Narration in Four American Classic Novels Compared

Introduction

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.

Faulkner's Stream of Consciousness in Absalom, Absalom!

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.

References

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.