Topic 10 (session A) - Prose analysis > Bilgewater: Context and Cohesion > Task D > our answer

Bilgewater: Context and Cohesion

Task D - Our answer

Coherence

Many of the connections between sentences in this passage are implicit. Sentences are juxtaposed without explicit connections and we have to infer a coherence relation between them. Consider the second paragraph:

(5) The candidate sat opposite wondering what to do. (6) The chair had a soft seat but wooden arms. (7) She crossed her legs first one way and then the other - then wondered about crossing her legs at all. (8) She wondered whether to get up. (9) There was a cigarette box beside her. (10) She wondered whether she would be offered a cigarette. (11) There was a decanter of sherry on the bookcase.

We have to infer (S5/S6) that the candidate is sitting in the chair with a soft seat but wooden arms. We are not told. Similarly, to make sense of S7 we have to infer that the leg crossing and uncrossing is a physical consequence of the unease suggested in S5. The reference to the cigarette box in S9 can only be 'explained' if we infer that the candidate has just noticed it, and the same is true of the reference to the decanter of sherry in S11. We are told that the decanter of sherry is on the bookcase, but we are not given parallel information in relation to the cigarette case. Hence, when we picture the scene, we will have to infer a placement for the cigarette case which is schematically appropriate. It is more likely to be on a table next to the chair than on the floor, for example.

This frequency of implicit links and things we have to infer to make sense of the writing, help to create the effect of a mentally stressed, hyper-aware character who notices (aspects of) the things around her that impinge on her consciousness in a 'semi-random' way. This in turn helps to express the perceptual and attitudinal viewpoint of the candidate and leads the reader to sympathise with her and her predicament.

Cohesion

There are also examples of explicit cohesive ties as well, of course:

Logical/textual links

There are a few of these, mainly indicating shifts in time, place and attitude as we move from one interview to another, e.g.

(14) The first had been as she had expected . . .
(18) An hour later and then the second interview
(38) And now, here we are. (39) The third interview.

These explicit links in particular help us to avoid 'getting lost' as we read the passage and move continually from interview to interview and back again.

Lexical repetition

In the above extract 'legs' and 'cigarette' are repeated, and there are some other patterns of repetition (e.g. 'candidate' (S2, S5) and 'Principal' (S2, S3, S40). Some of the repetitions are very local indeed, though, for specific local effects, e.g.:

(68) But it is damp, old, cold, cold, cold. (69) Cold as home.

Here the repetition of 'cold' is clearly for foregrounding purposes, to indicate the antipathy of the candidate to her situation. Interestingly, the material in S69 could easily have been included as part of S68, through the use of a comma. The separation into another sentence clearly has to do with the change in attitude. 'Cold as home' suggests positive associations for 'cold', as we noticed in Task D on the Lexis page of this Topic. So here, the cohesive pattern of repetition is itself being used to induce the reader to infer something else - an attitudinal change - in order to make the passage coherent.

We have already explored semantic fields in Task B of the lexis page of this topic, so we won't do it again here. But it is worth noting that relating words together in semantic fields also involves a fair amount of implicit connections which the reader has to infer.

Elegant variation

There is also an interesting pattern of 'elegant variation' - that is, different lexical items referring to the same thing - in relation to the Principal:

(45) She is a mass. (46) Beneath the fuzz a mass. (47) A massive intelligence clicking and ticking away - observing, assessing, sifting, pigeonholing. (48) Not a feeling, not an emotion, not a dizzy thought. (49) A formidable woman.

The elegant variation here, like the repetition of 'cold' we have just referred to, is being used to induce the reader to infer changes in the candidate's perception of the Principal. 'Mass' relates to the candidate's physical perception of the Principal, and it also has potential negative connotations. 'Intelligence' on the other hand is an inference concerning the principal's cognitive abilities (and is more positive connotatively). And finally 'woman' helps us to see that candidate does also see the Principal as human too!

Note that apart from Miss Blenkinsop-Briggs and Miss Bex, the other characters are not referred to by name, helping us to infer that they are not important from the candidate's point of view. The fact that they are undifferentiated also helps to bring out the way in which the day of interviews passes in a bit of a blur for her. And this involves more inference on our part, of course.

Pronominal reference

The commonest cohesive tie in the passage is that related to pronominal reference. Most of this is pretty straightforward in terms of cohesion. But we should also notice that the pronouns referring to the candidate in the narration change as we go through the passage. In the first two paragraphs the candidate is referred to using 3rd-person reference ('she'/'her'). But in sentences 14 and 15 the second person 'you' is used. Then, in paragraph 4 sentence 33, after the extract of conversation from the second interview, the 1st-person pronoun 'I' begins to be used. So even the pronominal reference in the passage is not straightforward. We have to keep up with the changes as we read, and infer a motivation for the change. Effectively, the changes from 3rd-person narration through to 1st-person narration brings us ever closer to the character, helping us to sympathise with her more strongly as the passage progresses.

Overall

Overall, then, implicit connections are more salient than explicit cohesive ties, and the cohesive ties themselves are often used as a means to induce us to do even more inferential work. This inferencing is needed if we are to work out what is going on in the passage, and at the same time 'feel' the viewpoint of the candidate, and so sympathise more and more with her in her stressful interview situation, and understand better the complex reaction she has to that situation.

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