An Analysis of Writing Skills in I.B. Singer’s Neighbors

張敏

【Abstract】Isaac Bashevis Singer （1904-1991）， a Jewish American writer， won the Nobel Prize in 1978. He insisted on writing in a vanishing language， Yiddish， during his whole life. He wisely depicts Jews hard life under pressure and persecution. Singer plays a important role in American literature with his unique theme， style， distinct writing skills. Therefore， this paper mainly focus on his writing skills including language features， first-person narrator and the art of the ending in Neighbors.

【Key words】Singer； Neighbors； writing skills

Isaac Bashevis Singer （1904-1991）， a Jewish American writer， won the Nobel Prize in 1978. He insisted on writing in a vanishing language， Yiddish， during his whole life. He was considered as the great fabulist and the master of short stories as well as a consummate storyteller. Singers short stories are just like a miniature world and a magic box， where the traditional Jews live， the supernatural events happen and the profound stories are narrated. And these short stories are regarded as the great achievement in literature. Singer， using his concise， humorous but sharp writing style represented a tough and bitter story of Jews in details who had ever suffered a lot in history. This paper aims to analysis this short story Neighbors in aspect of language features， first-person narrator and the art of the ending.

1. Using figures of speech

When Singer described his two neighbors Morris Terkeltoyb and Margit Levy， he adopted several kinds of figures of speech， such as exaggeration， metaphor， personification. These descriptions made his expression much more vivid. For instance， he used exaggeration in order to describe Morris boasting as “Countless women threw themselves into his arms…” and “he returned with a list of fresh amorous adventures.” He also used metaphor to depict their appearance. “Morris was short， …that he combed into a bridge spanning his skull” showed us a bald elder who paid much attention to his dressing. “Her （Margit） neck made me think of a plucked chicken.” His picturesque language vividly presented a senior citizens physiognomy. Also， after she died， Singer wrote “Then the coffin was put into a hearse and Margit Levy rode into eternity without anyone to accompany her.” in exaggeration， which showed the authors change of attitude toward her， from impatience to sympathy. In the last paragraph， “The snow descended sparsely， peacefully， as if in contemplation of its own falling. ” he would like to express his own ides though the image of snow in personification.

2. Concise expression

Singer was good at depicting many details clearly including protagonists， relationship between them as well as scene where the story happened， using several simple words and phrases so that he can make the make the whole story simple， and concise.

At the beginning of this novel Neighbors， the following sentence： “They both lived in my building on Central Park West—he two floors below me， she one above. ” gave us a good understanding of the relationship between them， their living conditions， and also the background information. The author employed succinct language to describe their health condition as following： “Her eyes， too close together， had a piercing expression like those of a bird of prey. Morris Terkeitoyb had also aged. His beaked nose was red， and white whiskers sprouted on his face.” These was what the author saw about their changes after leaving a long time. We can realized the obvious changes that they were becoming older and older. Whats much more interesting is that he has ever described what Morris and Margit had in common. Since they were very old， they became sceptical to everyone around her. They suspected someone would murder them， especially Margit doubted “…the spinster who was her landlady wore her dresses and underwear， that she opened her letters， and even helped herself to her medicines.” Singer showed us two vivid image in an advanced age using a few of sentences which were also humorous. However， the author left readers a profound impression and unlimited imagination in a short passage using concise languages.

3. Humorous description

In this short novel， there were full of humorous and witty sentences which aimed to portray the grief of life and society. Margit described herself， “From my life one could write not one book but a whole literature. Hollywood movies are childs play compared to what happened to me.” He used this kind of sentence to make us have a good acknowledgment of her story or her life exaggeratedly. He showed his sympathy to them as well as their bitter life and expressed his helplessness as other Jews towards life and surroundings. The author recalled the first time when his two neighbors met， he said： “When he had left， Margit Levy， who as a rule was exaggeratedly polite with everyone， going so far as shower compliments on the neighbors dogs and cats， called Morris Terkeltoyb an uneducated idiot， a ruffian.” We can get their original intense conflict between them. However， they finally got well with each other， helping and sympathizing each other. The shift of their relationship highlight the theme of this story.

4. First-person narrator

Some of Singers novel in first-person narrator looks like autobiography and the difference in these stories between fiction and documentary can be ignored so that we can have more understanding of the author. Singer created a Jewish writers image who had extremely deep national feelings as well as himself. He depicted the Jews lives， showed their sorrows， hesitating and pride， and drew a splendid picture of the Jewish civilization. As far as Singers concerned， a good story must contain an attractive plot， a wonderful scene for the story and a sense of sadness. His purpose was not for writing， but for showing his story to the readers. In Neighbors， the author using first-person narrator to represent the story made readers have a further close perspective to the story as well as its profound meaning which he wanted to showed us. Following the writers narration， we seemed to have experienced the sufferings the two Jews had done. We can understand their behaviors and finally gave them sympathy. We laughed where its humorous， but at last we all teared moved by the indifferent society.

5. The art of ending

A good ending can highlight the theme story， leaving a deep impression to audiences. Singers stories had subtle structure， brilliant plot， real figures and a thought-provoking ending. Some ending of the story had the same picturesque atmosphere of the whole story. The naturally description and intrinsic deep sadness showed the bitterness and grief of life， retaining an endless aftertaste. As the ending of the Neighbors， it left readers a lasting impression. “From time to time I looked out the window. The snow descended sparsely， peacefully， as if in contemplation of its own falling. The short day neared its end. The desolate park became a cemetery. The buildings on Central Park South towered like headstones. The sun was setting on Riverside Drive， and the water of the reservoir reflected a burning wick. The radiator near which I sat hissed and hummed： ‘Dust， dust， dust. The singsong penetrated my bones together with the warmth. It repeated a truth as old as the world， as profound as sleep.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer， a Jewish American writer， insisted on writing in Yiddish during his whole life. Singer， using his concise， humorous but sharp writing style represented a tough and bitter story of Jews in details who had ever suffered a lot in history. Singer plays a important role in American literature with his unique theme， style， distinct writing skills. All of these are worthy to have a further read and study.

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