Style
The Return of the Native
by Thomas Hardy

The Return of the Native: Style 1 key example

Style
Explanation and Analysis:

Thomas Hardy's literary style in The Return of the Native takes a deliberate and measured approach to its storytelling. Hardy does this through the narrator’s highly detached voice, the novel’s slow pace and the intense use of doubt and ambiguity as plot devices. These all immerse the reader in the uncertain world of Egdon Heath. Hardy’s formal and carefully constructed sentences flow smoothly, often taking on a philosophical or poetic air. Furthermore, the formal (and sometimes exaggeratedly elevated) diction makes the reader feel the weight and importance of even small events to the larger workings of fate.