English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
Jeff Nolin
The Generation Gaps in Alice in Wonderland and Huck Finn
Category: 2 Essay: Carroll, Twain, Faulkner, Sebold | Jeff Nolin
Gaps in generations occur in nearly every work. One generation usually has a distinct power over another, and in most cases the generation carrying the power is the older of the two. A traditional example of these generation gaps is Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Alice, a young girl, has...
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Posted by jnolin on December 09, 2003 at 09:24 AM
The "Mother-stranger"
Category: 10 Blog: The Lovely Bones | Jeff Nolin
On page 42, Suzie moves from a focus on the present to a story about her first camera. With that camera, she took a picture of her mother and through that picture, she finally realized her mother was a person besides “mom”. The narration then shifts back to the present,...
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Posted by jnolin on December 04, 2003 at 09:18 AM
How Darl, Jewel, Anse and Cash Handle Addie's Death
Category: 08 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Jeff Nolin
From the way certain members of the family handle the mother’s death, which is different by most of them, we can learn a great deal about the members of the family. Anse sees Addie’s death as just more bad luck from that “durn” road behind the house. He seems to...
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Posted by jnolin on November 18, 2003 at 12:36 AM
Tom's Fraud
Category: 07 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jeff Nolin
Tom’s fraud that he essentially played on Jim and Huck while they were freeing Jim was perhaps the most disturbing fraud in the book. Tom risks the lives of all 3 of them so they can have an adventure when Tom knew all along the Jim was “free as any...
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Posted by jnolin on November 11, 2003 at 09:38 AM
Huck and the Duke and the King
Category: 06 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jeff Nolin
Because the duke and the king are both free white men, capable of turning both Huck and Jim in for running away, Huck has to treat them well despite that he knows they are frauds. Huck himself scammed people when he told the men looking for runaway slaves that his...
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Posted by jnolin on November 04, 2003 at 09:36 AM
Tom Sawyer in Huck Finn
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Jeff Nolin
From the way Huck is telling the story, Tom Sawyer seems to take on a leadership role amongst the other kids and they all look up to him and seem willing to take part in all of his ideas. The kids seem to think his ideas are good and that...
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Posted by jnolin on October 28, 2003 at 08:58 AM
Reader Involvement in Wuthering Heights and The Turn of the Screw
Category: 11 Essay: James and Bronte | Jeff Nolin
Henry James’ novel The Turn of the Screw and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights display many similarities in the way that each author attempts to tell the story. Each author chooses a narrator that is not omniscient, and because of this the reader experiences the story from an objective viewpoint. Because...
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Posted by jnolin on October 23, 2003 at 09:07 AM
The Witty Narrator
Category: 04 Blog: Alice in Wonderland | Jeff Nolin
The narrator in Alice in Wonderland seems to enjoy mocking Alice. Alice talks as though she is from the upper class, but and tried to show off how educated she is many times during the book, but she often is confused with what she says and the narrator often adds...
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Posted by jnolin on October 07, 2003 at 09:36 AM
Why Isabella's Point of View?
Category: 03 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Jeff Nolin
Bronte shifts the point of view of the story to Isabella’s via the letter that she sends to Nelly. The reason Bronte does this is so the reader can get a vivid picture of the revenge that Heathcliff enacts onto Isabella. Since Nelly was at Thrushcross Grange when this happened,...
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Posted by jnolin on September 30, 2003 at 09:30 AM
The Reliability of Nelly
Category: 02 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Jeff Nolin
Nelly may be a reliable narrator in terms of presenting us with the facts of the happenings at Wuthering Heights, but because she tells the story from her own point of view (based only on her own experiences with the characters) she doesn’t know about characters thoughts and feelings (unless...
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Posted by jnolin on September 23, 2003 at 08:54 AM
Flora and Mrs. Jessel
Category: 01 Blog: Turn of the Screw | Jeff Nolin
In chapter 18 of Turn of the Screw, Miles and Flora appear to try to ease some of the recent tension between them and the Governess by being especially considerate to her. The Governess, however, interprets this as Miles creating a diversion so Flora could be with Miss Jessel without...
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Posted by jnolin on September 16, 2003 at 12:57 AM