Lexicological analysis of the book of “THE JEDI PATH” DANIEL WALLACE
For my assignment of the course of English Lexicology I have chosen to analyze the book of my favourite author in order to find, select and determine the expressive means and stylistic devices that were chosen and written in this masterpiece. The research was done personally by me, so using information without referring to this article against Author’s Copyrights.
The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force is a reference book on the Jedi Order and its history by Daniel Wallace. It was released on September 28, 2010.
This ancient training manual, crafted by early Jedi Masters, has educated and enlightened generations of Jedi. It explains the history and hierarchy of the Jedi Order, and what Jedi must know to take their place as defenders of the peace in the galaxy — from mastery of the Force to the nuances of lightsaber combat.
Passed down from Master to Padawan, the pages of this venerable text have been annotated by those who have held it, studied it, and lived its secrets. From Yoda and Luke Skywalker to Count Dooku and Darth Sidious, they have shaped the content of the book by leaving mementos tucked within the pages, tearing out pages, and adding their personal experiences as tangible reminders of the lessons they’ve learned.
Multiple genre: graphical novel, sci-fi (science fiction), manual
Audience: fans of Star Wars or interested newbie in Jedi’s philosophy (from 16 to …)
Author’s style: persuasive (Jedi pursue to stay with Force and follow their 5 precepts VS Sith gain over and threaten to follow their 5 precepts) + narrative (Different Masters describe types of Trials, dangerous and peaceful creatures, division of Order’s hierarchy, types of weapons, types of clothes etc.)
Author’s style: Daniel Wallace imitate each character’s unique style of writing and speaking. Therefore some chapters as comments in margins are formal (bookish words prevail, there is a strict structure in expressing thoughts, all punctuation marks are on place, rather unemotional) + informal (colloquial together with neutral language make facile style for understanding, sentences are short, elliptical, rather emotional and express Master’s or Jedi’s personal opinion)
Clarity: without primary knowledge about Star Wars it is difficult to read
Originality: totality of several genres, types of writing, styles of expressing ideas make this book absolutely unique.
Structure of the book: topically
WHO IS A REAL AUTHOR?
The first page that we see when we open the book is this list (below). It includes the names of all Jedi (knights) that read this book and left important comments on the margins of the text. Many of them support reader in the path of understating the manual and showing each Jedi’s experience itself. By these means, we discover not only the truth of the Order but also all prominent figures during its existence. The particular feature is that all of these people have their own style of speech and even unique handwriting. Moreover each chapter is written by different Masters — professionals in their fields: martial arts, trials, weapons, manuscripts.
QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE STYLES OF EACH “AUTHOR”
“Is that what cards looked like back then? Funny”. — Thame is the Yoda’s apprentice. His comments are always followed with exclamation marks or funny remarks. They make a book not just a dull manual.
“The existence of the Jedi service Corps weakens the Order. Expelling initiates with low potential would improve our public standing” — Dooku is Thame’s apprentice who switched to the dark side (Sith’s side). He is famous for using bookish words and making long critical comments.
“If you never use a sable, why you have one?” — Anakin is Qui-Gon’s apprentice. He switched to the dark side and became Darth Veider. From the comments it easy to understand skeptical attitude towards manual. Notes are in interrogative form presented by open questions.
“I imprisoned the surviving Jedi Service Corps members on Byss. Even the strongest were easy to turn to dark side” — Darth Sidious is Darth Veider’s Master. All his comments want to threaten, to persuade on the next reader to hesitate in the truth of manual.
“Upgraded, this section should be” — Yoda is the Grand Master whose aim here is to develop the Manual. He is famous for inversional style of speaking and not rarely, detachments appear in his style as in example.
“Have been practicing that. There is so much life. Even on Coruscant!” — Qui-Gon is another Grand Master. He left a few comments in a book. All his notes based on his own experience which preserve the mystery in each of them. What happened on Coruscant, Master Qui-Gon?
“It is difficult to use the Force as a weapon while trying to use a lightsaber too! I need more practice!” — Obi-Wan is Qui-Gon’s apprentice. He is a perfectionist, follower of all manual’s rules. All his comments are mostly intrapersonal, like monologue.
“HAH — LOOK! WHO IS TALKING? I GUESS I AM WARTIME EXCEPTION TO THE RULES” — Ashoka is Anakin’s apprentice. She is the only female who made notes in manual. She is very energetic (capital letters everywhere, exclamatory marks), curious (open questions) and positive as Thame. She became a Force-Sensitive Outcast at the end.
“Yoda warned me before I entered the save on Dagobah, but I thought I could handle anything” — Luke is the Last Jedi who mostly is a self-taught. This manual is full of his experience from Padawan period till Grand Master.
Lexical Semantics. Word formation
Main feature in this level of book’s language is frequent usage of conversion and compounding. It gives opportunity for better understanding author’s thoughts. These conversions add zest and freshness to the context.
Lexical Semantics. Expressions
In most cases these expressions we can find in precious comments of Jedi on the margins.
Lexical Expressive means and Stylistic Devices
The most unexpected detail during analyzing the book was a number of hyperboles and metaphors. They constitute 60% of all EMs and SDs used in this book. First, let’s look at list of hyperboles:
Now, list of metaphors:
Usage of epithets is on the third place:
Now, list of non-numerous but not less important list of:
Stylistical SDs.
Talking about stylistical devices I should mention that the quantity of detachments and inversions win over other stylistic devices used in the book. First — detachments:
Thanks to Master Yoda who writes and speaks only in inversed style. The book is full of them. To copy all of his remarks I thought would be too much (approximately 50 phrases), so, there are some examples:
PERSONAL REVIEW OF THE BOOK
I am a fan of Star Wars Universe. As any fan, after finishing watching 9 movies from this saga I was searching ways to connect with this World again. This book was a desired fount of not only information, pleasure, but also wisdom.
There is a quote “Don’t judge book by its cover”. Well, this cover, design, author’s individual style didn’t disappoint me with the context that they were hidden.
Jedi Order and Jedi, Sith themselves are not only a fairytale for fans. It is philosophy of life. To bring these ideas from this manual in own life means to become a Knight of Light. This book reinforced my belief in this philosophy. The similar ideas you can find in Japanese treatises “Bushido” and “Hagakure” devoted to samurai and their philosophy. Daniel Wallace gave a second wind to this ancient ideas in a new way.
Our generation needs a book that would be spick and span from prejudices. In my opinion, such kind of books as “Jedi’s Path” deserve to be a flashlight in the 21st century.
Personally, this book achieved its goal: again connected me with my favourite characters, explained details from movies that I didn’t understand before and showed me that Jedi’s ideas exist and should be spreaded.