The Effects of the Writing in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye
Margaret Atwood, "Cat's Eye," Discuss the methods and effects of the
writing, with particular attention to the way the narrator presents
herself to the reader, in the extract and in the novel as a whole
Throughout the novel, "Cat's Eye," the narrator discusses the details
of her life in an extremely detached and abstract style. She invites
us to travel with her, back into her past, where both the reader and
the narrator watch the unravelling of her past experiences. The
narrator acts as a spectator to her own past, she does not re-enact,
but instead replays the details, as if re-winding an old video. Each
individual experience contains vivid and evocative description,
allowing the reader to paint a clear, concise picture of the events.
Although the genre of the book is fictional autobiography, the way in
which she tells her story includes little to no dialogue (at this
point in the novel), and implies and suggests the narrator's feelings,
rather than directs the reader to blindly follow her lead.
The extract from the novel is designed as a brief introduction to the
narrator's current life. The paragraphs make it easy to divide into
five sections; the narrator's own view of her existence, her
surroundings, her husband, her children, and her career. In each
section, the key themes, which often surface in the novel, are hinted
at.
In the narrator's opening, she implies feelings of self-doubt, and
introduces the idea of disguise. Although she is initially defensive,
"I do of course have a real life," it becomes clear that, rather than
accusing the reader of doubting her, ...
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...ract ends with, "I have had a narrow escape."
This is an extremely provocative sentence; it gives us no information
as to the subject of her escape, and so incites the powerful sense of
mystery that is central to the novel. The narrator often ends chapters
or paragraphs with short sentences with unclear meanings, which fuels
the reader's curiosity, since they appear to hint at deeper insights
into the narrator's psyche. After describing her family, she ends
abruptly with the line, "Such are my pictures of the dead," this is a
good example of the shock which she seems to enjoy inflicting upon the
reader. As she tells us her story, the narrator acts as a
self-confessed, "Disembodied voice," and we experience her memories as
clearly as if we were there, and, with the emotive descriptions, it is
not hard to believe we are.
Comparing the Narration of The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
perceive the novel in the rational of an eleven-year-old girl. One short, simple sentence is followed by another , relating each in an easy flow of thoughts. Gibbons allows this stream of thoughts to again emphasize the childish perception of life’s greatest tragedies. For example, Gibbons uses the simple diction and stream of consciousness as Ellen searches herself for the true person she is. Gibbons uses this to show the reader how Ellen is an average girl who enjoys all of the things normal children relish and to contrast the naive lucidity of the sentences to the depth of the conceptions which Ellen has such a simplistic way of explaining.
With the final lines give us a better understanding of her situation, where her life has been devoured by the children. As she is nursing the youngest child, that sits staring at her feet, she murmurs into the wind the words “They have eaten me alive.” A hyperbolic statement symbolizing the entrapment she is experiencing in the depressing world of motherhood.
A stereotype is a trap, a cage, which restricts individuals to one identity. Once a stereotype is created, it is hard to overcome and leaves traces of prejudice. In agreement with Alicia Ostriker’s The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking, Margaret Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” is a reach out for women to express feelings on gender discrimination without coming across in a way that would engender negative support. “Siren Song”, is written from the perspective of a siren, in a mythological setting but with a contemporary tone, that is restricted to the stereotype of a seductress who seeks to sing men to their deaths but in reality, she wants to break free and find someone that will not fall for her song.
The dialogue a narrator uses with characters in a short story reflects on how the story is being understood by the reader. A character’s dialogue is assumed to be controlled by the author, and then the reader comprehends the dialogue through different points of view in which is told by a narrator. Which point of view the author uses can change how the reader may understand the story. Understanding a story is not just based off the ability to comprehend the plot, setting, characters, and theme. But importantly, understanding what point of view the narrator is in and whether the narrator has dialogue with characters within the story is important. The short story “Lusus Naturae”, written by Margaret Atwood, it’s a short story told by a first person narrator who is a main character in the story but has very minimum dialogue with the other characters. Another short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin, is
...She writes of the type of person that one can only hope exists in this world still. The message of her writing and philosophy is contained in a single phrase from the novel: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine,” (731). This is an inspiration, awakening an inner voice and drive that impels each person to do their absolute best. It implores the soul of the reader to awaken, to become the ideal of the human spirit, and to rise until it can rise no higher. It is a call to anyone with reason, anyone with the strength to be an Atlas, and it is reminding him or her of their duty to live up to the individual potential. For as long as there are those who would hear the message, there will still be hope for mankind.
which looks similar to his old cat but has a spooky factor to it. The
Gillian Flynn and Edgar Allen Poe apply gothic literature of psychological issues and violence throughout their gothic literature in, Sharp Objects, The Black Cat, and The Raven to illustrate a dreary storyline.
In contrast, syntax provides a new perspective to the narrator s behavior as sentence structure draws attention to her erratic behavior. By her last entry, the narrator s sentences have become short and simple. Paragraphs 227 through 238 contain few adjectives resulting in limited descriptions yet her short sentences emphasize her actions providing plenty of imagery. The syntax quickly pulls the reader through the end as the narrator reaches an end to her madness.
when she says “they used to go over it as fast a possible” then later
Lewis Carroll’s life as a writer and as a person can be described to some people as secretive or peculiar. He was born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England in 1832 under the name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. All the books that he published was wrote with the pen name of Lewis Carroll. Being a mathematician, photographer, and novelist, he was a much respected man in England. At an early age he excelled in mathematics and went to college at Christ College. Even though he was a prestige mathematician, Lewis Carroll in known for his nonsense style of writing. Critics have tried to guess of reasons why this style was plagued with Lewis’s writing but none are guaranteed true. On the other hand, some
Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Raven? is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loves.
. This story embodies how the author saw her experiences that she had lived through.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the single effect was the most important aspect of a short story, which everything must contribute to this effect. Poe’s gothic tale “The Black Cat” was written trying to achieve an effect of shocking insanity. In this first person narrative the narrator tells of his decline from sanity to madness, all because of an obsession with two (or possibly one) black cats. These ebony creatures finally drive him to take the life his wife, whose death he unsuccessfully tries to conceal.
Margaret Atwood is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and short story writer. With such a variety of works in different types of writing, it is difficult to grasp every aspect of Atwood's purpose of writing. A comparative analysis of Rape Fantasies reveals the Atwood's writing is varied in many ways yet soundly consistent especially when comparing a particular set of writing such as a group of her other short stories. Atwood's background plays a large part in her writing. Atwood was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1913. Her father was an entomologist, so she spent much of her childhood in the wilderness and other various urban places around Canada. Throughout her life, she lived in numerous Canadian residences as well as several towns in the United States. She has also lived in England, France, Italy and Germany. With this extensive background, Atwood displays a vast knowledge of the world around her, although large portions of her writing are based on Canadian settings. As a young girl, she started reading many books and even writing poems and comics. After deciding that she wanted to become a writer, Atwood attended the University of Toronto and earned her bachelor's degree in 1961. Following this, she went on to receiver her master's degree from Harvard University.