In most institutions, thee study of second language literary works has become a dead exercise of learning facts, figures and critical opinions about those works. The author feels that the judicious use of approaches suggested in stylistics would help second language students to judge things for themselves in a context not naturally attuned to the underlyng assumptions of that likterature. These 'things' would include the use of language, thus helping the ESL learner to develop an understanding of the dynamics of the language