The Participle Constructions, their place and usage in the novel by Ray Bradbury “Fahrenheit 451”»

This scene may be one of the most important ones. Montag returns home after meeting with Clarisse who asked him whether he was happy. And this question changes everything. All items inside his house, the atmosphere, - it all starts to look like a big mistake, including Guy’s wife. And even without turning on the light he can already imagine what Mildred looks like. In his eyes she resembles a puppet, that doesn’t have any feelings and emotions – there’s nothing alive about her and now Montag realizes it.10. “Her face was like a snow-covered island upon which rain might fall”“Snow-covered” is an example of a participle that was turned into a compound adjective. It can be remade to “covered in snow”. In this scene Montag came home and saw his wife, Mildred, barely alive, who took all sleeping pills. And this was what she looked like at that moment.11. “As he stood there the sky over the house screamed”Verb in a past indefinite tense, circumstance of an accompanying action. Montag returns home and finds an empty bottle of sleeping-tablets. But what’s worth noting is that Montag expected that to happen. As if his intuition and senses have become heightened after his conversation with Clarisse. Guy’s emotions are conveyed through nature, which is a very common way of portraying character’s condition.12. “Two moonstones looked up at him in the light of his small hand-held fire; two pale moonstones buried in a creek of clear water over which the life of the world ran, not touching them”“Hand-held” - a participle that was turned into a compound adjective.This how the igniter id described. “Buried” - Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb.“Not touching” - Present Active I, non-perfect, circumstance of a mode of action.This is how Montag found Mildred, who overdosed with sleeping pills. Her eyes are compared to moonstones, which light almost went out. But author shows readers that there was still hope and it was possible to bring Mildred back to life.13. “In the late afternoon it rained and the entire world was dark grey. He stood in the hall of his house, putting on his badge with the orange salamander burning across it”“Putting” is an example of transitive, non-perfect Participle I, which is used as a circumstance of a mode of an action.“Burning” is Present Active, function of definition, non-perfect.Yet again, Bradbury tells us about character’s emotions via nature. This scene takes place after Mildred’s suicide attempt. Everything Montag has ever known, his mindset – it all is experiencing downfall and now his wife. And the badge with orange salamander that Guy is putting on looks like the first step of burning the life he has had all these years.14. “She was up in the bathroom now, and he heard the water running, and the swallowing sound she made” Non-perfect, Active present Participle I, circumstance of the cause. Mildred and Montag were trying to recall the moment they met – and suddenly both realized that none of them remembers that. Mildred stated that it wasn’t really important, and without any attempts of recalling she went straight to the bathroom, thus showing Montag that their marriage and their relationship made no sense to her. 15. “She was only standing, weaving from side to side, her eyes fixed upon the nothingness in the wall as if they had struck her a terrible blow upon the head”“Weaving” - Non-perfect, Active present Participle I, circumstance of accompanying action. “Fixed upon” - Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb, transitive.A woman was reported to be hiding books, so firefighters crashed into her house, but she wasn’t trying to run away. Instead, she realized that there was nothing else she could do– the thing she loved with her whole heart was about to burn to ashes. She has accepted her destiny.16. “The books lay like great mounds of fishes left to dry”Past Passive II, non-standard, function of definition, intransitive. The firefighters threw all books out from the shelves and this episode makes readers feel sympathy to books even more by making them alive. They are compared to fish, which is a food to many other animals and humans as well. If it disappears, there will be catastrophic consequences, no food will be left for many breeds. So books are like food to humankind, their brain. And without them people will eventually degrade and thus die.17. “He could feel the poison working up his wrists and into his elbows and shoulders…”Non-perfect, Active present Participle I, transitive, simultaneity of the actions expressed by the participle and the predicate.This is what it felt like when Montag stole the book from the house the firefighters were burning. What he was doing was a crime and he was aware of that. It was intoxicating, but he was more ready than ever to risk it all, though his fear was enormous.18. “And if kept his eye peeled quickly he would see himself, an instant before oblivion, being punctured for the benefit of how many civilian parlour-sitters…”“Peeled” -Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb, intransitive, determined by an adverb. “Being punctured” - Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb, transitive, followed by a direct object. Montag managed to escape, however he was almost killed by the Hound and all these things were recorded and showed on the TV. And he thinks: what would it be like to be killed in front of all these people? Would his death mean something to other people?19. “When it was all over he felt like a man who had been thrown from a cliff, whirled in a centrifuge and spat out over a waterfall that fell and fell into the emptiness and emptiness…”“Whirled” - Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb, intransitive. “Spat