Passage 120 · 1918
"The Hired Girls"
Main effectThrough compound adjectives pairing confidence with lack of inquiry, scare quotes signaling irony, copulative class assertions, and parallel positive/negative constructions, Cather creates syntax of class prejudice—grammar that exposes how unexamined belief in refinement masks economic exploitation.
Device index
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Tropes
Meaning opposite to surface.
Mild expression for harsh reality.
Schemes
Balanced opposition.
No words highlightedSyntax
"confident, unenquiring belief"—two adjectives before noun. Syntax pairs confidence with intellectual laziness.
"refined" and "worked out" in quotation marks. Syntax signals narrator's ironic distance from these terms.
"they were 'refined'"—copula with quoted adjective. Syntax shows belief in essential identity.
No words highlighted"who 'worked out'"—restrictive relative clause defines country girls by labor. Syntax makes work their defining characteristic.
No words highlighted"were not"—negative predicate. Syntax completes binary opposition: refined/not refined.
"they were...were not"—parallel copulative constructions. Syntax creates symmetrical class division.
"daughters of Black Hawk merchants"—genitive construction. Syntax identifies town girls through fathers' occupations.
Close reading
1Close Reading
Compound Adjective Modification
"confident, unenquiring belief"—two adjectives before noun. Syntax pairs confidence with intellectual laziness.
Scare Quotes
"refined" and "worked out" in quotation marks. Syntax signals narrator's ironic distance from these terms.
Copulative Class Assertion
"they were 'refined'"—copula with quoted adjective. Syntax shows belief in essential identity.
Relative Clause Definition
"who 'worked out'"—restrictive relative clause defines country girls by labor. Syntax makes work their defining characteristic.
Negative Copula
"were not"—negative predicate. Syntax completes binary opposition: refined/not refined.
Parallel Structure
"they were...were not"—parallel copulative constructions. Syntax creates symmetrical class division.
Genitive Specificity
"daughters of Black Hawk merchants"—genitive construction. Syntax identifies town girls through fathers' occupations.
Stylistic Effect
Through compound adjectives pairing confidence with lack of inquiry, scare quotes signaling irony, copulative class assertions, and parallel positive/negative constructions, Cather creates syntax of class prejudice—grammar that exposes how unexamined belief in refinement masks economic exploitation.