In this there will be no very decided contrast. But when the two
extremes are brought close together, are forced together perhaps,
then we have an electric effect. To use contrast well requires great
skill in the handling of language, for contrast means passing from one
extreme to another in a very short space, and if this, passing is not
done gracefully, the whole effect is spoiled.
What has been said of contrast in language, character, etc.,
may also be applied to contrasts in any small detail, incident,
or even simile. Let us examine a few of the contrasts in Maupassant,
for he is a great adept in their use.
Let us take the opening paragraph of "The Necklace" and see what a
marvel of contrast it is: "She was one of those pretty and charming
girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family
of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known,
understood, loved, wedded, by any rich and distinguished man; and she
had let herself be married to a little clerk in the Ministry of Public
Instruction." Notice "pretty and charming"--- "family of clerks."
These two contrasted ideas (implied ideas, of course) are gracefully
linked by "as if by a mistake of destiny.
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