out over” - Participle of definition, Past Passive II, standard verb, transitive, followed by a direct object. Here comes the scene of Mildred talking to her “family”. Montag hated everything related to it to his core. The loudness, meaningless conversations, gossips – Montag wanted Mildred to abandon them and instead be with him and have human-like talks. But the more his wife spent time with the “family”, the more it felt like as if it would never end, everything looked absolutely hopeless.20. “He came out of the room sweating and on the point of collapse”Intransitive, non-perfect Participle I, a circumstance of a mode of an action.These were Guy’s feelings after spending some time around Mildred’s family. “Something had happened” – writes Bradbury, thus emphasizing how disgusted and fed up with everything Montag was. It resembled a torture. The emptiness around him, silly conversations were driving Guy insane. And that was one of that moments when he realized that he had to run away.21. “And then he shut up, for he remembered last week and the two white stones staring up at the ceiling…and the two soap-faced men with the cigarettes moving in their mouths when they talked”“Staring up” –intransitive,Present Active I, non-perfect, function of definition. “Moving” – Non-perfect, Active present Participle I,intransitive, simultaneity of the actions expressed by the participle and the predicate.Mildred’s suicide attempt affected Guy in all possible ways. Recalling the moment how she was found, blood transfusion – his wife didn’t do that for nothing. It meant that she really cared about everything, that is why Montag was trusting her to the very end, till the moment she turned him to the police. Guy’s desire to save his wife was stronger than anything else.22. “There’s a Phoenix car just driven up and a man in a black shirt with an orange snake stitched on his arm coming up the front walk”Past Passive II, standard, function of definition, transitive. Because of the book Montag has stolen, he decided to stay at home, because he still couldn’t believe what he was doing. He was frightened to death. But the person he was afraid more than ever was chasing him. Beatty showed up at his house to “check up” on him. And the stitched orange snake yet again makes emphasis on the fact that two characters are on the different sides. 23. “But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking…”“Hidden” - Past Passive II, non-standard, function of definition, intransitive. “Sitting, doing, rocking, talking” - Non-perfect, Active present Participle I, circumstance of accompanying action.Montag was recallinghis conversations with Clarisse. She was telling him about her uncle who managed to witness a different world where people were free. But that didn’t last long because someone from the above didn’t like it. These people needed puppets, who are allowed to think about things they are told about, who don’t have identities. 24. “He felt he was one of the creatures electronically inserted between the slots of the phono-colour walls, speaking, but the speech not piercing the crystal barrier. He could only pantomime, hoping she would turn his way to see him”“Inserted” - Past Passive II, standard, function of definition, intransitive. “Speaking, hoping” - Non-perfect, Active present Participle I, circumstance of accompanying action, intransitive “Not piercing” – transitive, Active Present Participle I, a circumstance of the cause. Montag was trapped among these walls against his will. He was trying to be heard. Till the very end Montag didn’t lose hope – he believed he could talk some sense into his wife, make her realize that everything happening around them is wrong. But the barrier they had between each other was unbreakable. 25.” When they stepped out of the car, she had the Seashells stuffed in her ears”.Past Passive II, standard, function of definition, intransitive. The word “stuffed” can easily be used not only in its direct meaning but also as a metaphor. Mildred is the representation of an ideal character in Bradbury’s society. And at the same time she is the result of a such world. She absorbs the propaganda, thinks that TV and Internet are good while books are evil. She doesn’t have her own opinion, she’s the puppet that government wants to see. She lives with “stuffed” ears, refusing to hear and listen to her husband.CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND CHAPTERIn the second chapter the usage and place of Participle Constructions were reviewed on the base of the novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury.The role that Participle Constructions play in this book is even bigger than it is represented throughout the second chapter. By using them, author introduces readers to his characters more thoroughly, thus helping to understand their feelings in a different way.Throughout the text, participle constructions are employed to help conveying complex actions and emotions in the economical way. Both Participle I and II are a mix of a few parts of the speech: Participle I combines the signs of three parts - a verb, an adjective and an adverb, and Participle II combines the characteristics of a verb and an adjective.Participle’s adverbial and an adjectival characteristic are manifested in its syntactic functions, those of an attribute and adverbial modifier.In the position of the attribute The Participle may either precede or follow its head-noun.In the function of an adverbial modifier it can perform the functions of an adverbial modifier of time, condition, comparison, concession, manner and attendant circumstances and cause.On the base of the analysis it is needed to conclude that participle constructions in the novel have a significant contribution to the literature, the historical and linguistic fund.