write a essay (1000words),About a novel :Berlin stories

2

English 1205 Sample Essays

Prepared by: Student’s Name

Student #: A00000000000000

Prepared for: Jackie Cameron

Teaching Assistant: Name

Course: ENGL 1205

Date: October 4, 2013

11. Filling in the Gaps the Storyteller Provides

In both “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Jewels” by Guy de Maupassant, there are gaps in the information provided by the narrator that force the reader to think critically and become more involved in the story. This is a very successful tool many authors use to captivate an audience, but it brings with it the issue of narrative reliability. Information may be withheld by the narrator on purpose in order to twist an event to suit their cause, as seen in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” or there may be details that go unexplained simply because even the narrator does not understand what is going on, which is represented well in “The Jewels.” The details that are left out of the story, either because they are unknown to the narrator or perhaps because they are ignored on purpose, cause the reader to question the events as they are described, leading to a more involved and often more enjoyable reading experience.

It is worth noting that an abundance of details often obscures as much as it reveals. For example, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the unnamed narrator murders an old man because of his fears over the man’s “Evil Eye” (Poe 1). However, the narrator leaves out a great deal of things about that eye while nevertheless going into great detail about subjects that may cause the reader to feel empathy for the narrator (Poe 1). The narrator gives precise details about his actions in order to prove that he is not mad, and yet suspicions about the narrator’s reliability and validity are raised in the reader because these painstaking details are undercut by the almost frantic way the narrator pleads the reader to see “how calmly [he] can tell . . . the whole story” (Poe 1). Note that the narrator says he will tell the whole story, and yet it soon becomes apparent that no names are ever provided for any of the characters, no dates, times or locations are offered, and the only positive clues as to the setting is that the main events of the story take place in the old man’s bedroom. Details such as these are only left out when the person telling the story has something to hide, which establishes readers’ mistrust of the narrator, for they could be lying in order to draw readers into thinking that murdering the old man was a wise or moral decision.

Nevertheless, the reliability of the narrator is not always an attempt to sway the reader’s opinion of an event. In fact, “The Jewels” stands as an example of the exact opposite, for the narrator deliberately leaves out information that is crucial to deciding how to interpret the events. Does the narrator do this because he or she does not have the information, or does the narrator want the reader to fill in the gaps that have been provided in the story? In this story, M. Lantin, a man of modest income, is happily married, but when his wife passes away he is forced to sell what he believes to be her imitation jewelry. However, he soon discovers that these jewels are not fakes at all; instead, they are quite valuable and are worth at least “a hundred and ninety-six thousand francs” (Maupassant 32). What does this mean? Neither M. Lantin nor the reader are ever told exactly how his late wife came to acquire such fine jewelry despite coming from a family that was “poor and respectable, gentle and sweet” (Maupassant 31). The gaps are left to be filled by the readers, who must content themselves with the narrator’s sly innuendoes, perhaps best expressed by his frequent use of the word “seemed.” For example, we are told that M. Lantin’s wife had a “faint smile which never left her lips” and which “seemed a reflection of her heart” (Maupassant 31). Has she been cheating on her husband? Have these jewels been given to her by her lovers? The narrator never explicitly answers these questions, but M. Lantin arrives at what he believes is the truth, and his revelation – real or imagined – causes him to suspect the worst:

A horrible doubt plucked at him. She? But then, all the other jewels were also gifts! It seemed to him that the earth turned . . . he stretched out his arms and fell down unconscious. (Maupassant 33)

Whatever truth M. Lantin seems to arrive at, the reader’s position is much less clear, for there is very little information that can be used to reach a definite conclusion. Once again, the reader must fill in the gaps.

Making readers unable to rely on the narrator to give a correct telling or retelling of an event is a common tool that writers employ. This device leads the reader to ask questions about the validity of the information presented, and to reach a number of different conclusions about what is going on. The fact that the questions about the narrator as a source of information are hardly ever answered is one of the reasons why short stories like “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Jewels” are still read to provoke critical thinking and introduce people to the feeling of being an involved and creative reader. Details are left out of the story to get the reader to think about the subjects presented in the story, and although it may be frustrating to be unable to fully trust the narrator of a story, the idea of narrative reliability creates a delightful twist in what could have been some very bland pieces of literature, for we the readers are asked to fill in the gaps that the storytellers provide.

