of
the present work is devoted to the image of Death as a character in the novel
“Mort” by Terry Pratchett, which illustrates a philosophical view of the afterlife.
Since the further analysis will be concentrated on the character of Death, it
would be reasonable to make a few important remarks first. According to Terry,
Death exists in the Discworld because people imagine that there must be someone
who will help them when they die. Thus, to be able to perform this duty, Death is
created to be an “anthropomorphic personification” [13, p. 216]”, which
presupposes a gender, and such attributes as voice and personality. As for gender,
Death is a male creature and Terry shows it by using pronouns “he”, “his”, “him”
when referring to this character. Talking about voice, the author used an unusual
approach. Since one cannot talk about vocal cords in the case of a skeleton, Death
cannot produce any audible sound but for the clatter of bones. To solve this
problem Terry found an interesting way out: all the lines of Death are written in
small capital letters and are devoid of quotation marks. His words get into the “…
head without bothering to pass through … ears” [13, p. 21]. The last point to
mention here is his personality, which is unique and certainly charming. No

25
wonder he is one of the most beloved characters of the Discworld universe. Death
of the Discworld is the first personification of death in literature, which would be
so charismatic and so detailed. Terry’s attitude towards Death as a character and
death as a phenomenon of life is fully revealed in the language he uses, which in
turn has a powerful influence on the readers.
When analyzing a character it is better to start with the appearance. Death is
a black-robed skeleton of big height, riding a white steed and wearing a scythe and
a sword. One might think he is an ordinary personification of death, which can be
found almost everywhere, as the above mentioned attributes are ascribed to almost
each one, either written or drawn. However, when Terry starts speaking about his
eyes, adding more life to this character, it becomes evident that there is something
that stands behind this scary look:
 … a small blue supernova flared for a moment in the depths of his
eyesockets. It dawned on Mort that, with some embarrassment and
complete lack of expertise, Death was trying to wink [13, p. 49].
 Deep within them, as though they were windows looking across the
gulfs of space, were two tiny blue stars [13, p. 21].
 Death gave him another of his supernova winks [13, p. 140].
Terry here compares Death’s hollow eyesockets with endless space, where
stars are the only sources of light. According to Macmillan Dictionary, “supernova
– an exploding star that produces an extremely bright light” [12, p. 1503]. The
light in Death’s eyesockets is compared here with that of an exploding star in
space. It might be a hint to the endless and timeless world, into which the soul gets
after death. Death himself serves to be a guiding light, an escort, who is
responsible for taking care of the deceased, providing them with what they
imagined to get. This is conveyed with the help of an extended metaphor, which
here creates a picturesque image. Quite often authors turn to the description of
eyes, when they want to express something implicitly. The above mentioned
examples carry within themselves only a small hint to the real nature of Death.

26
 Developing the idea of Death being a psychopomp rather than a murderer,
Terry reveals that Death knows compassion:
 [Death] BUT YOU MUST LEARN THE COMPASSION PROPER TO YOUR TRADE.
[Mort] “What’s that?”
[Death] A SHARP EDGE [13, p. 65].
Metaphor (“compassion is a sharp edge”) is realized in the word
combination “sharp edge”, which here means the blade of Death’s scythe. It is
obvious that the finer the blade is, the clearer the cut will be. Indeed, the edge of
the scythe is “… so thin that Mort could see through it, a pale blue shimmer in the
air that could slice flame and chop sound” [13, p. 52]. Terry wants to say that,
although Death has to do his job, he wishes to do it in the most merciful way,
causing no pain to the deceased when their souls are separated from the body.
Terry reveals a more surprising character trait of Death with the help of a
quotation, which has an allusive character. Death, strolling along the shelves with
lifetimers (hourglasses – one for every person on the Disc – which show how many
days are gone and how many of them are left), notices that the sand in young
princess Kelly’s one has almost moved to the bottom part, which means that her
life is coming to an end. All of a sudden, Death says: “TIME LIKE AN EVER-

ROLLING STREAM BEARS ALL ITS…” [13, p. 76]. Here Death quotes a poem “Our
God, Our Help” by Isaac Watts, an English hymn righter and theologian. This
poem is telling the readers that everything in the world is mortal and everything
will eventually die forgotten. The only immortal power is God, who is our guard
and savior. Death of the Discworld quotes a line from this poem, as if feeling sorry
for this young princess Kelly. With the help of this quote, Terry opens up another
character trait of Death – his ability to be sorry, to sympathize with the
bereavement of the deceased. He understands how sorrowful this moment is, how
desperately people do not want to end their life. Death almost wishes he could help
and save her, but her time has come. The reader later will see that Mort,
performing Death’s duties, saves Kelly’s life, thus creating a hole in the history.

