The man in black (analysis by I. Myagkova)
‘The man in black’ is written by an American writer Robert Cates. The text is a third person narration and one can understand that it is America of the second part of 19th century. It can be proved by absence of cars. On the other hand we can notice horse wagons, chewing tobacco, silver money that is not typical of modern life. Furthermore, all the stylistic devices are aimed to create an impression of a typical small American town.
The main characters are Abe Anderson (an assessor in Wayne County), the mysterious stranger, Sheriff Ben, Oliver Johnson, Walter Baylor, the shop proprietor and the audience (it reacts to everything Abe and Sheriff say).
The story tells us about Abe Anderson – a man that occupies a high position in this town. He is known by a wide range of people, but he constantly feels some tension and approaching danger. In addition to all that the elections are nearing. Abe’s fears become stronger when he notices ‘a figure in dark clothes’ following his steps.
The climax and the first embodiment of Abe’s fears happens when the stranger ‘gouges’ Abe in his ribs, leads him to a dark place. Abe thinks of worst, but the man only demands money for three extra votes for the assessor. Abe has to give the stranger his lucky piece (that once saved his life in a war battle).
The time goes on and ‘in the heat of the campaign’ Abe forgets about the incident. But on the day of the elections the dark stranger approaches him once again. This time Abe is ‘at his wit’s end’, the second time cannot be a haphazard. Abe is ready for the worst. But the story ends with an unexpected twist. The dark figure turns out to be a kind of honest man, he tells he couldn’t get one more vote and returns the lucky piece back to Abe.
In my opinion that ‘lucky piece’ symbolizes the truth, hope and clarity of mind. The coin always reminds Abe that life is not a constant expectancy of danger.
The narrator tells the story in an ironic tone. In order to create an atmosphere of nearing danger, the author uses such key words as: ‘dark’, ‘black’, ‘acrid’. The sense of tense is also achieved with the help of using aposiopesis in many places of the text (for example: “The feller down by…”). Besides, the author uses a lot of Americanisms and ellipses to increase the expressiveness of the story.
We can see an inner conflict in the text. It is inside Abe. Externally very confident and successful, the main character is always afraid for his life. When one achieves a high position in one field, it doesn’t mean that in another field the person will be also successful.
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To my mind the message here is that having achieved fame and high position in society someone begins to evaluate his life too much and to worry about everything that happens around. It’s a mistake. Having become famous you stay the same person, your life is not more valuable than someone else’s.
[1] Согласно Библии, в ночь взятия Вавилона персами на устроенном Валтасаром последнем пиру, он святотатственно использовал на нём для еды и напитков священные сосуды, вывезенные отцом из Иерусалимского храма. В разгар веселья на стене появились начертанные таинственной рукой слова: «мене, мене, текел, упарсин». Пророк Даниил истолковал надпись, в переводе с арамейского означающую «Исчислено, исчислено, взвешено, разделено», и расшифровал ее как послание Бога Валтасару, предсказывающее скорую гибель ему и его царству.
[2] 1) поэт. дева, девушка 2) уст. дева, девственница, 3) служанка, горничная; прислуга
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