Narration Techniques Add Interest in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland
In today's popular horror movies, one common element is that the audience always knows what is going to happen. The main character, of course, is clueless. The girl always runs up the stairs when she should be running out the door or into the woods when she should be running to an open area. I am usually forced to yell in exasperation at the TV screen, always hoping that the girl will hear me. Somehow, she never does. Even though the audience can see the masked man standing around the corner, the blond actress running in high heels is oblivious. These are the movies that I can watch without being scared. The real terror comes whenever I am placed in the situation of not knowing what is lurking around the corner. The same principle can be applied in novels. Sometimes, it is necessary to have an omniscient narrator, someone who can read the minds of the other characters and explain to the reader exactly what is happening. Other stories, however, are better crafted by using a narrator who does not know what is happening. Wieland, a novel by Charles Brockden Brown, is an example of this latter type of book. Brown uses Clara as a first person narrator - one who does not fully understand the details of the circumstances surrounding her. While Clara may give an inaccurate account of the details of the story, allowing the reader to view events through her eyes gives an added sense of terror. Instead of merely plodding through an account of events, the reader is taken with Clara on a roller coaster ride of emotions. As Clara's opinions and views change, so do the readers.
One of the main sources of terror in this story is the idea of disemb...
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... or so thoughtlessly inflicted" (273).
Reading a novel is an active experience. Opinions are formed and changed during the course of a plot. Not knowing what is going to happen next, or what is lurking around the corner, can provide the same sort of fear in a novel that is present in a scary movie. Brown's use of first person narration may have exposed some bad judgement in the characters, especially Clara. Her ever-changing views and assessments of Carwin, however, play a large part in maintaining the suspense of the story. It is the use of first person narration that allows us to see Clara's judgement of Carwin for what it is, without the help of an omniscient narrator. As a result, the story is able to capture our attention and instill us with fear.
Works Cited:
Brown, Brockden Charles. Wieland; or The Transformation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
Although golfers end the day on the 18th green, their day begins on a tee box. A drive, the first hit off a tee toward the objective hole, may seem very routine and insignificant, but, in fact, it is the most important shot taken on each hole. If golfers hit a long drive into the nicely cut fairway, they have only to hit the ball off the nicely cut grass on usually a clear path to the hole. But if they hit a drive into the woods, then they have to make sure the ball does not hit any trees, branches, or other obstacles when exiting the woods. That’s why hitting a good drive is a must. With practice, even you can hit a fundamental drive.
During the story the author often uses foreshadowing to give hints to the reader of things that will happen in the future. When the story starts, a storm is coming on a late October night. The storm symbolizes the evil approaching the town. Usually it seems a storm would resemble something dark and evil, because a stormy night is always a classic setting for something evil. At the climax of the story, Charles Halloway reads a passage ...
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Over the past five years Americans have seen many horrific tragedies related to gun violence. Each of these terrible events has been accompanied with scrutinizing media coverage, and subsequently, a push on government level for increased gun control. On the surface these movements to take away guns from Americans may seem justified because of these events. In reality the federal government is encroaching upon our Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.
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How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
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The issue of gun control has always been a hot topic among the American public. Most everyone, if asked, will tell you that gun control is an issue needed to be dealt with because of the event that took place at Columbine High School back on April 20th, 1999. The American public has been wrestling with gun control long before then. If we take a look back at August 1st, 1966 at the University of Texas, a man armed with a hunting rifle committed one of the most violent mass murders in history. Gun control refers to the Government placing restrictions on the American public to buy, own and sell firearms. If we read the constitution, our second amendment right is the right to bear arms. This has been the ongoing controversy of this issue. We the people say our constitutional right to buy and own firearms is being seized from us. The government is using our society’s violent incidents as cover to place restrictions and bans on firearms. This essay’s purpose is to provide proof that buying and owning firearms is our legal constitutional right and that our government is trying to attack the wrong angle when trying to fight crime involving guns in the United States.
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Societies will always have problems that cause some sort of reaction from individuals who believe that their social stability is being endangered. There have been a number of moral panics which have captivated society in terror and more often than not, owing to unfamiliarity. This essay will discuss the perception of a moral panic and will look at the case of the September 11th Terrorist attack against the United States of America, which triggered a colossal conflict of morality within modern day society. This essay will also analyse terrorism as a perceived deviance, the role of the moral entrepreneur and folk devil, in order to develop a level of understanding to the causes of this particular moral panic and its effects on society.
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