M.R James takes us to a spooky trip on a shingle lonely beach in which Parkins, the main character, finds an ancient mysterious whistle. Parkins represents the typical stereotype of the rational person who always finds a scientific answer to every event but whose believes will be threatened by a series of strange incidents. Although Parkins remains as a plain character most of the time, he is the only one that goes through some minimal but significant changes. The rest of the characters are not fully developed and are represented with stereotypes. However, taking into account the short length of the story, in this case, stereotypes help the reader to fully understand the characters in little time. M.R James compensates the lack of character development with his marvelous and solid narrative. For example, the author is able to illustrated a frightened and horrified faceless man. The description of the setting is accurate and it really makes the reader feel the gloomy and dark environment of the tale. For instance, a nice place as the beach is totally transformed into a dreadful location as in the following description. "The light was obscure, conveying an impression of gathering storm, late winter evening, and slight cold rain" (p.319). The author often uses words like "enlighten" "dark", and "relight", which emphasizes the dual game between the natural and supernatural. Duality is a constant element in James´ narrative for he creates an ironic and opposite atmosphere by mixing Parkins´ golf games (and his improvements) and the rare incidents that happened around him. The combination of the superstitious believes around the whistle and the supernatural events makes this story entertaining and spooky at the same time.
Thanks to the setting the story is well-developed. First, the place where the main happenings take place is located in the East Coast. The cardinal directions have symbolism. For example, the East is associated with ancient knowledge and wisdom. In the story, the fact that the main protagonist finds the whistle in a Templar's preceptory alludes to this meaning of "ancient knowledge and wisdom" because of all the history behind the Templars. Then, the story takes place during a windy winter, which indicates is related to the troublesome moments that the main character is going thorough.
I found the comment by Rukmini on character development to be very interesting. The Gothic has usually been blamed to have poor character development versus detailed plot or setting description. Even though this is not true of all Gothic stories, I completely agree with Rukmini's comment about this story in particular. Also, she mentions another important detail: the fact that James uses an apparently "normal" setting that turns into a threatening one (like the beach...). Arturo's comment about the "windy winter" also centers on setting. But this issue of the windy winter just totally reminds me of ANY beach in the UK--trust me, if you have not already experienced it!
M.R James takes us to a spooky trip on a shingle lonely beach in which Parkins, the main character, finds an ancient mysterious whistle. Parkins represents the typical stereotype of the rational person who always finds a scientific answer to every event but whose believes will be threatened by a series of strange incidents. Although Parkins remains as a plain character most of the time, he is the only one that goes through some minimal but significant changes. The rest of the characters are not fully developed and are represented with stereotypes. However, taking into account the short length of the story, in this case, stereotypes help the reader to fully understand the characters in little time. M.R James compensates the lack of character development with his marvelous and solid narrative. For example, the author is able to illustrated a frightened and horrified faceless man. The description of the setting is accurate and it really makes the reader feel the gloomy and dark environment of the tale. For instance, a nice place as the beach is totally transformed into a dreadful location as in the following description. "The light was obscure, conveying an impression of gathering storm, late winter evening, and slight cold rain" (p.319). The author often uses words like "enlighten" "dark", and "relight", which emphasizes the dual game between the natural and supernatural. Duality is a constant element in James´ narrative for he creates an ironic and opposite atmosphere by mixing Parkins´ golf games (and his improvements) and the rare incidents that happened around him. The combination of the superstitious believes around the whistle and the supernatural events makes this story entertaining and spooky at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the setting the story is well-developed. First, the place where the main happenings take place is located in the East Coast. The cardinal directions have symbolism. For example, the East is associated with ancient knowledge and wisdom. In the story, the fact that the main protagonist finds the whistle in a Templar's preceptory alludes to this meaning of "ancient knowledge and wisdom" because of all the history behind the Templars. Then, the story takes place during a windy winter, which indicates is related to the troublesome moments that the main character is going thorough.
ReplyDeleteI found the comment by Rukmini on character development to be very interesting. The Gothic has usually been blamed to have poor character development versus detailed plot or setting description. Even though this is not true of all Gothic stories, I completely agree with Rukmini's comment about this story in particular. Also, she mentions another important detail: the fact that James uses an apparently "normal" setting that turns into a threatening one (like the beach...). Arturo's comment about the "windy winter" also centers on setting. But this issue of the windy winter just totally reminds me of ANY beach in the UK--trust me, if you have not already experienced it!
ReplyDelete