Chapter 4 Enduring Love
How does McEwan tell the story in Chapter 4?
Chapter 4 the use of retrospective view point is prevalent, we see Joe and Clarissa trying to get on with their everyday lives, we see Joe trying to get on with his work as he goes to the library, where he becomes consumed in the confusion of earlier events, and his failure to identify his personal fears. Whilst in the library he becomes aware of a person pacing behind him and identifies the individuals shoes as the same as Parry’s. In terms of action within the novel very little action takes place within the chapter but some key narrative aspects are used, such as structure in order to show a certain emotion and an insight into Joe as a character.
There is an uncertainty starting to creep into this chapter, we begin to understand the complications within Joe’s mind just by looking at structure. Although a relatively short chapter there is a significant amount of movement within the text, at one point we see a text within a text. Joe himself, wanting to right about the story of a dog states “I wanted to write about the death of an anecdote and narrative in science”. He says that he took pleasure in writing about the death of a story, even though he is stuck in his own; something seen later in the chapter when Joe is sure he sees the shoe of Parry- a structural device which is interesting considering Joe himself considered “the death of an anecdote and narrative in science”.
As a narrator Joe is very self-conscious and aware of what he is doing, hence why he deliberately talks about people telling stories. Everything he says is told in retrospect and he identifies this- “the power and attractions of narrative had clouded judgement”. He realises that even with the use of retrospect he cannot possibly tell the story back in infinite detail with many details because story telling itself has the ability to cloud judgement. The uneasy feeling of the entire chapter echoes Joe’s mind set, yet we are placed more at ease
Chapter 4 the use of retrospective view point is prevalent, we see Joe and Clarissa trying to get on with their everyday lives, we see Joe trying to get on with his work as he goes to the library, where he becomes consumed in the confusion of earlier events, and his failure to identify his personal fears. Whilst in the library he becomes aware of a person pacing behind him and identifies the individuals shoes as the same as Parry’s. In terms of action within the novel very little action takes place within the chapter but some key narrative aspects are used, such as structure in order to show a certain emotion and an insight into Joe as a character.
There is an uncertainty starting to creep into this chapter, we begin to understand the complications within Joe’s mind just by looking at structure. Although a relatively short chapter there is a significant amount of movement within the text, at one point we see a text within a text. Joe himself, wanting to right about the story of a dog states “I wanted to write about the death of an anecdote and narrative in science”. He says that he took pleasure in writing about the death of a story, even though he is stuck in his own; something seen later in the chapter when Joe is sure he sees the shoe of Parry- a structural device which is interesting considering Joe himself considered “the death of an anecdote and narrative in science”.
As a narrator Joe is very self-conscious and aware of what he is doing, hence why he deliberately talks about people telling stories. Everything he says is told in retrospect and he identifies this- “the power and attractions of narrative had clouded judgement”. He realises that even with the use of retrospect he cannot possibly tell the story back in infinite detail with many details because story telling itself has the ability to cloud judgement. The uneasy feeling of the entire chapter echoes Joe’s mind set, yet we are placed more at ease