4. The Impact of Poetic Self-Awareness

William Shakespeare wrote a vast number of sonnets, and of these the majority display a keen self-awareness of their status as poems and works of art. In some cases, such as in “Shall I Compare Thee,” this self-awareness is displayed subtly; in others, as in “Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments,” the subject is explicitly both the poem’s status as a poem and, as such, the ability of poetry to live on forever so long as it is read. Sometimes this immortality is contrasted with other human creations that will not last, such as in “Since Brass, Nor Stone, Nor Earth,” in which the poem’s self-awareness is used to create imagery that highlights the war waged by Time and Death against beauty and life, a war that only poetry can win. This keen self-awareness impacts the way that each sonnet is read and interpreted by the reader. This self-awareness also strengthens each sonnet’s effectiveness, for it shows how poetry can help the human mind tackle topics such as death and immortality by showing a way – at least potentially – to live on forever.

The speaker in Shakespeare’s sonnets often expresses self-awareness directly to the reader, for the speaker often speaks to his subject not only as a lover, but as a poet. As is often the case, sonnets that begin by discussing a subject’s beauty often end by proclaiming poetry’s ability to make that beauty live on forever. For example, when the speaker declares that his lover will “live in this, and dwell in lover’s eyes,” he is as concerned about “this,” the sonnet, as he is about his lover or his lover’s eyes (Sonnet 55). Not only can poetry immortalize its subject, but it can outlast and undo any other creation that humankind has created. Rulers may create statues in their likeness and monuments in honour of their glory, but these things will all eventually crumble and turn to dust:

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;

But you shall shine more bright in these contents

Than unswept stones besmear’d with sluttish time. (Sonnet 55)

The time of princes is short, but “this powerful rhyme” will live forever and be untouched by the passing of time. However, the “you” shall shine only “in these contents” that the poet has provided. In other words, even though the speaker says that his love will “shine more bright,” what will actually shine on is “this powerful rhyme,” the poem itself.

Not only can poetry outlast the creations of humankind, but it can even withstand the ravages of Death itself. For example, the speaker uses contrasting images of light and darkness in “Since Brass, Nor Stone, Nor Earth” to differentiate the black ink on his page to the bright light that it creates: “That in black ink my love may still shine bright” (Sonnet 65). This brightness will shine on long after other things are dead and gone, for poetry can “hold out / Against the wreckful siege of battering days,” and stay beautiful even as Time and Death rage against it (Sonnet 65). Again the speaker seems to be addressing his love, but again the reader is presented with a poem that is less concerned with love and more concerned with the potential immortality of poetry. A more direct expression of this contradiction can be seen at the end of “Shall I Compare Thee,” in which the speaker says that “when in eternal line to time thou grow’st: / So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” (Sonnet 18). The lover’s beauty, which had seemed to be the subject, is supplanted by the beauty and power of poetry. This is a wonderful example of how the speaker uses the poem’s awareness that it is a poem to both express the beauty of the subject of the poem and also draw out thoughts on the longevity of the written word. So long as the poem is read, it will remain alive forever.

Such declarations could just be the wishful thinking of the speaker, but it seems to be true, for Shakespeare’s sonnets are still being read and enjoyed by readers all over the world. The sonnets’ self-awareness makes them special, for they force the reader to put the message of the poem in perspective. They also provoke readers to ask tough questions about poems, the poets who write them, and the aims of these poets. Such questions change what would have been just another love poem into an interesting and thought-provoking work of literature.

Works Cited

Maupassant, Guy de. "The Jewels." The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age. Ed.

Douglas Angus. New York: Random House, 1993. 7-13. Print.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart." The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age. Ed.

Douglas Angus. New York: Random House, 1993. 1-6. Print.

Shakespeare, William. “Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments.” Immortal Poems of

the English Language. Ed. Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket Books, 1952. 59. Print.

--. "Shall I Compare Thee." Immortal Poems of the English Language. Ed. Oscar

Williams. New York: Pocket Books, 1952. 57. Print.

--. "Since Brass, Nor Stone, Nor Earth." Immortal Poems of the English Language. Ed.

Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket Books, 1952. 61. Print.