comment on language and meaning

Language is used in several very effective ways throughout the narrative. To begin with, there are times in which its intent is quite clear - the language used to portray the differences between England and Italy, for example, is exceptionally direct in establishing its metaphors and implications. For most of the narrative, however, language is more gently and more subtly evocative, making its points about the nature of the characters and their feelings in terms that suggest, rather than proclaim outright, their emotional and/or spiritual states of being. The quote from p. 139, for example which is a comment on Mrs. Fisher's reactions to the "who is going to sleep where" debate in Chapter 12, clearly indicates just how uptight and rigid she is without actually coming out and saying so. There are also moments of intense, breathless, passionate poetry and moments of gentle satire, in which the narrative comments on a general subject by making a particular sharply observed point and moments of clear and wise questions and insight.