comment on language

The language of the story supports the tensions between the characters’ generally composed exteriors and the depth of emotion that characterizes their internal lives. For example, instead of presenting an immediate and emotional description of Louisa’s sadness and disappointment upon learning of Jack’s engagement, the story provides distance with a time skip and with the muted emotional presentation given by Louisa. On one hand, there is still a sense of the emotional depth with which Louisa felt the pain of the disappointment: “She had to be forgiven, didn’t she…for thinking, after such letters, that the one thing that could never happen was that he wouldn’t approach her, wouldn't get in touch with her at all?” (365). However, these emotions are presented at a chronological remove from their source.