Narrative Voices...
In this lesson we focused on narrative voice.....within various novels, we as readers tend to question the responsibility of the narrator, which is why the reader can never be sure on how accurate or reliable the narrator seems. Perhaps this is done on purpose to allow the reader to be left confused....make their own interpretation on a situation?
To understand this in more depth the whole class was set a task; this was carried out in 5 steps;
1) Tell the person next to you what you did at the weekend...BE DETAILED!!
2) Write on the paper what your partners did last night after they got home. BE DETAILED!!
3) Give your number 4
4) Read the paper. Summarise what it said and tell it to number 5
5) Summarise what number 4 just told you...
In conclusion we came to understanding that Narrators all tell their own narrative on the basis of what they are told- In other words they are all filters. Within “Wuthering Heights”, we closely analysed the narrative of Lockwood. Through Lucy Webster’s article in “Lockwood suitable guide?” we discussed what we found out about Lockwood and his responsibility as a narrator....in particularly we discussed how the author notes that Lockwood passes judgements on the characters and their relationship, as well as this he mistakes a heap of dead rabbits as cats. This misinterpretation is closely linked to the critical exploration of the polite society and the conventions which govern it in the (18th, evidently Lockwood fails to realise that these are not valid within the world of Wuthering Heights. The attempts to name, categorise, and interpret, and the failure to do so effectively is a dominant theme in the text.
As a group we also looked elements of “realism” within the narrator’s voice...focusing on language, structure and form. During this task, however, we found and discussed how Lockwood could be classified as a frame narrator; in which he has full control over the novel/ the story as a whole. Besides this we found that within “Wuthering Heights” there are layers of reliability, as Lockwood seems to frame what Nelly narrates to him, narrators are framed like prisms; in which the information is reflected at different direction.; the story is refracted by what the narrator subjects (place judgements).Becoming familiar with the transactions between Nelly to Lockwood, we also argued that the readers are more similar to Lockwood; we do not understand the situations within the novel, as we are separated /isolated from everyone. In relation to elements of the gothic, the readers emanate from another realm in which we enter into another, in other words we are unfamiliar with our surrounds- touring the gothic.
This psychological uncertainty links to the notion of “terror” within the gothic...in which Bronte may have done this on purpose to allow the reader to wonder into the mysteries of Wuthering heights. Similarly, in relation to the bloody chamber; within the story of “the Erl King”- the use of shifting tense links to Bronte’s use of uncertainty as this confuses the reader and misleads them to enter into another realm... HOMEWORK:
• Discuss the opening two chapters of “Wuthering heights”. What do we learn about our narrator? (A02, Link to the Elements of the Gothic!!!
• Comment on my blog post...PLEASE ;)
emm had a bit of technical difficulty while preparing this, but sorry guys it was so late but here it is...hope it makes sense.....haha Sorry...
ReplyDeleteSadgrove couldn't have taught it better himself
ReplyDeleteHigh praise Carlo - I agree. Georgina, you've clearly understood the idea of the complex narrative structure of the novel and taken it in your own direction - well done.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on other examples of this kind of complex narrative in more modern gothic texts/films etc. How has the gothic evolved in terms of the way in which these stories of 'the sleep of reason' are told?
DB
I agree with your bit on Bronte's purpose to add terror to the text through the narrative. I think that all the different interpretations each narrator expresses, adds a sense of mystery to the novel...makes it much more interesting to read!
ReplyDeleteNice one (Y), so much quicker and straight to the point...unlike the timeless lesson last week. I really understood the structure...
ReplyDeletei agree with you on the bit that all the narrators seem like filters, they tell the story of what they heard from someone else, therefore making us question if we should really trust the narrators, he'Lockwood' puts more pressure on himself when we find out that he quite often takes the wrong judgement about situations, threfore putting us in doubts if he is really a reliable narrator..(very nice blog) :)
ReplyDeleteI think that this post makes it easy for us to understand that in the writing style of Brotie we know that we cant trust the narrative voices because we are given the story through layers, and all the information that we get might have been influenced by the narrator.
ReplyDeleteGeorgina this is really good, i agree with the aspect of narrative forming a prism and reflecting different perspectives to the reader. Also, your link to Bloody Chamber is very useful as it reminds us to make the link in our own work. The pics are not too bad too ;)
ReplyDeletenice blogpost, i like the link to realism and frame narration, which provides an extra link between this and the pardoner's tale. i also like that phrase, 'touring the gothic'
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the way you describe Bronte's aspect of terror through narrative and the way in which narrators act as a filter for the original version of events. I also think the term "touring the narrative" is a perfect description of the reader venturing into unfamiliar surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm gonna agree with Carlo though, you gave Bad-grove a run for his money =]