Abstract

The way Rivers presents her content in her renowned novel “Redeeming Love” is the motivation behind this research. Francine Rivers has used graphological deviation in this novel in a very innovative way which not only invokes specific effects but marks her style as well. So, the paper attempts to examine the functions this stylistic technique has performed in this novel. For the analysis, a mixed-method approach has been used, where preference is given to qualitative data. Techniques and strategies of presentation and analysis of data are borrowed from Leech and Short (2007) and Michael Toolan (2014). The analysis reveals that the author has consciously used graphological deviation in this novel to complement her linguistic choices. She has used bold plus italic typeface to represent the voice of God, bold typeface to represent Satan’s voice, italics to highlight significant utterances and deviant full stop to give phonological realization to specific messages.

Key Words

Graphological Deviation, Stylistic Variant, Normative Choice, Inspirational Fiction, Stylistic Value

Introduction

Language as cognitive code has multiple levels of organization and interpretation (Leech & Short, 2007) at which choices can be made by the author i.e. lexico-grammatical level, semantic level, graphological level, and phonological level. Analyzing the language of any literary work at these distinct levels externalizes how writers exploit the linguistic recourses available to them (Alowonle, 2016) and how linguistic elements at these distinct levels ultimately work as a system of pattern, where choices made at one level of organization reinforce the message at the other level (Hynes, 1995) and eventually work towards the same cumulative end. Graphology, which is the focus of this paper, is the level of linguistic code mainly concerned with the expression plane of language i.e. punctuation, typefaces, paragraphing and spacing etc. (Wales, 2011) and also works as a substitute to phonological realization in literature. Whereas graphological deviation is specifically concerned with defamiliarization and deautomatization (Mukarovsky, 1932 & Ayeomoni, 2012) phenomenon in writing and is practiced by the authors to complement their linguistic choices and to enhance their effect (Bernard 2018). So, graphologically deviant choices are created by digressing from established graphological norms, which not only make certain parts of a text stand out in a particular context but also work as a highlighter to highlight the specific themes and linguistic choices of an author.

Francine Rivers uses various stylistic strategies in Redeeming Love to make her ideas more striking and conspicuous, which not only enhance the effectiveness of her themes but also help her to achieve her thematic concerns. But the way she has used graphological deviation in Redeeming Love is unparalleled. She practices this phenomenon artistically, which enables her in highlighting those aspects of the novel which are strategically important in its cumulative meaning. That’s why this paper tries to explore this stylistics strategy of Rivers to reveal its overall significance and underlying value in the novel. The research questions of the study are: 

1. What are the functions of graphological deviation in Redeeming Love?

2. What type of effects does graphological deviation generate in Redeeming Love?




Significance or Rationale of the Research

Rivers gained major fame around the globe after writing Redeeming Love –her first inspirational novel written as her statement of faith after her spiritual transformation– and became an acclaimed writer whose novels have been translated into thirty different languages, and more than twelve million copies of her novels have been sold. Rivers acquired this worldwide acclamation and readership after moving towards the inspirational fiction genre (before this transformation, she had been writing romances) and won many awards and prizes, including Christy Award, the ECPA Gold Medallion, RITA award and the Holt Medallion. This huge sale of inspirational fiction of Rivers shows that novels with spiritual themes are in high demand, and this fact has also been confirmed by the 2017 news release of the Association of American Publishers that demand for books with inspirational and spiritual themes is topmost. But the fact of this huge response is equally linked with Rivers' writing techniques as well because if the book with high demand theme has a weak plot and flimsy presentation mode, it could not get that readership. So, it is worthwhile to analyze the genre of high demand and within it the author of that fame and skill. Rivers novels are appealing and influential not just because of her themes and storyline but her style and way of presenting ideas have had an equal impact. And the way of presenting ideas in Redeeming Love through different graphic features is Rivers’ unique strategy which also prompts this study to analyze this phenomenon in order to externalize its functionality and underlying value. 

