comment on style language

Language used in the book, with the majority provided in the first-person, is that of an upper-class member of the United Kingdom around the turn of the 20th century. Vocabulary is advanced, tone is intimate but polite, and sentence structure is measured and elegant. These traits aid in the characterization of Richard Hannay as a man "cool under pressure," and possessive of the famous British "stiff upper lip." Though Hannay is close to death at several points in the narrative, with sometimes severe physical conditions and injuries, the book's first-person language never loses this particularly British brand of sardonic, clipped, and frequently witty prose. For example, when Hannay meets Scudder and Scudder confesses that "I am a dead man," Hannay responds with, "How does it feel?" adding humor and wit to a situation of otherwise deadly seriousness.