Studia Językoznawcze

The novel Noce i dnie by Maria Dąbrowska belongs to the tradition of the 19th century realist novels. The most significant elements of its fictional universe are the extensive descriptions of the Niechcic family life. The purpose of this article is to analyse the linguistic creation of childhood of Tomaszek, the youngest child of Barbara and Bogumił Niechcic, in three semantic aspects: 1) his physical appearance, 2) his character and behaviour, 3) the son-parents relationship. The dominant factor in the linguistic creation of the Tomaszek’s world is a matter-of-fact, account, made plausible. The picture of his physical appearance lacks detailed descriptions, instead, it contains the epithets necessary to portrait him, describing shapes and colours which do not connote any surplus content. The author sketches the general, selected features of the boy’s appearance, introducing only few epithets depicting its significant details. The realistic way of depicting the boy’s character and behaviour is devoid of any poetic comparisons or symbolic references. Dąbrowska characterizes the boy from various descriptive perspectives, most frequently in the form of the narrator’s account of his parents’ thoughts and perceptions. The form of dialogue used in the descriptions of the son-parents relationship reveals the emotions of Bogumił and Barbara in a remarkably vivid and lively way. In the linguistic creation of Tomaszek Dąbrowska doesn’t avoid a hint of conscious subjectivism in the narration. She often adopts a perspective of an indirect observer – often Barbara, more rarely Bogumił. The writer smoothly shifts from the author’s narrative to a free indirect speech, imbuing the text with a warmth of subjective affection.