Moreover, this study is also valuable because it tries to fill the gap present in literature as there is a severe dearth of research in the area of inspirational or religious fiction, particularly with stylistic angle because mostly researchers like Crystal and Davy (1969), Keane (1997), Owolabi (2012) and Adam (2013) have chosen the real religious data like sermons, religious scripts and lectures for analysis instead of inspirational novels. Moreover, those who chose inspirational fiction for analysis like Filipek (2020), have analyzed it thematically, so the stylistic side of this area is completely under research which elevates the importance of this research. 

Literature Review

In general, stylistics is concerned with the study of style or the study of creativity in the use of language, where style is the choice of author on any level of language encoding. According to Stockwell and Whiteley (2014) since its emergence, there has been a steady expansion of the domain encompassed by the notion of 'style'. Initially, stylistic features of a text were restricted to the narrow linguistic elements at the levels of phonetic arrangement, metrics and prosody, morphology and lexical choice, semantics and syntax up to the level of the clause and sentence. Moreover, these features are examined without incorporating external factors or context. Due to this, it was easy for others to criticize stylistics as having a narrow, decontextualized outlook. But after the Chomskyan revolution of 1960 in linguistics, stylistics was also revolutionized, the text as a whole was considered for interpretation but Chomsky's theory was text-oriented only. It was inadequate to provide the toolkit to examine how the effects are achieved through language expressions and language structure. But emergences of modern stylistics in the 1970s after the revolutionary works of David and Crystal (1969) and Michael Halliday (1978) led to the rapid paradigm shift in the arena of language and literature and instead of viewing sentences only as illustrations of lexcio-grammatical structures or phonological patterns stylistics urges analysts to ask pragmatic questions of what communicative value particular utterances have in given settings or in a text as a whole (Davy & Crystal, 1969; Halliday, 1978; Leech & Short, 2007; Verdonk, 2002; & Widdowson, 2013). In current times the focus has been gradually shifted from a monological and stable view of the style of the author to how meanings and effects are communicated in literary or nonliterary texts. So, modern stylistics, in general, is the linguistic approach to academic and nonliterary texts which focuses on the formal and distinctive features of the text for the interpretation, but instead of taking the text in isolation considers it as a part of the discourse and also considers the broader account of relationship present between the text and the context in which it is produced and received (Clark & McRae, 2004). 




Graphology: a level of language coding

Graphology is that level of linguistic style that is concerned with the layout of a text and how through visual and graphical features the writers can intensify the significance of their ideas or words. The term graphology was first brought into linguistic studies by McIntosh (1961) who considers it analogous to phonological patterns in spoken discourse. After that this concept was expanded by David and Crystal (1969) and Halliday (1978) who gave a social functional approach to this feature. So, this features like all other stylistic features also have underlying contextual associations which are externalized through stylistic analysis. 

Leech and Short (2007), Wales (2011), Yeibo and Akerele  (2014) and all agree that graphology refers to whole system of writing which is concerned with matters such as punctuation, contracted form, lowercase letters, capitalization and italicization. In this regard, Wales' (2011) definition is all inclusive as she expands the spectrum of graphology beyond the letters and includes different styles of typography , paragraphing, size of print, typefaces, and handwriting in  the realm of graphology. And according to her these graphological techniques mark style of a text and single it out from the normative ones and hence work as a stylistic device. 

Graphological Deviation

The linguistic deviation in the form of foregrounding and foregrounding is defined by Leech and Short (2007) as 'artistically motivated deviation' practiced by the writers to achieve certain ends, and Toolan (2014) identifies it as the most prominent patterns in the text which manifest some extra meanings. Linguistic deviation refers to innovative use of language created by digressing from standard norms or conventions, aims to evoke readers' attention and to make something stand out and conspicuous. Mukarovsky (1932) noted that deviation caused deutomatization. According to Crystal and Davy (1969), Leech and Short (2007) and Mukarovsky (1932), the deviation can occur at the lexical, grammatical, phonological, semantic and graphological level. But the present research focuses on graphological deviation, so the deviation on this level is discussed. 

