Poisonwood Bible

Using multiple narrators in a novel is a tricky and encumbersome undertaking. It can yield highly successful results and also tragic failures, if not done so carefully. Previously in our class we saw Alice Walker skillfully pull of a dual narration in the form of letters between two sisters, and occasionally God. This is technically called epistolary form, but definitely falls into the category of multiple narrators. Walker masterfully crafts a moving novel that is only enhanced by the multiple points of view. The sisters, split at a relatively early point in their young-adult lives find themselves on separate continents, but slowly coming closer and closer to being reunited. The multiple narrators in this allow Walker to address socio-economic issues in both America and Africa.
In Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible she takes an the enormous task of five separate narrators coming from the point of view of Orleanna, the mother, and the four daughters, Ruth May, Rachel, Leah, and Adah. The one main character who goes through the whole novel without ever getting an individual voice from the author is Nathan.
Kingsolver’s decision to never gift Nathan with a voice is a critical one in the construction of this novel. If you are familiar with the blockbuster film “Batman: The Dark Knight” you can undoubtedly recall the sinister and demented Joker, tragically played by Heath Ledger in his final role before his untimely death. In this movie the Joker twice gives an explanation for the unsightly scars etched in the form of a smile on his face. When Christopher Nolan, the director and writer of the movie was asked about this his reply essentially stated that he didn’t want the audience to give any sympathy to the wholly evil character, establishing the Joker as an entity of all that is wrong. Similarly Kingsolver treats Nathan in the same way. By only being able to see Nathan through interactions with the narrators the reader never gets a chance to sympathize with the thoroughly arrogant and unrelenting character.
Likewise the separate narratives cast each speaker as a distinct, different, and very individual character. We get countless insights such as when Adah admits she realized she “no longer believed in God” in Baptist Sunday school, which leads to her eventually finding fulfillment as an epidemiologist. When Kingsolver was confronted in an interview about her use of so many narrators she explains that it was “necessary to the theme of this novel” and continued to explain that. “The four sisters and Orleanna represent five separate philosophical positions, not just in their family but also in my political examination of the world.” (PBS)
Kingsolver can easily put down multiple narrations as an intricate skill learned and mastered by her, as she brands this book with a style completely her own. For such an overwhelming undertaking she pulls it off with grace and ease, which is an accomplishment in itself, beyond the fact that The Poisonwood Bible is an effective allegory on many social and political problems present not only in the heart of the Congo, but in our own country of America, both in the past and present.

Works Cited
PBS. Author interview: Barbara Kingsolver. 17 9 2008. 29 10 2009 .

Alice Walker Blog

The Color Purple is introduced with an innocent and confused Celie writing an earnest letter humbly begun with “Dear God.” She then continues to confess all her problems to the only figure, other than her sister, who cares about her. This pattern of letters to God continues throughout the novel and is the exclusive narrator throughout the story. This type of narrator technique bestows the title “epistolary novel” upon the book, the word epistolary deriving from the Latin word for letters.
Alice Walker, the author, or “medium” as she refers to herself in the concluding notes of the novel, effectively employs this technique to create a relationship between the reader and the characters. The Color Purple is an intimate and often gruesome reading for how much you are revealed about the character’s lives and tragedies, especially for Celie, the author of the letters. The result is a powerful and gripping story extorting domestic violence, racism, and the enormous class differences of the time. Immediately from the beginning you are made aware of Celie being of a rape victim of her own believed “Pa.” This narration also lets you closely observe Celie’s consistent building of strength as a woman, and growing love for Shug. No moment could be more emotionally convicting than the final letter is addressed to basically anyone who listens and details the moment she gets to see her beloved Netty and two lost children. It is a fulfilling conclusion for a novel that at times was so intense it almost demanded to be put down.
There are disadvantages to this type of novel. There can be large and confusing gaps in narrative when large spans of time pass between letters. You also have to rely on the communication between the narrator and the other characters exclusively in the development of the characters. It is hard to say that there are many flaws in the execution of this style in The Color Purple however. Alice Walker masters this technique and subtly, but effectively, develops nearly a dozen separate characters. The gaps in narration are seamlessly woven to allow enough time and events to occur between letters that the story moves quickly through time and but is a captivating, eventful, and well-paced read. Towards the end of the novel Walker allows Nettie to become a separate narrator, completely oblivious to Celie’s life at home, and relay a dire message about the demise of their “Mother” continent. We then see Nettie and Celie both send letters to each other and realize they are slowly, with God’s help, getting closer to becoming reunited. I believe Walker decided to use this technique because she realized the realism that immediately snags the reader in. I also believed this point of view could help her better show a strong woman developing, because strong women have been a consistent theme in Walker’s life, from her literary devotion to Hurston, her righting, and her activism today. The ability to expertly craft a novel in this tricky form immediately qualifies Walker as one of the great American, auth

Howl Blog

The 60’s culminated as the climax of the lost generation’s moral shifts and resulted in the most prevalent time of the counter-culture movement (Singal). A movement that poet Alan Ginsberg was a major leader and figure of. He was so not just in writing, but also in action, living out the convictions of his work, often vividly. Another one of the most prominent personalities recalled with any mention of the 60’s and the famous protests and political movements of the time is the musician Bob Dylan. Both these artists were incredibly influential during the beat movement, but Ginsberg released a lot of his works during the 50’s and needs to be looked at as an influence on Dylan’s work.
Finger pointing has always been the two words most associated with Dylan, and especially his early career, most specifically the album “The Times Are A-Changin.” Nearly every song on the album has sharp political comments. The themes on this album greatly reflected the attitude of the young adult population of the time, all gathering in Greenwich Village, in New York. This album came out in 1964. On the other coast, and nearly a decade earlier Ginsberg wrote, “Howl.” This poem is one of the landmarks of writing in the “beat generation” and perfectly embodies the changing mindset of people at that time. Ginsberg refers to the characters of this poem as “the best minds of my generation, destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.” He then goes on to discuss these characters in depth, revealing them as psychotics, druggies, bums, and overall the rejects of normal society. He goes on to imply political unrest often throughout the poem, such as when a character “burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting/the narcotic haze of Capitalism.” Dylan’s song “With God on Our Side” touches on many of the same themes as Howl, mocking many of America’s fallacies and concluding each stanza by justifying America’s actions because it is with “God on our side.” He strongly focuses his attack on war, displaying the resonating effects of the World Wars. These wars often show up in Ginsberg’s works as well.
Although Dylan is the easiest to compare to Ginsberg, the 60’s were filled with thousands of people fueled by Ginsberg’s words. He was a “a 1950s champion of causes later embraced by the 1960s counterculture: freedom from sexual repression and traditional behavior; freedom to engage in recreational drug use; rejection of authority and censorship; rejection of the military-industrial complex.” (Allen Ginsberg Howl Criticism)He represented everything that wasn’t traditional at his time, and people were drawn to his spirit. The latter half of that decade featured numerous protests that defined the counter-culture movement, and Ginsberg was usually found at the center of them, especially involving the Vietnam War. These protests were often started by college students, or college-aged adults and they were all undoubtedly affected at one point by the works of Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac, and their mischievous stories, chronicling journeys across the country and the like.

Works Cited
Allen Ginsberg Howl Criticism. 1 1 2009. 16 10 2009 .
Singal, Daniel Joseph. "Towards a Definition of American Modernism." n.d. 112-129.