In the tale Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad the author is himself the narrator of the story. In the novel the narrator is retelling the event entailed by the main character Charles Marlow. By having Marlow's words repeated in the story as the author remembers them, the author can add descriptions which hint at Marlow's own emotional reactions to his story, these description would be difficult to portray in a first person narration.
It is difficult to imagine how an author could not embody a little of themselves into their characters. Knowledge of the essences of humanity, of human emotion can only be learned through experience. Feelings can not be invented for a character, they are derived from life. Conrad did not experience what the character Marlow did. By putting himself in the story Conrad, as his character, can only provide the details given to him by Marlow, as a result there are gaps in the story and Marlow seems like a spectator on his own life in his narratives.
The character Marlow interacts little with his environment. On Marlow's steamship, traveling up the Congo River, people suffer and are killed all around him. Marlow does little to help these people. A spear that hits inches from Marlow kills the pilot on the steamboat, but Marlow offers no hint at his emotions regarding the situation. One would think that Marlow should feel glad and shocked that the spear did not hit him, but he did not seem to really care. The slaves on Marlow's ship are starving to death, he seems genuinely concerned but does nothing to help the starving workers; nor does Marlow offer why he does not care to help them. Marlow's lack of reaction to the stressful events around him suggests the stereotypes and prejudices of the time; perhaps it was un-cool during Marlow's time to worry about workers when he was captain. It makes the situation seem more realistic, a storyteller would naturally omit unsavory details. Marlow's tale abruptly ends when he tells of how he told the wife of a dead man that she was now a widow. It was a rather unsatisfactory ending.
In the story Watership Down by Richard Adams the author appears as himself in the novel, in this story too there is a certain amount of disconnect and unfulfilled gaps in the story. With exception to the characters in one chapter, all the characters are rabbits. The plot revolves around the main character Hazel, Hazel's goal is to start a new colony or "warren" of rabbits. A majority of the story is dedicated to Hazel and his buck (male rabbits) friends trying to bring doe (female) rabbits into the new colony. Although he is eventually successful the story ends with Hazel's death, the reader never finds out if Hazel ever finds a lady-friend or has children which was Hazel's entire goal. Hazel is disconnected from his friends, he never profited from all his struggles to raid other warrens for females. Adams' human character, which represents Adams himself, is also portrayed as being thoughtful but different from his comrades.
The authors of the novels were characters in their own stories; they could not embody themselves into other characters because there would be two of the same character, themselves and other version of themselves. The protagonists lead empty lives because they must remain disconnected and separate from the characters representing the authors.
Thoughtful discussion of the relationship between the author, the author's narrative personal ("Conrad"-as-narrator), and Marlow (who is quoted telling his story to "Conrad"-the-narrator who then narrates to us).
Your thoughts about Marlow's distance, his lack of interaction are interesting but I'd like to read a bit more.
This last passage in which you briefly compare the effect created by the relationship between the authors, the authors-as-narrators, and the protagonists contains an interesting thesis: "The protagonists lead empty lives because they must remain disconnected and separate from the characters representing the authors."
Why do you suppose the authors chose to keep the author-narrators separate from the protagonists? What effect is created in the narration? How does this make the reader feel? What does it make the reader consider? How does it affect the story that is told?
You also propose that the author-narrator and the protagonists are aspects of the author and therefore "two of the same character" so they cannot interact. (Have you seen or read _Fight Club_?) This is an interesting thesis & again I ask why? Why would the author put two versions of the same character into a work of fiction? What effect does it create? What does this force the reader to consider about identity, about experience, about telling stories, etc.?
It is interesting that Kurt Vonnegut also places himself in Slaughterhouse-Five, which causes me to think about the relationship between Billy and fictional-Kurt.
2 comments:
In the tale Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad the author is himself the narrator of the story. In the novel the narrator is retelling the event entailed by the main character Charles Marlow. By having Marlow's words repeated in the story as the author remembers them, the author can add descriptions which hint at Marlow's own emotional reactions to his story, these description would be difficult to portray in a first person narration.
It is difficult to imagine how an author could not embody a little of themselves into their characters. Knowledge of the essences of humanity, of human emotion can only be learned through experience. Feelings can not be invented for a character, they are derived from life. Conrad did not experience what the character Marlow did. By putting himself in the story Conrad, as his character, can only provide the details given to him by Marlow, as a result there are gaps in the story and Marlow seems like a spectator on his own life in his narratives.
The character Marlow interacts little with his environment. On Marlow's steamship, traveling up the Congo River, people suffer and are killed all around him. Marlow does little to help these people. A spear that hits inches from Marlow kills the pilot on the steamboat, but Marlow offers no hint at his emotions regarding the situation. One would think that Marlow should feel glad and shocked that the spear did not hit him, but he did not seem to really care. The slaves on Marlow's ship are starving to death, he seems genuinely concerned but does nothing to help the starving workers; nor does Marlow offer why he does not care to help them. Marlow's lack of reaction to the stressful events around him suggests the stereotypes and prejudices of the time; perhaps it was un-cool during Marlow's time to worry about workers when he was captain. It makes the situation seem more realistic, a storyteller would naturally omit unsavory details. Marlow's tale abruptly ends when he tells of how he told the wife of a dead man that she was now a widow. It was a rather unsatisfactory ending.
In the story Watership Down by Richard Adams the author appears as himself in the novel, in this story too there is a certain amount of disconnect and unfulfilled gaps in the story. With exception to the characters in one chapter, all the characters are rabbits. The plot revolves around the main character Hazel, Hazel's goal is to start a new colony or "warren" of rabbits. A majority of the story is dedicated to Hazel and his buck (male rabbits) friends trying to bring doe (female) rabbits into the new colony. Although he is eventually successful the story ends with Hazel's death, the reader never finds out if Hazel ever finds a lady-friend or has children which was Hazel's entire goal. Hazel is disconnected from his friends, he never profited from all his struggles to raid other warrens for females. Adams' human character, which represents Adams himself, is also portrayed as being thoughtful but different from his comrades.
The authors of the novels were characters in their own stories; they could not embody themselves into other characters because there would be two of the same character, themselves and other version of themselves. The protagonists lead empty lives because they must remain disconnected and separate from the characters representing the authors.
Thoughtful discussion of the relationship between the author, the author's narrative personal ("Conrad"-as-narrator), and Marlow (who is quoted telling his story to "Conrad"-the-narrator who then narrates to us).
Your thoughts about Marlow's distance, his lack of interaction are interesting but I'd like to read a bit more.
This last passage in which you briefly compare the effect created by the relationship between the authors, the authors-as-narrators, and the protagonists contains an interesting thesis: "The protagonists lead empty lives because they must remain disconnected and separate from the characters representing the authors."
Why do you suppose the authors chose to keep the author-narrators separate from the protagonists? What effect is created in the narration? How does this make the reader feel? What does it make the reader consider? How does it affect the story that is told?
You also propose that the author-narrator and the protagonists are aspects of the author and therefore "two of the same character" so they cannot interact. (Have you seen or read _Fight Club_?) This is an interesting thesis & again I ask why? Why would the author put two versions of the same character into a work of fiction? What effect does it create? What does this force the reader to consider about identity, about experience, about telling stories, etc.?
It is interesting that Kurt Vonnegut also places himself in Slaughterhouse-Five, which causes me to think about the relationship between Billy and fictional-Kurt.
Thanks for the thinking, Erin.
Grade: 7
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