The graphological deviation is thus the conscious violation of the system of writing and shows digression from orthographic conventions. Deviation in graphology is the important element of analysis because it brings into fore the preoccupations, connotations and underlying intentions in a text. The study of Emmott, Sanford, and Morrow (2006) “Capturing the attention of the reader?” is credence to the aforementioned view that graphological deviation is used by the writers to draw the attention of the readers towards the specific part of the text. Similarly, Alowonle (2016) avers that deviant graphological structures bring certain elements of the text to the fore. Whereas Simpson (2004) claims that graphological patterns have an influence on the process of reading and hold great importance in a text and in the meaning-making process.

Yeibo and Akerele (2014) work on graphological deviation also shows the significance of this phenomenon. They analyze Chimamanda Adichie’s “Purple Hibiscus” to study graphological deviation and conclude that this technique plays a very important role in effectively conveying the message of a text and enables the writer in highlighting those aspects of a text which are categorically important and add in the overall meaning of the text. They also observe that at some points, meanings generated by graphological foregrounding are more influential than those generated by verbal signifiers. That's why examining graphological foregrounding in literary text is more significant than the verbal signifiers because the foregrounded part of the text contains the principal message on the author's behalf. 




Synopsis of the Text

“Redeeming Love," first published in 1991, is a retelling of the biblical story of Prophet Hosea. The story revolves around protagonist Michael Hosea, a compassionate and tenderhearted farmer who obeys God call to marry and love Angel –a beautiful girl of eighteen years who was sold into prostitution as a child of eight years and who has learned to expect nothing from men but betrayal, deception and brutality as all men in her life along with her father abused her. Angel with no interest, instead distrust in God, religion, and men refused the marriage proposal of Hosea a number of times until she was rescued by Hosea from the brutal beating of the brothel's guard. The persona of Michael Hosea, who was now her husband, was utterly opposed to all those men who ruined her life, but still she suspects, hates, and disrespects him and even abandons him three times. The virtuous Michael Hosea continues to love her unconditionally despite of her hatred and tries to tell her that God loves His people and He never leaves them alone. Eventually, after her third escape from Hosea, she got changed and submitted herself to Hosea's unconditional and pure love and started loving God as a true believer as well.

Research Methodology

The present study is descriptive in nature and based on a stylistic approach to analyzing the data. Following four graphologically deviant markers are selected from the novel as data which are consistently used in the novel:

1. Bold plus italic typeface 

2. Bold typeface

3. Italic typeface

4. Eccentric use of full stop

The mixed method approach is used for the analysis of data where preference is given to qualitative analysis. 




Sampling Strategy 

The data for qualitative analysis has been selected by using handpicked, non-random sampling. On the other hand, for quantitative analysis, the data has been calculated by employing ‘systematic random sampling’ with the fixed interval of two, so the total number of selected chapters has become eighteen as the novel has 36 chapters. Then from these selected chapters frequency of data has been manually calculated.




Theoretical framework

For the analysis of data, insights have been taken from Leech and Short's (2007) and Micheal Toolan (2014) theoretical frameworks. Following are the main propositions that lead the study: 

1. The stylistic choice is limited to those aspects of linguistic choice which are concerned with the alternative ways of rendering the same subject matter. Stylistics only deals with what the writers choose to talk about, and how and why they choose to talk about it.

2. Style is a multilevel concept, where more or less equivalent choices at a particular linguistic level could be seen as stylistic variants. And these stylistic variants could have different stylistic values, where special value and special significance are attached with one variant rather than any other.

3. “There is a strong connection between the concept of ‘function’ and the concept of ‘meaning’: when we talk of meaning in the broad sense of ‘overall significance’, we include the implications which an utterance has regarding the intention of the speaker and the effect on the hearer.” (Leech & Short, 2007, p.110)

4. The surface text has been given style by various deep structure facts or characteristics to which we readers respond, and a stylistics job is to uncover these deep structures for critical interpretation. 

5. The part of stylistics procedures and methods are replicable or testable, but the other part (interpretative commentary) is not. He asserts, "when it comes to the more interpretive stage, falsifiability is scarcely possible" (Toolan, 2014, p.25).

