Artistic means of character portrayal in Dorothy Parker’s short story “A Telephone Call”

The research aims to identify the artistic means of character portrayal in Dorothy Parker’s short story “A Telephone Call” as mediated by authorial intention. The article examines stylistic devices and expressive means used by the author to construct stylistic portraits of the characters. The study is novel in that it is the first to analyze Dorothy Parker’s English-language fictional work “A Telephone Call” to provide specific examples of stylistic devices used for character creation, while offering a detailed description of the role and functions of these expressive means within the overall narrative context. The results of the study establish that a wide variety of stylistic devices are employed to portray characters in the analyzed story. These include various types of repetition, polysyndeton, antithesis, rhetorical questions, and questions within the narrative. Instances of metaphor, personification, simile, epithets, hyperbole, and understatement are also observed. The study reveals that this diversity of artistic means enriches the characters’ speech, helps the author highlight the most significant traits of the individuals described, and conveys their feelings, moods, and internal states. Furthermore, these expressive means draw the reader’s attention to key points in the text, reflect the central idea of the work, and regulate its narrative pace and emotional tone.