27
When the Universe mends itself and Mort hides Kelly in the gap between
dimensions, in Death’s house, Death realizes a dreadful mistake his apprentice has
made. In their duel, when the future life of Kelly is at stake, Death lets Mort win,
thus saving Kelly.
It is a rather revolutionary idea, as in most works of fiction death, if
personified, lacks any compassion at all. Quite the opposite, he is represented as a
pure evil. Though he does not kill, he reaps the souls and has no mercy. A very
demonstrative example can be found in an old proverb: “Death devours lambs as
well as sheep”. Metaphor here is obvious, as “lamb – a young sheep” [12, p. 841],
meaning children. Death appears here as a grim creature, for whom there is no
reason not to perform his duties and who does not seem to be much bothered by
that.
Another important detail about Death of the Discworld as a person is that he
feels lonely. One can hardly imagine any author treating a personification of death
that way. The following examples will illustrate Terry’s sympathy towards this
character.
 [when the last living creature died] it would then be his job, figuratively
speaking, to put the chairs on the tables and turn all the lights off [13, p.
279].
 In the great party of Creation, he was always in the kitchen [13, p. 223].
Terry here compares life with a party and Death is the one who makes sure it
goes on (“he is in the kitchen”). He takes care of the dead, so that the balance of
life and death is kept. This very duty involves being lonely, since nobody wants to
die. There is hardly anyone willing to have a cup of tea with him, tell him a story,
or invite him to his or her place one more time. Death exists there for every living
being to help them end their journey, and when the very last one dies, he will mark
the end of the “party” and “put the chairs on the tables and turn all the lights off”.
No author before Terry has ever looked at death from that point of view. This
metaphor shows Death as “the loneliest creature in the universe” [13, p. 223].

28
 The loneliness is also read between the lines when it comes to the
description of the house, where he lives, the so-called Death’s Domain. With the
help of different stylistic devices, the author creates a vivid image:
 …it was large, larger than the entire house back home … The carpet
under his feet was deep enough to hide a tribe of pygmies … And
everything had been designed in shades of purple and black [13, p. 37].
 the heavy oak door [13, p. 37].
 … bare wooden corridor outside, with big yellow candles … [13, p. 37].
 There was a kitchen on the other side of the door — long … with … a
vast black iron stove occupying the whole of one long wall [13, p. 39].
 … a vast leather book almost bigger than the desk itself [13, p. 42].
Death lives somewhere between dimensions, which is not a real material
world made by Creator. Death tried to make his domain look like those of humans
of the Disc, but he cannot create anything new, only a copy of something that he
saw. Describing Death’s Domain, Terry uses numerous epithets, which have a
semantic component “big in size” (“large”, “important”, “long”, “big”, “vast”). It
creates an image of an enormous old mansion, where Death, as if belonging to the
aristocracy, passes his free time. It is important, however, to look deeper into the
issue, since many authors use the description of their characters’ houses to bring
out some important details (a psychological function of the interior). This seeming
importance of the house lacks coziness, warmth, completion. It might be a hint to
the endlessness and infinity of the afterlife. But it might also be a reflection of
Death’s emotional state: he, though being tall, important, impressive, feels empty
and hollow inside. That is why he decides to fill it up with acting like a human (he
goes to the human world and occupy himself with going to parties, drinking
alcohol, cooking, finding a job, etc.).
Another important characteristic of Death’s Domain is the fact that almost
everything here is black. It was mentioned in the remarks that people themselves
create the image of Death, thus Death of the Discworld lives in a gloomy mansion,

29
under pale, “gloomy” Sun and “sullen” sky, surrounded by black colour and
numerous drapes. It is people who predetermined the way he and his house would
look like.
 Death’s garden was big, neat and well-tended. It was also very, very
black. The grass was black. The flowers were black. Black apples
gleamed among the black leaves of a black apple tree. Even the air
looked inky.
… That’s to say, not simply very dark tones of red and green and
whatever, but real shades of black. A whole spectrum of colours, all
different and all—well, black [13, p. 46].
 The gloomy sun of Death’s world rolled regularly across the sky… [13, p.
66]
 The sky simply changed from ice blue to sullen grey… [13, p. 112]
The repetition of the word “black” in the given examples makes the image
more vivid. It is obvious that the colour was chosen not by chance. The afterlife,
death, funerals are strongly associated in our mind with black colour, and people
living on the Disc are not unlike people of the real world. Death seems to lack any
choice, as it was predermined by people that his imagination cannot go further than
black colour. The description of him given by himself only proves the point that he
does not have his personal opinion. It is the summery of the way people has always
described him:
 I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I
WAS THE ULTIMATE REALITY. I WAS THE ASSASSIN AGAINST WHOM NO LOCK

WOULD HOLD [13, p. 214].

