Analysis of Doctor in the House written by R. Gordon. “Doctor in the House” is a story written by Richard Gordon; it is the pen name used by Gordon Ostlere – he was an English surgeon. The text is devoted to the final examinations at the medical institution. The author describes the atmosphere and feelings of the students during the whole period of the exams. The author gives the description of the preparation for them, the way they run, the way they are marked and the type of students who are waiting for the oral exam. This extract belongs to the belles-lettres style, the main aim of which is to give the reader aesthetic pleasure. It is told in the first person, from the viewpoint of the medical student. The general mood of the narration is humorous and sometimes ironical. The vocabulary is mostly neutral but sometimes bookish (“thenceforward”, “flagrant”, “nonchalant”, “well-established с тех пор »,« вопиющий »,« беспечный »,« хорошо известный »). The author uses such stylistic devices as simile in the fragments: “The final examinations are something like death”, “he goes at them like a prize-fighter”, “feeling as if I had just finished an eight-round fight”, “struggling like a cow in a bog”, “windows that wouldn't open, like the condemned cell”. Such stylistic device as irony is also present in this extract, for example: “to give the examiners the impression of frustrated несостоявшейся brilliance”, “Examinations touch off his fighting spirit; they are a straight contest between himself and the examiners”, “This system has been working admirably for years”. The whole text is based on the hyperbole as everything is exaggerated (“the viva is judgment day”жизнь – это судный день, “If the candidate loses his nerve in front of this terrible displeasure he is finished”) The use of inversion in the sentence “To a medical student the final examinations are something like death” highlights the difficulty of the examination for the students. The semantic words of the passage – “examination”, “students” “preparation”, “answer” “written papers”, “textbooks” together with the key words “medical student” and “final exam” claim the topic of the extract and also conveys передаёт the author massage that the exam is not the end of the world if the student gets ready for it beforehand.
