English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
Alex Smith
Sticks and Stones and Bones: Two Differing Views onLife and Death as Continuums in As I Lay Dying and The Lovely Bones
Category: 2 Essay: Carroll, Twain, Faulkner, Sebold | Alex Smith
The Lovely Bones and As I Lay Dying, share the common belief that the dead never really die, but continue to influence the living from beyond the grave. The narrators reveal these beliefs through descriptions of specific physical barriers that separate these two worlds. However, a closer look at...
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Posted by asmith9 on December 09, 2003 at 10:02 AM
The Deepest Invasion of Privacy
Category: 10 Blog: The Lovely Bones | Alex Smith
Whether she is entirely aware of it or not, Suzie’s horrific fate shapes her narration by giving her insight into the minds and thoughts of everyone left on earth. While she would make us believe that she can only see these characters visually by “watching” from up above or from...
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Posted by asmith9 on December 04, 2003 at 08:41 AM
The Central Theme to a Central Monologue
Category: 09 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Alex Smith
If it is Addie’s monologue that is the central perspective of the book, it is the words of her father that are the central idea to her monologue. “The reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time,” (169) he used to say. While she...
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Posted by asmith9 on November 25, 2003 at 03:45 AM
Silences Speak Louder than Words
Category: 08 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Alex Smith
Provocative silence, or more particularly, the use of language “without the words” (27) describes several key moments in As I Lay Dying including the prominant theme of Addie's death. The children and Addie reflect on two very different views on death and the meaning of life, without any words being...
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Posted by asmith9 on November 18, 2003 at 09:52 AM
Reminding the Naratee that Huck is Still Only a Child
Category: 07 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Smith
Huck naively accepts Tom’s dangerous and surprising deception about Jim’s freedom solely because things worked out for everyone in the end and the sense of adventure was competed. This reiterates to the naratee that he is only a child, despite what the previous ten chapters led us to believe about...
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Posted by asmith9 on November 11, 2003 at 09:47 AM
Huck's Own Honesty
Category: 06 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Smith
Huck makes “allowances” for people he knows are “frauds” and “liers” because he knows he is not always honest himself. In fact, Huck seems almost envious at the king’s and the duke’s ability to lie, as Huck is excited by the new adventures that are coming his way when these...
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Posted by asmith9 on November 04, 2003 at 10:00 AM
Contrasting Power
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Alex Smith
Both Jim and Huck hold contrasting power in their relationship, as one is a child and is white, while the other is an adult but is black. Particularly, Huck doesn’t know what to think about Jim’s intelligence, as Huck both looks up to Jim and looks down to him as...
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Posted by asmith9 on October 28, 2003 at 09:51 AM
Repeating Repetition
Category: 11 Essay: James and Bronte | Alex Smith
Both The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë use repetition as an important tool for connecting the past, the present, and the future. From the seemingly mundane repetition of words to the repetition of particular narrative frames, then to the use of...
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Posted by asmith9 on October 23, 2003 at 09:51 AM
The "communication" between two types of narration
Category: 04 Blog: Alice in Wonderland | Alex Smith
Carroll’s narration of Alice in Wonderland is meant to confuse the reader as it gives both an objective description of the communications between characters, as well as a more subjective understanding of what is going on in Alice’s head. When Alice is stuck in the white rabbit’s house and is...
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Posted by asmith9 on October 07, 2003 at 02:00 AM
Freedom from the Past
Category: 03 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Alex Smith
The relationships that younger Catherine establishes within her own generation (i.e. with Linton and Hareton) are a continuation of many parallel elements that existed in her mother’s situation, yet she also manages to replace her mother’s “imprisoned” spirit with one that is more “free” when it comes to her relationships...
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Posted by asmith9 on September 30, 2003 at 02:59 AM
Ambiguity
Category: 02 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Alex Smith
Bronte’s framing of Lockwood’s odd dream in Chapter 3 leaves a lot of ambiguity as to the true interpretation of his vision of the chapel and ideas of “sin” and “transgressions” as well as his vision of a young girl Catherine Linton, and how the two are connected. In his...
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Posted by asmith9 on September 23, 2003 at 09:42 AM
Misreading Mrs. Grose
Category: 01 Blog: Turn of the Screw | Alex Smith
Throughout The Turn of the Screw, Mrs. Grose has helped to feed many of the governess’ exaggerated, illogical, and irrational ideas. Though the governess misreads many situations on her own, it is through discussions with Mrs. Grose that her emotions and thoughts are transformed in her mind into a reality....
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Posted by asmith9 on September 16, 2003 at 02:55 AM
practice
Category: Alex Smith
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Posted by asmith9 on September 11, 2003 at 09:16 AM