“Water dripped from tap on wall into basin and into water there.”
—Henry Green, Living
What kind of sentence is this?!
Henry Green’s writing always surprises me. He is certainly not afraid to take risks. This is a sentence that seems to require at least four the’s, but has none. The question is, why?
The omission of the the’s makes this sentence quite spare. It makes the dripping of the water seem simple and elemental. In light of the thrust of the storyline of the novel Living, this spareness makes sense.
One thing Green is known for is his true-to-life comparisons between the lower and upper classes. In Living, male factory workers and females of the lower class are contrasted with male factory owners and females of the upper class.
To place a spare sentence like this at the opening of a section about the people of the lower class emphasizes the spareness of their lives, without Green having to come outright and say it.
And so a sentence that reads bizarrely to my ears actually has a deep meaning.
Nice analysis Liza. Limitations or spareness also promote creativity. People who have less have little options but to make the most of their situation. Contrast that with giving a Billionaire a tax break and they can buy a larger yaught,which doesn’t add any value to society.
Not to be overly political, but AOC talks about this a lot. Poor people can do a lot with less, relatively speaking. So if you can just provide a little more, society upgrades from the process
One great thing about Green is his comparison of the rich and poor. But I don’t think being rich disqualifies you from being creative…. That is open to anyone.