The hyphen, often formed in print by two dashes without separation, is a piece of punctuation "stronger than a comma, less formal than two points and more relaxed than brackets” (Strunk and White 9). Traditionally a hyphen indicates an abrupt change in thought, informal in nature, and often serves as a parenthesis for emphasis. Myriad in functions and applications, this particular element of punctuation often appears in the works of literary realists and naturalists. The hyphen is used to highlight mental infirmities, to accurately represent disjointed or wavering thoughts and speech, and to reveal the emotional condition of characters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Turn of the Screw by Henry James features an impressive number of hyphens which, as the story unfolds through intricate ambiguities and veiled horrors, serve to underline and accentuate the mental instability of the young governess. James' use of the hyphen acts not only as a tool to enhance the edgy, rushed atmosphere, but also to create a scene of miscommunication, misjudgment, and overzealous suspicion. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short work “The Yellow Wallpaper” echoes James' method of using the hyphen as a tool to reveal mental instability – in Gilman's case, the latent madness of John's wife. Gilman's work, however, uses the heat to exact revenge on a society that stifles its women under a veil of domesticity. Gilman's story lines often elicit a sarcastic or rebellious tone; it is from these small statements that the main character communicates his dissatisfaction and his beliefs without fear of retaliation from those who care for him. The appearance of the hyphen in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage is often representative of a tense or agitated state of mind. The unrest is the result of intense fighting and the resulting mortal danger of armed conflict. The dashes of Crane's novel create sudden and often choppy thoughts and conversations that mimic, realistically, the diminished ability to think and speak on a battlefield. The lines of Crane's work also capture and emphasize the emotions of his characters through repetition of speech. Henry's repeated pleas to Jim, the musings of untested soldiers, and many other instances make use of repetition to depict emotionally charged scenes. The Crackdown uses the shot to weave a story full of ambiguity and to cultivate an atmosphere of suspicion and fear. . When talking to each other, the housekeeper and Mrs. Grose continually finish each other's sentences. “Did you see something in the boy…” begins the housekeeper, whose sentence is finished: “Wasn't it right? He never told me” by Mrs. Grose (James 12). The dash denotes the housekeeper's fear of immorality or impropriety. He's trying to find out if Miles is capable of misbehaving, but he avoids going out of bounds, leaving the question incomplete. The fact that Mrs. Grose has to finish the statement also contributes to the ambiguous nature of the story. The reader does not truly witness the housekeeper's question because her thought has been completed by another individual. These lines represent the ideas of not one, but two different people. The young housekeeper herself is interrupted when she asks Miles, "and these things are gone..."; Miles completes his sentence: “To the masters? Oh yes!” (James 86). Once again the interruption hinders communication. The housekeeper hasn't fully expressed herself yet, which means Miles has to speak up with a certain amount ofsupposition to complete his thought. This propensity to interrupt and be interrupted allows us to understand the housekeeper's mental insecurities. When Mrs. Grose assures the housekeeper that Miles “could not prevent…” her learning of an inappropriate relationship between him and Quint, the housekeeper derisively interrupts her: “Are you learning the truth? Dare I say it! (James 35-6). Although the young woman has only recently arrived and knows little of the history of the children and the manor, she quickly scoffs at Miles' innocence. Mrs. Grose's interruption, represented by the hyphen, and the housekeeper's willingness to readily believe assumptions both highlight her mental instability. Quickly interrupting Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper hastily came to a conclusion, relying on little evidence to cast doubt on Miles. In the housekeeper's reflections there are also lines that give an idea of ​​her character: she “had immersed herself again in Flora's special society and there she had become aware that it was almost a luxury! -- that she could place her little conscious hand directly on the spot that hurt” (James 33). This exclamation, underlined by dashes, in the middle of a thought illustrates the housekeeper's instability. Describing Flora as a very perceptive person who uses her ability in a devious way, the housekeeper returns to praising her "company" with Flora. Here the dashes indicate a single thought oscillating between praise and disapproval. This also adds to the ambiguous nature of the novel by obscuring the housekeeper's true thoughts. By going back and forth with his feelings, James makes it difficult for the reader to establish any concrete idea of ​​the housekeeper's true motivations and character. In a manner reminiscent of Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the hyphen as a means of emphasizing mental breakdown in her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper". The hyphen is also used in Gilman's story to criticize the treatments prescribed to the main character by her husband, in effect criticizing contemporary methods of psychological treatment in the author's time. Arriving at the mansion, the main character states: "I'm scared, but I don't care - there's something strange in the house - I feel it" (Stories 75). Both dashes foreshadow further investigation of the house and reveal that the woman is on the verge of deteriorating mentally. A connection has been established between the woman and the villa; can sense the nature of the house. With aroused curiosity, the protagonist describes the small bedroom in which she and her husband live. In this children's room there is brightly patterned wallpaper that "when you follow the uncertain, uncertain curves for a small distance, they suddenly commit suicide - dive at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard-of contradictions" (Stories 76). The elaboration of the patterns following the dash creates a personality or essence from the background; the protagonist has begun to assign qualities to wallpaper that give it a much more complex presence than simple paper. The active qualities with which the card is described – precipitating and destroying – begin to bring the card to life. This in turn shows that the woman's mental condition is worsening. His mental breakdown is vividly portrayed by telling his wild stories in a matter-of-fact tone. The supernatural details of the nursery are explained as if they were entirely real, highlighting how deranged the woman has become. Written in part as a rebuttal to the rest cure and the idea of ​​domesticity, Gilman's story uses hyphens to express the main character's resistance to the treatment her husband has prescribed for her. For her treatment, the protagonist “takes phosphates or phosphates – whatever it is, 2000.