Data Analysis

The intensive study of Redeeming Love reveals that

 Rivers has used graphological deviation in Redeeming Love in the following four ways: (see appendix 1)

§  The bold plus italic typeface is used to represent the voice of God

§  The bold typeface is used to describe the voice of Satan

§  Italic typeface is used to represent characters’ interior dialogue, prayers and requests to God

§  Italic typeface is also used to highlight certain words of great importance

§  Eccentric use of  full stop as an intensifier

The first three techniques are very unique and specific to Rivers, whereas the other two also have a vast impact and are specifically designed to catch the reader's attention and to create maximum effect. Here, all these four types are analyzed, first quantitatively and then qualitatively in order to give their stylistic interpretation and functional account.

 

Quantitative Analysis of Graphological Deviation in Redeeming Love

Firstly, the frequency of available instances of graphological deviations in Redeeming Love according to proposed sampling (see section 3.1) is given below to authenticate whether Rivers has used this strategy as her style marker or not because Leech and Short (2007) asserted that style is linked with the pattern of choices not the choices in isolation.




Table 1. Frequency of Graphological Deviation in Selected Chapters of Redeeming Love

Name of selected Chapter	Occurrence of deviant use of comma, full stop	Occurrence of bold+italic typeface	occurrence of bold typeface	occurrence of italic typeface
Prologue	5	-	-	10
2	2	1	-	4
4	4	8	-	21
6	3	-	-	6
8	3	-	-	9
10	1	1	-	10
12	4	6	9	39
14	2	-	-	25
16	6	6	5	29
18	1	-	1	10
20	3	-	1	16
22	2	-	7	10
24	3	-	-	15
26	3	-	-	5
28	5	3	2	26
30	-	5	-	15
32	5	1	-	26
34	7	2	-	9
58	33	25	285

 




Now the total occurrences of the types of graphological deviation in the whole novel are calculated by applying the following mathematical formula:

Total chapters in Redeeming Love= 36

Total chapters in which occurrences of eccentric use of commas and full stops are calculated= 18 (50% of total)

Ratio of Chapters = 18: 36 = 1: 2

So the total frequency of eccentric use of commas and full stops in the whole novel is 2 * 58 (total occurrences in 18 chapters) = 116 approx

Similarly, by applying the identical formula of calculating a total number of occurrences, the following results are produced for the remaining three types of graphological deviation:




 

Table 2. Total Frequency of Types of Graphological Deviation in Redeeming Love

Types	Deviant use of comma  & full stop	Bold+italic typeface	Bold Typeface	Italic typeface
Approximate total frequency in the whole novel	116	66	50	570

 




The results in Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate that all four types of graphological deviation are available in the novel on a frequent basis and work as a consistent stylistic strategy in the novel. Though all of these deviant graphological techniques are distinctive intrinsically as their very nature is unique (their deviance from set graphological norms) yet their total frequency additionally affirms that they are distinctive choices of expression on the basis of frequency as well, and the author has employed this technique consciously to achieve her desired motives. Their occurrence in the novel is so frequent and their visual appearance is so conspicuous that even a reader with no knowledge of stylistics could single out them as repeated, dominant distinctive features of the novel. So, this strategy works as Stylistic strategy in the novel.

 

Functions of Graphological Deviation in Redeeming Love: Qualitative Analysis

Ananthna (2014) and Bernard (2005) avow that

graphological deviation is meaning laden along with being visually and artistically appealing. So if Rivers has chosen some deviant structures in this novel against normative ones, they must have special significance or value and must perform some special functions. Now, the qualitative analysis of above mentioned graphological deviation is provided to externalize their function and significance in the novel.

