Pieces of a Novel Puzzle
“A novel or a collection of short stories?'; may be a question that a critic asks about Rattlebone. Maxine Clair portrays both arguments with her energetic writing style. A blend of random comments and many unique phrases intermix with the intense plot. Writing like this gives the reader a more relaxed state and the book seems more alive and real. In answer to the critique question, Maxine Clair is writing a novel because of an abundant supply of foreshadowing, a collection of narrators, a recurrence of characters, and a process commonly known to man as aging.
Suggesting that Rattlebone is in fact a novel, foreshadowing occurred in several places during the book. Clair uses this writing method by mentioning the name October Brown, partly because Brown is involved at the beginning and towards the end of the book. Ms. Brown became an important part of Irene’s life, not only by being one of the main reasons for her parents’ divorce, but also by helping Irene accomplish one of her goals. The time that occurred between these two events in the book connects Rattlebone and is a very good use of foreshadowing. Another example of Clair’s use of this writing method is the experience of the divorce between Irene’s parents. This long-term process displayed Irene’s parents as being unforgiving. At first his wife forgives James Wilson for the affair that he enjoyed with October Brown, but after a period of time, Pearl also had her share of the fall in their relationship. At this time, neither one of Irene’s parents would forgive the other nor make up with the other. This example again shows the use of foreshadowing by Clair by evolving the event over several chapters with different narrators.
Irene, the narrator in several different stages of the divorce between her parents, speaks her feelings of disgust and always tries to keep her parents’ relationship together. Another side of the story comes from October Brown’s landlord, Mrs. Pemberton. Mrs. Pemberton wants nothing to do with the affair and therefor tries to separate the two lovers. Irene takes the stage again and reveals to the reader subconsciously, that her father is the man having the affair. The use of two narrators, each having a different look at the situation, may seem confusing to the reader at first, but once the chapters are all read and the whole story gets across, it becomes apparent why the change in narration was necessary.
2. Because this was a mystery novel, foreshadowing was very heavily used in the book. Foreshadowing is very useful in a mystery novel, because a mystery novel is all about suspense, and foreshadowing is a great tool to increase the suspense. One of the biggest foreshadows was the “big black hook” (pg. 148) on the ceiling of Vera’s room, which she will eventually use to kill herself. However, there were other examples of foreshadowing, including Vera’s first sight of Indian Island. She concludes it looks sinister (pg.16), and that hints at the troubles to come. Theres also the old man on the train that tells Blore that “his day of judgement is close at hand” (pg.11), which hints that Blore will soon die. And there's the very obvious “10 little indians poem” (pg. 22) which hints at the very near deaths of each of the guests on indian island.
The narrator’s insecurities unfold when it takes him almost five pages just to demonstrate how close the friendship is between his wife and Robert. It is as though he is justifying his irrational behavior or perhaps questioning if his wife could be secretly in love with Robert. The narrator assumes this because his wife only writes poems if something really important happens to her. He recalls that his wife never forgot that instant when Robert "touched his fingers to every part of her face...
There are also foreshadowing events that occurred during the story. One event in particular is when she is in art class and asked to draw a tree and she has difficulty in presenting her ideas until Mr. Freeman asks her to make a collage using random items. After putting the collage together, Mr. Freeman comments that it represents pain. Melinda has difficulty drawing details and life into her trees just like in her own life s...
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 ...
During the turbulent storm in the story, Kate Chopin depicts that the marriage of Calixta and Bobinôt is going downhill. Both Bobinôt and Calixta are trapped in different locations during the storm. Bobinôt is in a general store and Calixta is at home. Not only are they in different places during the physical storm but they are also in different places on where their marriage stands. Calixta exposes the reader to see that her husband, Bobinôt, does not understand her because during the storm she is buried in the arms of another man. Calixta makes it apparent that she needs more from her husband and if he is not going to give her what she needs, she will find it in another man. The story depicts that Bobinôt did not give his wife the attention she needs when Bibi asked, “Mama’ll be ’fraid, yes” and Bobinôt responds by saying, “She’ll shut the house. Maybe she got Sylvie helpin’ her this evenin’” but Bibi corrects him by saying, “No; she ent got Sylvie. Sylvie was helpin’ her yistiday” (Chopin 96). Bobinôt shows that he is not attentive to what is happening around the home with his wife during this part of the story. Bobinôt’s inattentiveness must cause him to not unders...
In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” a family of six set out on a vacation to Florida while an extremely dangerous criminal is on the loose. The family takes the grandmother, who is outraged that the family is traveling while The Misfit is scanning the countryside. Throughout the short story, O’Connor drops many hints to the reader, ultimately leading to the terrifying climax. Foreshadowing is more commonly noticed the second time a story is read as opposed to the first. Readers will pick up on the hints that foreshadow the events to come. Foreshadowing is used when grandmother mentions The Misfit in the opening paragraph, when grandmother dresses formally in case of an accident, and when the graves are noticed in the cottonfield.
They are lots of examples of foreshadowing in the text that relate to the moral “You should trust your instincts when things are not as they seem. When something looks too good to be true, it probably is.” For example I believe that the lady knew Billy was coming. When Billy rang the doorbell the Landlady answered the door almost instantly, nobody answers the door that quick unless you are expecting someone. She also said “ I’m so glad you appeared, I was beginning to worry” why would she say this? Unless she already knew he was coming. With the Landlady answering the door so quickly and her saying, she was beginning to worry that Billy wouldn't appear makes the reader believe that the Landlady already knew that Billy was coming. I also
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
To begin with, the author uses foreshadowing in the story to express one’s point of view, proving the hardships this character goes through. For example, Teddy is an ambitious child at the prime of his childhood being overruled by his unimaginative ridiculing aunt
Lincoln Rhyme, former head of Central Investigation and Resource Division, is persuaded by Lon Selitto and his partner to help the kidnapping investigation. In the mean time, the "Bone Collector" abducts another victim.
In the short story passage entitled “The Rattler,” language and details about the man and
The Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte took a surprising twist when Bertha "Mason" Rochester was introduced. Bertha leaves a traumatizing impression on Jane’s conscious. However, this particular misfortunate event was insidiously accumulating prior to Jane’s arrival at Thornfield. Through Bertha, the potential alternative dark turn of events of Jane’s past are realized, thus bringing Jane closer to finding herself.
The final example of foreshadowing is Dr. Manette‘s ordeal with the Evremondes. Throughout the second book in the novel, Dr. Manette’s past was clouded. We get some foreshadowing when Darnay offers to reveal his name to Dr. Manette, but Dr. Manette says “Stop!” and we start to hint that there is more going on then meets the eye (126).
There are many examples of foreshadowing that helps the story have dramatic shadowing. Foreshadowing is an indication of a future event, that helps create suspense in a mystery novel. All the foreshadowing that Christie presents is giving the reader hints to predict the incoming events, and creating exciting anticipation. An example of foreshadowing that is presented is when Fred takes the visitors to the island. He says “Can’t land on Soldier Island when there is a
Now that we have a little background on the author, we can take a closer look at the actual work and its characters. The two main characters of the story a narrator and her husband, John, and the story takes place in the 19th century. Life for the two is like most other marriages in this time frame, only the narrator is not like most other wives. She has this inner desire to be free from the societal roles that confine her and to focus on her writing, while John in content with his life and thinks that his wife overreacts to everything. Traditionally, in this era, the man was responsible for taking care of the woman both financially and emotionally, while the woman was solely responsible for remaining at home. This w...