The analyzed passage is an extract from the story by J.Cheever, which is named by the one of characters of the story. Clementina is an Italian girl, she is working as a housemaid. The story starts with the description of her master. He was meager and tall, had black and strong hair, modest in some things. Than the description of her wife follows: she was fine and had skin like marble. The family was very interesting. They used to leave the lights burning for a long time, liked to burn wood in the fireplace, to eat Italian food and drink wine. The approach to the child guidance of this family was quite specific. They spoiled the children a lot, never whipped, even when it was necessary. But the master of Clementina was a generous and kind person, he used to help her, for example, when bringing a demijohn of water. It was unusual for her, and she was even getting ashamed, because thought that looked like a lazy lady. And several times, walking in the dusk, she saw ghosts. But after she told this to the master, he was not sympathetic. The master and his wife did not believe in the dead.
The story is written in an epic tone. The passage is wholly narrative. But the author interprets the thinking of Clementina.
The author employs a number of foreign loans which give to the text the national connotation, i.e. Italian words like signore, signora, cafone, frissone, genitori, pasta, sala. The national connotation is enhanced as well by the application of proper nouns and realia: the author uses in the text the words Embassy, Rome, San Marcello, pasta etc. The name of the character – Clementina is giving as well the national connotation, because sounds typically Italian. On base of these things it is easy to assume that the scene is laid in Italy.
Reading the text, we can see that Clementina is a good, kind, quiet girl. She was “treated like a guest in the house”, “she prayed at San Marcello’s”.