 

Bold plus italic Typeface to Represent God’s Voice

In Redeeming Love, Rivers deviates from the regular

 pattern of writing and chooses bold plus italic typeface whenever she wants to represent the voice of God which creates instantly a powerful visible impact on the reader and highlight all those messages which contain Godly instructions (see appendix A). Bold plus italic typeface performs following functions in the novel:

1.       It represents God’s voice

2.       It is used to grab the reader’s attention as they all have the important thematic messages.

3.       It is used to give the effect of supremacy to God’s words.

4.       It shows the compassion attached with God’s voice

Barton and Sanford (1993) state that psychologists approves that readers generally focus on specific aspects of an item (written or visual) instead of all aspects and the aspects that are relatively prominent have more chances to be noticed by readers or viewers. So, the author’s first objective behind the choice of bold cum italic typeface is to catch the reader's attention. Following is the very first example of bold plus italic typeface in the novel which introduces this strategy of Rivers’ in the catchy way.

E1: [Michael couldn’t take his eyes off her . . . He let out his breath after she passed him, not even aware that he had been holding it.

 

This One, Beloved

Michael felt a rush of adrenaline mingled with joy. Lord. Lord!] p.53

The phrase “This one, beloved.” instantly attracts the attention of the readers, hinders their reading process and force them to stop and think about why a new and a very unique style of writing is introduced here. In E1, how in mere four lines, three different graphological styles are presented. I start the story is going in the normative pattern of writing, but suddenly not only the style but the line is also changed and bold cum italic phrase is presented and then again after moving to next line normative pattern is started but soon just after the completion of one sentence, the words of the story take on the simple italic style. This strategy of Rivers implies that there is something special at this point that should be read out carefully.

Secondly, God’s voice is introduced only in the dialogues of pious people. E1 is the first instance of the bold plus italic typeface in the novel which appears in chapter two when Michael Hosea is introduced (see section 2.3 for story). It at once raises an urge in readers to know who utter this phrase which is presented in such a special and supreme way and soon the next line answer’s this when Michael utters Lord! Lord!, i.e. this utterance represents God’s voice. This appearance of God's words with the persona of Michael creates the effect of reality in the novel that not all men and women can hear God's words internally rather those who follow the will of God and sacrifice their worldly desires for the sake of God, bestowed with this attribute. This notion is fortified later in the novel, when Angel starts moving towards the path of God and fights the evil emotion raised in her, then she also starts hearing God’s soft voice inside her. For example:

E2: [The still, quiet voice beckoned tenderly.

 

Come to Me, Beloved. Stand and Come to Me

Warmth swept over her. This was the love she’d been waiting for all her life.] p.427

So, this way of presenting and introducing God's voice is a remarkable technique of the author as it not only highlights God's words but also enforces contextually woven ideological patterns that only pious people can hear God voice in their conscience and can feel His presence in their dreams.

The beauty of this stylistic strategy also lies in the author's adept use of it because if we read the total 66 instances of bold cum italic sentences in the novel, we will get the total thematic crux of the novel without losing a single bit which is to love humanity specially those who are forsaken.  For example:

E3: [Michael felt sick. God. God! Is there a sin this woman hasn’t committed?

 

No.

And you ask that I love her?

 

As I have loved you.] p.280

When Angel told him all the sins she has committed, Michael complained to God that why He has chosen such a woman for him and even ordered him to love her. In response, God voice aroused in his mind that as God loves him and his humanity regardless of their sins, similarly he has to love Angel because she has not done all the sins willingly and God wants to restore her faith in God and humanity and to bring her back towards life. So Rivers wants to tell her readers that God always loves his people and He opens paths of survival for them, hence do not lose trust in God.

 

Comparison of Effect of Bold plus Italic Typeface with its Possible Stylistic Variant

According to Davy and Crystal (2013), the stylistician correlates and compares the selected features with their possible expected or normative variants in a language to show their internal patterning to maximal effect, moreover this method approves the replicable and objective nature of proposed stylistic method as well. So, below the author’s deviant choice is analyzed against the background of normative or conventional choice to show its stylistic effect. 




 

	Author’s Choice	(Normative choice)
E4	[“You need me. Say it, Tirzah. Say it.” Let her go, beloved. God, no! Don’t ask it of me! Give her to me.] p.368	[“You need me. Say it, Tirzah. Say it.” Let her go, beloved. God, no! Don’t ask it of me! Give her to me.]

