The Japanese Quince (Style)

Style

Omniscient Narrator

An third-person omniscient narrator relates the events of the story. Galsworthy’s choice in narrative technique is an important feature of “The Japanese Quince” and contributes to the ultimate meaning of the story. Permitted access to unspoken thoughts, an omniscient narrative traces the workings of Mr. Nilson’s mind as he moves through his morning. Although Mr. Nilson says nothing out loud, readers are privy to his health concerns and his uneasiness around Mr. Tandram. Likewise, readers are aware that he is doing his best to appreciate the morning, whereas a third-person limited narrator would not be able to impart much more than the fact that he took a walk around the square while holding his newspaper.

Doppelganger

“Doppelganger” is the literary term sometimes used to describe a character who functions as a double for the protagonist. In “The Japanese Quince” Mr. Tandram is Mr. Nilson’s doppelganger, a man of “about Mr. Nilson’s own height, with firm, well-colored cheeks, neat brown mustaches, and round, well-opened, clear grey eyes; and he was wearing a black frock coat.” Mr. Nilson’s neighbor is also strolling the square with a newspaper clasped behind his back. Even Mr. Tandram’s name, which is similar to the term “tandem,” meaning working in conjunction with, seems to imply his role as Mr. Nilson’s doppelganger. The purpose of the doppelganger is to reveal what happens when the narrator encounters someone with the same characteristics that he or she possesses. In the case of Mr. Nilson, such an encounter fails to rouse him from his hermetic world. Both men, after failing to connect in any significant way during their brief conversation, return to “the scrolled iron steps” of their houses.

The Senses

The language of “The Japanese Quince” includes terms that evoke all five senses. Through such vivid language, Galsworthy reveals his appreciation for the natural world and attempts to spark similar appreciation in the reader. The imagery used to evoke sight includes the description of the quince tree, with its “young blossoms, pink and white, and little bright green leaves” on which “the sunlight glistened.” Sound is represented by the cuckoo clock, the song of the blackbird — whose voice has “more body in the note” than a thrush, according to Mr. Tandram — and the cough that attracts Mr. Nilson’s attention at the end of the story. The sense of touch is prefigured by the use of such adjectives as “spiky” to describe the leaves of the quince tree and the “faint ache” that ails Mr. Nilson. Smell rendered in the phrase “faint sweet lemony scent, rather agreeable than otherwise,” which Mr. Nilson notices coming from the blooming bushes. Finally, taste is evoked by the narrator’s description of Mr. Nilson’s ailment, which courses through him like “some sweetish liquor.”