Wharton writes with elegant prose and frequently employs elaborate diction and syntax throughout “The Moving Finger.” Particularly in the first three sections of the story, Wharton writes long, complex sentences with descriptive wording. She often uses extensive metaphors and similes while incorporating ornate figurative language to describe Mrs. Grancy, the Sunday gatherings, and the portrait, for example. This use of figurative language serves to create an elegant, sophisticated writing style. Her style conveys the unnamed narrator’s high opinion of Mr. Grancy and reflects the formality and grandeur of the affluent society in which the characters live. For example, this is evident in how the narrator describes Mr. Grancy’s early love of the portrait:
It was Claydon, the portrait-painter, who risked this hyperbole; and who soon afterward, at the happy husband’s request, prepared to defend it in a portrait of Mrs. Grancy. We were all—even Claydon—ready to concede that Mrs. Grancy’s unwontedness was in some degree a matter of environment. Her graces were complementary and it needed the mate’s call to reveal the flash of color beneath her neutral-tinted wings.
This quote is a direct example of Wharton’s elaborate writing style. Here, her sentences are long and complex; they include many clauses separated by commas and dashes, for example. She also writes with figurative language, making use of descriptive metaphors, similes, and imagery. For example, in this quote, she writes, “it needed the mate’s call to reveal the lash of color beneath her neutral-tinted wings.”
In general, Wharton writes in the genre of Realism, which focuses on representing real, everyday situations and emotions, but she incorporates elements that veer away from Realism. “The Moving Finger” follows the grieving, wealthy Mr. Grancy and his obsession with his dead wife, but Wharton creates a twist from this straightforward story by exploring the otherworldly, eerie aspect of Mrs. Grancy’s portrait.