 




The example E4 demonstrates that if we replace this typeface with the normative pattern the whole visual impact of the utterance is destroyed which ultimately ruined the thematic strength of the message as well. The above given comparison and all other examples of bold plus italic typeface given above externalize that:

§  Bold cum italic graphological style for presenting God's words is a powerful stylistic strategy chosen by the author which gives both rhythmic and resonant visual effect.

§  All bold cum italic instances are either short phrases or short sentences with tender and soft vocabulary (see above given examples) which gives the loving and kind tone. If we read the words of God present in bold plus italic typeface aloud, it gives the mesmerizing feeling of softness and compassion; as slow-motion, soft voiced words are coming from the heavens. Leech and Short (2007) approve this notion, they say, “Graphological conventions are exploited impressionistically, in a way which suggests what sort of pronunciation a reader should adopt in reading aloud.” p.106.

§  It associates the effect of supremacy and

executives with the messages and readers unconsciously perceive them as some special utterances.

 

Bold Typeface to Represent Voice of Satan

In Redeeming Love, Rivers again deviates from the normal way of writing and uses bold typeface to represent voice of Satan (see appendix A). She includes this typeface in her narrative deliberately to perform following functions in the novel:

1.       It represents Satan voice.

2.       It highlights how Satan’s voice tempts us towards destruction and damnation.

3.       It shows the hard and cold visual impact of Satan words.

4.       It shows that Satan is dark and brings darkness in our lives if we follow him.

The very first instance of bold typeface appears in the twelfth chapter and instantly catch readers attention that why another new typeface has been introduced in this novel, but soon they get the answer that it is Satan’s voice which appears in Michael’s conscience to drag him to darkness. For example:

E5: [He heard another voice, dark and powerful and as old as time.

 

When are you going to act like a man? Go ahead and take her. Why are you holding back? Take her. She belongs to you, doesn’t she? Act like a man. Enjoy her body if you can’t get anything else from her. What are you waiting for?

Michael wrestled with the voice in his head.] p.143

E5 represents that Michael heard the dark voice of Satan emerged inside him which insisted him to get sexual pleasures from Angel who was his wife now. But Michael did not want to have sex with her wife until she started understanding his love and started loving him as well. Moreover, he wanted to restore her faith in men which had been totally destroyed as being a prostitute. That’s why he stopped his sexual desires instantly whenever angle took their love making process as a job instead of a celebration of love. But Satan voice was compelling him to use her by provoking his masculinity and was attempting to demolish his power of tolerance and morality. At the same time Satan did not want Angel to redeem and to step back to the life of purity from the ditch of filth. Hence, to fulfill her thematic concern about presenting Satan dark objectives in human life, Rivers not only chooses the dark style, but her choice of words are also very representative. The following examples from the novel tell how Satan struggles to drag angle back into her life of prostitution and how he attacks her from every possible angle.

 

E6: [She could lie in the coals and still not melt the chill attacking her.

Run away from him, Angel. Runaway now—] p.153

 

E7: [There’s still a way out, came the dark voice, counseling her. Tell him the worst of what you’ve done. Tell him about your father. That’ll poison it. That will stop the pain growing inside you.] p.279

Examples E6 and E7 shows how coarsely and darkly Satan tries to push Angel back to her sinisterly life.

Comparison of Effect of Author’s Choice with its Possible Stylistic Variant

In this section the deviant choice of author is altered with its normative or conventional choice to compare the change of impact and difference of efficacy. For example:




 

	Author’s Choice	Normative Choice
E7	[There’s still a way out, came the dark voice, counseling her. Tell him the worst of what you’ve done . . . .] p.279	There’s still a way out, came the dark voice, counseling her. Tell him the worst of what you’ve done.




