This paper examines and compares the narrative techniques employed in four canonical American novels: William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. Each novel deploys a distinct narrative mode — stream of consciousness, third-person poetic prose, interchapter structure, and retrospective flashback — and the paper argues that each author's chosen form is inseparable from the novel's central themes. Through close reading of representative passages, the analysis demonstrates how narration shapes mood, character development, and reader engagement, and evaluates the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
The paper demonstrates form-function analysis — the practice of arguing that a literary device (here, narrative mode) is not merely decorative but is causally linked to the work's meaning and emotional effect. Each section asks not just "what is the narration?" but "why does this narration serve this novel?" This is a foundational technique in literary criticism and is handled consistently throughout.
The paper opens with a brief framing introduction, then devotes one section to each of the four novels in sequence. A comparative section weighs strengths and weaknesses across all four styles, and a short conclusion synthesizes the broader argument about the importance of narrative form to literary success. This is a classic compare-and-contrast structure with a block-by-block (subject-by-subject) organization, which suits a paper focused on individual authorial technique.
This paper examines narration in four novels: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. Specifically, it compares and contrasts the four different methods of narration employed in each of these works.
Each of these classic novels uses a different form of narration to set the stage for its characters and move the plot forward. Each form of narration adds to the impact of the novel, and altering it would certainly alter the way these works affect the reader. These novels are excellent examples of the differing forms of narration and how important those forms are to the overall art of fiction.
Absalom, Absalom! uses a stream-of-consciousness narration that includes shifts in point of view and setting that can be unsettling to the reader. This is the author's intention, for Faulkner hopes to show that these same elements shift consistently in everyone's life as they search for meaning and truth. Sentences are so long and convoluted that they sometimes lose the reader, yet they set the scene quite effectively. While this novel is difficult to read, many of its narrative passages are extremely poetic and emotional. For example, Rosa once says, "my presence was to him only the absence of black morass and snarled vine and creeper to that man who had struggled through a swamp with nothing to guide or drive him — no hope, no light: only some incorrigibility of undefeat…" (Faulkner 137). This is beautiful and poetic narration, even as it winds through the book like that "snarled vine," and is often difficult for the reader to decipher.
Faulkner clearly chose his form of narration to encompass the many generations he wrote about and to draw the reader into the novel. His style is certainly not the easiest to read, but it somehow embodies the history and brooding atmosphere of the South, and it compels the reader to think carefully about the characters and their actions. The reader must really interpret Faulkner's words and, in doing so, must engage deeply with each page of the novel and consider where it is leading.
Unlike Faulkner's novel, The Old Man and the Sea uses clearer sentences and a third-person stream-of-consciousness narration that places the reader directly inside the mind of the tortured Santiago, the unlucky fisherman. Like Faulkner, Hemingway's narration is poetic and thought-provoking, but it is easier for the reader to picture and understand. He writes, "The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea" (Hemingway 61). Hemingway's epic novel is a story of man against nature, and this simple theme translates into a more straightforward narration that uses lush, poetic descriptions to convey its meaning to the reader.
Hemingway's narration differs significantly from Faulkner's and the others for a very good reason: his novel is fundamentally different. Faulkner's work is full of veiled metaphors and references, and Steinbeck's, though simple in its own way, is a testament to society and how it allows people like the Joads to fall through the cracks. Hemingway's theme is relatively simple, but the way he presents it is not simple at all. By the time the book ends, the reader knows the heart and soul of the man, along with his great love for the sea and its creatures. This was Hemingway's intent all along, and so he placed the reader inside Santiago's head. By the time the novel is over, the reader wants him to triumph, even while knowing the inevitable. Santiago is doomed, just as men like him are doomed — men who no longer pit themselves against nature with only a tiny boat between them and the deep. Hemingway's story is a cry for times past and for the men who made those times great, and his narration is as heroic as Santiago himself.
Each form of narration has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each form adds depth and meaning to its respective novel. Ultimately, these works demonstrate just how important narrative form can be to the success or failure of a book, and how thoroughly an author must understand every form and aspect of fiction in order to write novels that are both compelling and enduring. Narration is only one aspect of classic fiction, but these four novels show just what a decisive aspect it is.
Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner, Novels 1936–1940. New York: Library of America, 1990.
Hemingway, Ernest. Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Warren, Robert Penn. All the King's Men. New York: Harvest Books, 1996.
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