Bowdoin

English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
Kira Chappelle


Desire for Human Connections and Narrative Credibility

Category: 2 Essay: Carroll, Twain, Faulkner, Sebold | Kira Chappelle

Huck Finn of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Susie Salmon of The Lovely Bones both desire relationships that nurture and fulfill voids in their lives. Huck seeks out relationships with adults that fulfill the void of the healthy parent-child relationship he never experienced. Susie, on the other hand, seeks to...
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Posted by kchappel on December 08, 2003 at 07:37 PM


In the Walls of Sex

Category: 10 Blog: The Lovely Bones | Kira Chappelle

Susie’s narration fixates on several relationships between men and women. One relationship that Susie is particularly fascinated with is the developing relationship between Lindsey and Samuel. When Samuel and Lindsey first kiss Susie says, “it was glorious. I was almost alive again” (71). Lindsey’s first kiss is innocent and sweet,...
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Posted by kchappel on December 03, 2003 at 07:29 PM


Questioning Words

Category: 09 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Kira Chappelle

The placement of Addie’s sole monologue is interesting because it contrasts how Addie views salvation, with how the adjacent narrators, Cora and Whitfield, view salvation. Their contradictory views then lead readers to question the reliability of the narrators and their words of As I Lay Dying. Cora and Whitfield are...
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Posted by kchappel on November 24, 2003 at 08:08 PM


Addie's Sin and Salvation

Category: 08 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Kira Chappelle

From the beginning of the novel, several characters reveal that Addie Bundren favored Jewel over her other children. This favoritism is a mystery, particularly to Cora. “Not [Jewel] to miss a chance to make that extra three dollars at the price of his mother’s goodbye kiss” (21-22), Cora says, though...
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Posted by kchappel on November 17, 2003 at 03:13 PM


The Manipulative Side of Huck

Category: 07 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kira Chappelle

One particularly disturbing revelation in the last chapters of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is about a fraud we already knew—that Huck was pretending to be Tom Sawyer, and Tom to be Sid Sawyer. When Aunt Polly reveals to the kind, caring Phelps’s Huck’s and Tom’s true identities, “aunt Sally...
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Posted by kchappel on November 10, 2003 at 05:08 PM


Lessons in Adventure

Category: 06 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kira Chappelle

Beginning with Huck’s night escapade with Tom Sawyer in chapter one, it is evident that adventure is thrilling to Huck, and the element of escape essential to the success of his adventures. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer entertain themselves by pushing limits and seeing how much they can get...
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Posted by kchappel on November 03, 2003 at 10:37 PM


The Wealth of Adventure

Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Kira Chappelle

The theme of money is seen throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though it would be much more accurate to call it “treasure” in light of Huck Finn’s narration. Its frequent presence makes it seem that money is very important to Huck, but it is not the monetary value as...
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Posted by kchappel on October 27, 2003 at 08:14 PM


Social Class and Credibility

Category: 11 Essay: James and Bronte | Kira Chappelle

In both Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, social class defines the narrators’ roles in the novels and inevitably influences their telling of the stories. Both narrators in the novels are members of the lower classes and, by definition, lack power and opportunity,...
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Posted by kchappel on October 22, 2003 at 07:28 PM


Got Narration?

Category: 04 Blog: Alice in Wonderland | Kira Chappelle

Communication between Alice and the hookah-smoking Caterpillar is slow, repetitive, and broken. This frustrated communication is reinforced by the narrator who simply recounts the dialogue, rather than attempt to clarify the dialogue. The Caterpillar begins the conversation by asking Alice, “Who are you?” to which Alice answers, “I—I hardly...
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Posted by kchappel on October 06, 2003 at 11:47 PM


Isabella's Frame for Young Catherine

Category: 03 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Kira Chappelle

While Wuthering Heights is narrated almost entirely by Nelly, chapter 13 is told from the point of view of Isabella Linton, who has recently married Heathcliff, in the form of a letter to Nelly. Isabella recounts her first day at Wuthering Heights and her desperate regrets for moving across the...
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Posted by kchappel on September 29, 2003 at 03:20 PM


Nelly and Hareton

Category: 02 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Kira Chappelle

In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the reader may expect Ellen Dean (Nelly), the head servant, to be the “eyes and ears” of the household, and therefore an insightful and honest narrator. In truth, Nelly is deeply involved in the drama, and is taken into the confidences of Catherine, Heathcliff,...
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Posted by kchappel on September 22, 2003 at 07:28 PM


Envy of Miss Jessel

Category: 01 Blog: Turn of the Screw | Kira Chappelle

In chapter two of Henry James’s "Turn of the Screw" there is a brief misunderstanding between the governess and Mrs. Grose concerning the previous governess. The governess asks Mrs. Grose her, and Mrs. Grose replies, “The last governess? She was also young and pretty.” (18) What is so telling...
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Posted by kchappel on September 15, 2003 at 09:02 PM


practice

Category: Kira Chappelle

practice entry.......
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Posted by kchappel on September 09, 2003 at 12:28 PM