This comparison depicts how sinister and commanding is Satan’s voice. If we read the instances aloud, we will get the feeling of coldness, thickness and heaviness both due to bold typeface and lexical choices the author made for Satan’s utterance. The bold style highlights the feeling of hardness and coldness and complements the semantic and lexical structures chosen by the author. See also E5, E6 and E7, how the choice of words in these examples resembles their style, the choice of words is harsh and cold; demanding intolerance and chauvinism from Michael (e.g ‘Act like a man’, ‘Enjoy her body’ and ‘What are you waiting for?’) and haste and stubbornness from Angel (‘Run away now…’, Tell him the worst’) and dark typeface even make these dark emotions darker. So, this choice of Rivers’ effectively strengthens her thematic concern that Satan creates darkness and troubles in human’s lives.

 

Italic Typeface to Highlight Intended/ Significant Messages

Francine Rivers has used italic typeface in Redeeming Love in a great extent (see table 2) and it performs the following functions in the novel (see appendix A):

1.       Used to represent expressions or words to be highlighted

2.       Used to represent protagonists interior monologues

3.       Used to show protagonists interior conversation with God and their prayers to God

4.       Used to express an ironical sense of something

For example:

E8: [She blinked, frightened and confused by his manner. He was her papa.] p.12

E9: [“Why do you make things difficult for yourself? It all comes down to the same thing. It won’t be my way or your way. It’ll just be the way it is.”

A sexual act was what she meant, and he didn’t know how to show her it was meant to be a celebration of love.] p.155

E10: [She could feel the burn of tears behind her eyes. Oh, God, make me believe!] p.413

E11: […, lay in the darkness, wide awake. He would have to give up hoping he could break through her barriers. But how do I reach her, Lord? Tell me how!] p.164

E12: [As the tormenting thoughts built in his mind, he reached back and clung to one simple Scripture. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”] p.434

Above mentioned all examples express that the author has exploited this graphological technique to bring certain features or message of the text to fore. See E8 and E9, in which author italicizes certain words; ‘was’, ‘my way’ and ‘your way’ respectively to show emphasis on certain ideas. In E9 ‘was’ is italicized to show the abnormality of relation present between papa (biological father of Angel) and Angel. Here verb ‘was’ shows attributive relational process present between he (the carrier) and her papa (attribute). Now italicizing of was represent that though carrier has the attribute of fatherhood biologically but his ‘attitude and behaviour’ towards her daughter is refuting that attribute, so behaviorally he is not her father. Hence, the author italicizes the verb to present the sarcastic or ironic stress on the very existence of his paternity.  

Similarly, E9 also shows the stress on two phrases ‘my way’ or ‘your way’. In this example my way and your way are italicized, which present the crux of the whole novel. Throughout the novel, the author presents two ways of living; a wrong way and right way via the portrayal of protagonists. Throughout the novel the author also presents two pictures of sexual relation; one shows the lust which people have when they used women bodies illegally and other shows a sacred and sanctified celebration of relationship present between husband and wife. So by italicizing these two phrases, the author actually brings this matter into the notice of her readers that the way we use something does matter.

Italic typeface is also used to show protagonists’

interior conversation with God and their prayers. For example, E10 shows that the author italicizes the supplication and prayers of character. In E10 Angel prays to God that makes her believe. The implication behind the italicizing of this portion of the novel is again Rivers' objective to teach readers how to move towards a righteous path –by seeking help from God. On the other hand, E11 demonstrates the Michael interior conversation with God which again shows the author’s objective to teach her readers how they can get rid of their pent up feeling by communicating or sharing them with God. Though they would not get the tangible answer but things would become easy for them and exhaustion would be released. Finally, E12 shows that how the important messages which writer wants to deliver her readers are also italicized.

Hence, Rivers has practiced italic typeface in above-explained four ways to grab readers’ attention towards her thematically important messages. And if this deviant choice of author is changed with standard style, the whole effect of the message is altered.

