The extract under analysis is taken from R. Aldington's novel "Death of a Hero". This tiny part of his literary work is devoted to the young years of the main character, George Winterbourne. The author portrays him as a good-natured sensitive fellow with exquisite artistic taste. George is "crazy" about painting and his "unboyish" behaviour is not accepted by the society. Under its pressure the boy tries to behave "manly" and learns "to kill things". But once he kills a living being with his own hands. In order to escape the image of a dead bird which haunts him all the time Winterbourne plunges into painting deeper than ever leaving aside all the attempts to become "a thoroughly manly fellow".
The extract falls into 3 logically and emotionally completed parts.
The first one starts with the initial lines and ends: "...and learn to kill things?" We can entitle it in the following way: "An artist to the core". It is important to note that having no exposition the extract begins with the development. Thus the first logical part coincides with the first part of the development. The hero's nature is revealed in this part. He is an artist and perceives the world through the prism of his artistic taste. It is not by chance that here the verb "to look" is repeated four times. George has got a gift of observing the world and putting it down in "exciting patterns". He's got his own peculiar opinion and attitude towards the works of other masters which is expressed by the words naming emotions: "didn't much care for", "hated", "rather liked", "leaped at", "adored", "was quite feverish". Besides, a great amount of well-known names shows Winterbourne's education in the world of painting.
His passion for painting is revealed through enumeration of the things he spent all his pocket-money on: "paints and drawing-pencils and sketch-books and oil-sketching paper and water-colour blocks". Enumerating both the painting stuff and the artists' names the author resorts to polysyndeton as an effective means of enhancing the impression produced on the reader. Thus the syntactical structure helps to create the mood of enthusiastic admiration.
The final part of the first passage brings a marked change from the mood of delight and passion on the boy's part to that of anxiety and distrust on his mother's.
Now the author looks at George with the eyes of the surrounding society and describes his behaviour with the help of such epithets as "unboyish" and "unhealthy". Winterbourne's gift is considered to be nothing but a "silly craze for pictures". This "dangerous addiction" (metaphor) is sarcastically put in contrast with the so-called "manly" behaviour which means nothing but the ability "to kill things". The epithet "manly" is a piece of the author's bitter sarcasm clearly felt throughout the rest of the text.
The second part starts with the words: "So George had a gun licence..." and ends with the words: "...to make a man of George Winterbourne." It can be entitled in the following way: "The attempt to 'make a man' of George Winterbourne fails".
Unable to resist public opinion George gets a gun licence and learns to kill. Once he wounds a plover and has to wring its neck as he was told to. But having no such experience he only tortures the creature. Then he wrings too hard and the whole head comes off in his hand. Terribly shocked George returns home promising himself never to kill any more. Since then he plunges into painting deeper than ever trying to forget "the ghastly sight of the headless, bleeding bird's body".
The emotional quality of this part is quiet different from the previous one. Emotional words pervading the paragraph change their key: "a wail of despair, "infinite repugnance", "struggled and squawked", "the shock", "shuddering". It is unnatural for George to destroy the harmony he likes to observe. A metaphor "heaving little mass of feathers" shows that his heart is bleeding at the sight of the aimlessly hurt creature. The epithets: "infinite (repugnance)", "unspeakable (shock)", "wretched (body)", "ghastly (sight)" reveal George's abhorrence of the idea to become "a Man" through others' sufferings.
In this part the emphasis is laid on the effect of the transitory moment which coincides with the climax of the story and is concentrated in the sentence: "Never again, never, never again would he kill things." The adverb "never" is repeated thrice in one sentence to convey the depth of the hero's despair and sincerity of his promise. The impression is enhanced by inversion: "...never again would he kill".
The epithets of the final part of the passage "calm (trees and fields)", "tranquil (room)" are in sharp contrast with "the ghastly sight" that haunts and tortures George. This case of antithesis is aimed to explain the fact that after the accident Winterbourne "plunged more deeply into painting than ever". Painting turned out to be the only escape from his terrible recollections.
The third part of the story begins with the words: "The business of 'making a man' of him..." and ends: "...still less a Gentleman". We have entitled it: "The business of 'making a man ' of George is pursued at School".
The part is just "saturated" with the author's bitter sarcasm. His epithets are sarcastic when he mercilessly mocks at the "impressed" parents listening to the narrow-minded Head who promises to make "thoroughly manly fellows" out of their children.
In this part Aldington obviously steps in and expostulates. He is being ever more sarcastic showing obedient parents who "murmured polite approval" to the words of the Head whose behaviour is described with the help of a mocking epithet: "contemptuously and urbanely reassuring"
Almost the whole logical part coincides with the denouement of the story. The last two sentences present the burst of the author's indignation which is felt in every word. The outer form of the sentences is in sharp contrast with their meaning. The words "a Man" and "a Gentleman" are capitalized to emphasize the inner form of these concepts completely perverted by the society. This is the apogee of Aldington's sarcasm and the ending of the story.
The reader agrees with the author and shares his indignation. We never were able to understand the reason of people's desire to destroy every sign of individuality around them. Maybe they do it out of envy or they are simply afraid of something they have never come across. In any case they have no right to impose their opinion on others. How can the ability to kill aimlessly and mercilessly make a man of a boy? This idea is just crazy. It is even dangerous to teach boys to use their might against those who can't defend themselves. Isn't it better to help a gifted child perfect himself in his skill? We are not against physical training and even consider it necessary for children but there should be a balance between the physical and the spiritual. Otherwise we are sure to bring up cruel and hardhearted creatures.