Analysis of Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

 

Pag.21

 

Robyn Penrose parla del concetto di personaggio.

A lesson delivered by Robyn Penrose, a Universitary professor. She is explaining her personal concept of character

 

1)    There is no such thing as the “self”: a finite, unique soul, or essence that constitutes a person’s identity.

 

2)    The character is a subject position in an infinite web of discourses. (power, sex, family, science, religion, poetry, and so on…)

Cominciare a vedere i personaggi come qualcuno che è soggetto a discorsi che sono il prodotto della rete culturale all’interno della quale il personaggio è inserito.

Non esiste un uomo fatto da sé, gli uomini sono assoggettati alla rete dei discorsi della comunità di cui fa parte.

La cultura è instabile, si trasforma à attraverso la lingua.

Esempio di romanzo Post-Moderno

 

3)    There is no such thing as an author.

Per lo stesso motivo di prima. Anche l’autore è il risultato di tutto ciò che ha letto.

 

15/09/2016

 

To revise the features that allow us to analyze the different characters.

Elements of characterisation.

When you analyze a character you have to distinguish between:

1) Flat ch. à it remains the same along the novel, it doesn’t change, it doesn’t show a development.

2) Round ch. à one that develops her/his personality.

 

What do we mean by characterisation?

It is the way a character comes to life. So the intelligent reader should analyze the categories the narrator exploits to create the character.

- Physical description

- Social background

- His job

- His relationship to other characters

- What other people think of him (reputation)

- The language he speaks

- His cultural background

Most of the times the categories the narrator exploits are mixed; some are given more space than others.

 

How does the character come to life?

A narrator can use different techniques when he brings a character to life:

1)    Telling à he tells the reader everything about the character; everything the reader knows, all the ideas the reader makes up in his mind about the character is filtered by the narrator.

2)    Showing à the narrator shows the character in action;

 

What is the position of the reader in the two cases?

-         If the most frequent technique is the technique of showing, he can make a more personal idea of the character.

-         If the narrator mainly uses the technique of telling, the reader is less free to make up a personal idea.

 

The narrator presentsa new character: Robyn Penrose.

The new character is:

1)    Very different from Vic Wilcox

2)    She doesn’t believe in the concept of character (her cultural convictions)

3)    That is to say (a favourite phrase of her own)

4)    Her name (Robyn) à ideal person à socially committed

5)    Her surname (Penrose) à the reader might expect she is a writer (Pen + rose)

6)    Her job à she teaches at Rummidge University

7)    Her social status is not stable

8)    Her skills are mainly in the field of literature

9)    Her specific convictions à the character is a bourgeois myth

 

Third person intrusive omniscient narrator.