CHARACTERIZATION

The aim of the present text is to make a characterization of one of the two main characters (Connel and Marianne) in the novel “normal people” by Sally Rooney. The protagonist that I will take in consideration is Marianne.

In order to develop the task I will consider the narrative strategies and the main features of post-modernism that the narrator adopts.

To start with I'll choose an extract of the novel that I consider relevant. It belongs to chapter “January 2013” (page 150). The first element on which I focus my attention is the question that Marianne asks Connel: she asks him if he loves his girlfriend and after his immediate answer “yes” she starts crying. I can recognize in these lines a post-modern feature that is self reflexivity. It comes out by Marianne inner thoughts about her feelings: asking Connel his feelings she can recognize her ones. In addition, the psychological impact of that revelation has also a result in her physical state. Thanks to her body language the reader could understand that she is having a break down and the result is her complete sense of loss. An additional consideration that the reader makes is that Marianne is a person who doesn't let see her feelings.

Marianne comes out thanks to the narrative technique of the telling mixed with showing as a person conscious of herself that wants to appear always strong even if is very weak.

Despite of that, in front of a huge feeling of loss and confusion, her self-control fails.

This consideration puts on evidence on other feature of post-modernism: the disorientation.

The narrator presents a character defined who is a good example of post-modernity by making use of narrative strategies such as the revelation of the character's inner thoughts, and the body language. The character that comes out is a complex one not for her personality but for her feelings.