It is interesting to analyse metaphors in this example, because they contain
the collective image of death being omnipresent, sinister, dreadful and inevitable.
“Death is the grave of all hope”, meaning that death marks the end, there will be no
feelings, no thoughts, no hope. One cannot hope for the better, as someday time
will come and the soul will be reaped. “Death is the ultimate reality” is a more

30
complicated metaphor, as it requires some background knowledge. According to
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Ultimate reality – something that is the supreme,
final, and fundamental power in all reality” […]. It is the nature of everything in
reality, the purpose and the reason, the principal that governs the universe.
Paradoxically enough death is the nature of life, as life would not be that
meaningful if it would last forever. The last metaphor is “Death is the assassin
against whom no lock would hold”. Death here is represented as something
inevitable, as one cannot hide from it, cannot protect anyone from it. These
metaphors once again display the way people imagine death, making the picture
more bright with the help of stylistic devices.
Summarizing the analysis of Death as a character of the novel “Mort” by
Terry Pratchett, it is important to underline first that he is not devoid of the
prejudices of people. Death is a black-robed skeleton with a scythe, who reaps the
souls of the deceased. He lives in a black mansion, where everything is gloomy
and dark. He is someone who will eventually end everybody’s life and there is no
escape. But along with that Death of the Discworld knows compassion, he cares
about the dead and tries to do everything possible to help them cope with their
tragedy. He is awkward, as he is not a real human, and some sides of life remain
vague to him. Still, he is doing his best to understand people. Unfortunately,
nobody seems to be trying to understand him. Only feeling the pressure of the
duties he has, Mort understands how hard it is to be Death, how lonely and how
remarkably important he is. Death is a guide in the afterlife, who shows people
who they really are and what choices are left for them. This image is created with
the help of numerous stylistic devices, which in their turn are parts of a huge
puzzle. All of them were utilized by the author to make Death more real, dynamic,
touching, and this purport was achieved. Terry makes the readers look on the fact
of dying from a completely different point of view, which lacks any fear. Instead
of living in the constant dread of death, we should value our life, be kinder to

31
people surrounding us and then, at the end of the journey, meet death as a friend
and not as an assassin.

CONCLUSION
Expressive means and stylistic devices are of great importance when it
comes to rendering thoughts and emotions in a work of literature. With their help,
the author can perform several tasks: set the reader in a desired mood, create a
necessary atmosphere, bring out a particular trait of character or a detail of the
interior. One of the most powerful means to bring the author’s ideas to life – is
metaphor. The study of metaphors was established in antiquity and since then
many approaches have been developed. However, metaphor is a complicated
phenomenon, it reveals the way we perceive the concept of our life and, according
to some theories, it forms them. That is why research into its nature is still of
current interest, especially with new genres of literature emerging and developing.
With the help of lingua stylistic analysis and elements of lingua poetic
analysis, metaphors and related stylistic devices have been singled out and
examined from the point of view of their contribution to the main ideas of the
novel “Mort” by Terry Pratchett. Numerous metaphors, epithets, allusions justify
the author’s creativeness and novelty when working with language. Metaphors, the
vast majority of which are genuine, serve as a proof of his sharp sense of humour
and fascinating sensibility to the stylistic potential of the English Language. Every
stylistic device implicitly draws a picture in the reader’s subconscious. Terry
expressed daring ideas within the frames of the fantasy genre, making his novel
alive and dynamic.
The result of the work showed that Terry is very creative in his approach to
the characters. Stylistic devices help him show how they evolve, make mistakes,
cope with problems, love. The author discussed various serious topics (such as the
heavy weight of responsibilities, the importance of compassion and empathy, the
concept of death, the power of true love, etc.) with humour and a hint of irony,

32
which gives the readers a lot to think about. His language sparkles with humour
and abounds in different stylistic devices. The study of his works shows the
modern state of the English language, its beauty and grace.

33
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