English Literature: Compare and Contrast - Essay Example

? English Literature: Compare and Contrast of the Word Count: 1070 Words English Literature ic and Modern) of the Concerned Professor December 2, 2013 English Literature: Compare and Contrast There is no denying the fact that the given two excerpts culled from Voltaire’s Candide and Gronniosaw’s Narrative tend to elucidate on the marine experiences of the narrators, yet both these excerpts tend to differ a lot in the context of the point of view they resort to, to delve on the experiences of the central characters, the language they resort to, to convey the ideas and emotional plight of the characters mentioned in the two excerpts and the context in which they are placed, which has much bearing on the eventual content of the two excerpts. It is quiet apparent that in the passage culled out from Voltaire’s Candide the narrator resorts to the thirds person omniscient point of view in the sense that the narrative is being elucidated upon by a narrator placed outside the narrative who knows everything right from the physical experiences of the involved characters to their inner emotional and psychological plight and their moral dilemmas and concerns (Abrams, 2000). The third person narrator in the passage do refers to the characters by their name or resorts to the usage of common pronouns like he, she and they (Abrams, 2000). The usage of the third person omniscient point of view by the narrator in the passage offers many salient advantages in the sense that it affiliates to the much traditional way of narrating stories that not only strikes a chord with the innate expectations of the readers with regards to listening to a story, but it also happens to be a more natural and traditional way of narrating experiences (Abrams, 2000). The other advantage that the narrator in Voltaire’s Candide has in affiliating to the third person omniscient point of view is that it allows the narrator to escape the claustrophobic constraints imposed by a limited point of view so as to elaborate on the travails of most of the characters that are the Anabaptist, Jacques, Candide or the callous sailor, thereby expanding the scope of the narrative (Kotker, 1996, p. 167). The narrator here is able to penetrate the inside plight of the varied characters mentioned in the passage and is able to narrate their plight with much authority and conviction. The reader is readily able to see as to how the multiple characters mentioned in the passage react to and interpret the events mentioned in the narrative (Kotker, 1996, p. 167). This narrative approach does bring in an element of conviction and veracity into the narrative. Beside the usage of the first person omniscient point of view by the narrator in Voltaire’s Candide allows the writer to sit on the driving seat and get into the minds of all the characters mentioned in the passage with a sense of veracity, without getting barred by the constraints of language and diction (Kotker 1996). This facilitates a greater freedom to the narrator as far as the task of drafting and crafting the narrative is concerned. Besides the omniscient point of view resorted to by the writer in the passage from Voltaire’s Candide is ideally suited to the fabulous and grand adventures as the one being dealt with in the passage. This narrative approach readily allows the writer to maintain a practical distance from the characters mentioned in the passage, thereby allowing one to focus on the actions and emotional concerns and travails of the main characters mentioned in the passage. Contrary to this, the narrator in the excerpt culled out from Gronniosaw’s Narrative affiliates to the first person narrative in the sense that the narrator happens to be one of the characters in the story that uses one’s own voice to tell the story (Disher, 2001, p. 94). The narrator uses the word ‘I’ to refer to himself and is actively involved in narrating the story. Thereby this narrative approach facilitates to the entire narrative the aura of a dairy or a personal memoir, contrary to the fabulous nature of the narrative imbibed in the passage from Voltaire’s Candide. One salient advantage that the narrator enjoys in the excerpt from Gronniosaw’s Narrative is that the writer is easily able to wrench the sympathy and concern of the readers, by the dint of spending much time in the mind of the main character elucidating on the narrative (Disher, 2001, p. 94). This narrative approach on the part of the writer easily enables one to create a character in the narrative by allowing the readers to directly identify with the voice of the central character, which is not so in the passage from Voltaire’s Candide (Tomlinson, 2006, p. 34). This approach allows the writer to evince a strong connection with the target audience (Tomlinson, 2006). However, the first person narrative point of view also constraints the writer in many ways, since the writer could only elaborate on those instances which the narrator could see, contrary to the narrative approach in the passage from Voltaire’s Candide that allows the writer to elaborate in detail on all the ideas and incidents imminent in the story (Tomlinson, 2006). The other thing that is peculiar about the passage from Voltaire’s Candide is that though the narrative tends to hover around a strictly Christian and moralistic context, the writer tends to bring home the point by delving on the externalities of the moral situation imminent in the passage. The approach of the writer here tends to be very physical and bold as he elucidates on the moral travesty of the characters in the story, especially the immoral sailor. In contrast, in the passage from Gronniosaw’s Narrative, the writer instead of elaborating on the physical actions of the characters rather focuses on their innate state of mind as in the case of the women at the public house, to bring out their moral depravity and corruption. The approach of the writer here is more subtle, psychological and personal, which is totally contrary to the writer’s effusive and gestural approach in the passage from Voltaire’s Candide. Thereby, the two given passages are akin to each other in the sense that they are bound around a Christian and moralistic context. Yet, the two narratives tend to differ that the affiliate to two disparate narrative approaches and the extent to which they focus on the innate rot and corruption of the characters mentioned in the narrative, or the effusiveness with which they focus on the physicality and actions of the characters. References Abrams, M.H. (2000). A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Harcourt. Disher, G. (2001). Writing Fiction. Crows Nest, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin. Kotker, J.G. (1996). Dean Koontz: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Tomlinson, T. (2006). Portable MFA in Creative Writing. Cincinnati, Ohio: F+W Media. Read More