 

Deviant Use of Full Stop as Intensifier and Phonological Realizer

Truss’s (2004) claims that punctuation marks create the psychological impact on readers mind as he says that “on the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to turn the tune.” (p. 71). Likewise, in Redeeming Love, Rivers utilizes punctuation marks eccentrically to assemble and deliver her ideas according to her intentions and aspiration. She uses ‘full stop’ in deviant way which work as intensifier and substitute to phonological realization of message both. For example:

E13: [The lady came back, her face white and lined, her cheeks wet. “No,” she said. One word. That was all. No.] p.34

When Angel’s mother ‘Mae’ reached her parents’ home –after being rejected by his boyfriend with whom she was eloped and after being totally forsaken with no space in the whole world –to beg their forgiveness, her father refused and said, “No”. Her mother came back and told Mae the answer of her father, the whole world turned down for her, and this gravity and intensity of situation is masterfully presented by Rivers by using full stop in deviant way, which cannot be represented in simple sentence. “One word. That was all. No.”

Davy and Crystal (1969) and Leech and Short (2007) declare that deviant graphological patterns are alternative realization to phonological patterns as well. Rivers has used full stop at some places to give her messages the characteristics of spoken conversation. For example:

 

E14: [“What’re you laughing at?”

 “At you. Big man. Duchess’s pet dog.”] p.94

When the brothel’s guard ‘Magowan’ beat and rebuked helpless Angel for not entertaining the clients, she bitterly laughed at him in hatred and repression. Then he asked her what are you laughing at and Angel replied in clenching voice, “At you. Big man. Duchess's pet dog." Now, this utterance does not follow any sort of sentence structure and rather the intensification and gritting sound pattern of the message is delivered through by dividing the utterance into three separate parts. If the above example E14 is altered with the standard pattern as following:

I am laughing at you, big man and Duchess’s pet dog.

The whole stress pattern and phonological loudness and hardness of the utterance will be diminished. If we read the author choice aloud, it gives the effect of loud and clenched voice and when we read the alternative choice the phonological effect of loudness and grittiness is dissolved further ‘and’ creates disturbance in regular pattern and flow of voice. Moreover, semantically, the degree of rage and hatred present in the first utterances are also reduced in the alternative choice. So, the comparison between the author’s choice and possible normative choice shows that the effect will be ruined both on phonological level and semantic level if the author’s graphological strategy is changed with the normative one. 

Conclusion

The analysis reveals that graphology is that level of language which has high potential for ideology construction and meaning production. Redeeming Love is the perfect example which externalizes how the authors can encode their intended meanings at this level of language along with making them visually conspicuous and marked. The analysis demonstrates that Rivers has used graphological deviation in a very unique way, an instance of which is not available in any other inspirational fiction. Though Lynn Austin (a renowned Canadian inspirational fiction writer) in Wonderland Creek and Jenette Oke (a pioneer of Inspirational Fiction genre) in Love Finds a Home practice italic typeface to highlight particular utterances of their novels but the way Rivers deploys this technique in Redeeming Love is very innovative. Her choice of bold plus italic typeface to represent the voice of God (see section 4.2.1) and Bold typeface to represent the voice of Satan (see section 4.2.2) are thematically discerning. Additionally, the lexical or vocabulary choices made by the author for God’s utterance like Beloved, come to me. , I am always with you beloved. ,  Trust in me with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (p.213) etc. and for Satan Voice like  When are you going to act like a man? , Run away from him, Angel., Fool! You want to end up like your mother? (p.280) etc. further fortify Rivers’ thematic concerns that tells readers that God’s voice which appears in their conscience ultimately brings solace and peacefulness in their lives and if they follow Satan, he will drag them to darkness and ultimately ruin their lives. And when the readers read these utterances aloud; the God's voice gives the soft and peaceful impact on the other hand, Satan's voice gives the hard and dark effect both due to typeface and vocabulary choice. So, the analysis has established that graphological deviation plays a major role in encoding author’s message to its optimal impact. 

The analysis also demonstrates that if the author’s deviant ’s choice has been altered with its normative pattern, how the whole effect would have been damaged which implies that style matters a lot in Rivers novel. In short, the analysis proves that Rivers’ deploys various forms of graphologically deviant techniques –what Davy and Crystal (2013:174) refers to as “graphetic highlighting”– to instill her thematic concerns with the appropriate emphasis and prominence and to encode certain religious beliefs in a stimulating and polite way. 

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