The Time Is Night Analysis
The first person narrative is used in novels and short stories in order to provide the reader with a more intimate view of what is being told. Stories like these often contain parenthetical statements in which a narrator chooses to interrupt writing in order to convey a personal remark. These comments evoke an effect on the reader. Clarice Lispector’s The Hour of the Star and Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s “The Time is Night” each contain several instances where this literary technique is used. Through analyzing the usage of parenthetical interjections within each piece it is possible to see why narrators choose to introduce comments using parentheses. The narrator of Lispector’s The Hour of the Star, Rodrigo S.M., disturbs his tale with parenthetical
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Towards the beginning of the novella, Anna relays the contents of part of her daughter Alena’s diary. During this time Anna chooses to write parenthetical comments containing her thoughts. After reading a section describing what Alena was doing while her son was sick at Anna’s house, Anna interjects with “What nonsense. What matters is that I saved the boy that night” (Petrushevskaya 16). She is reading about what her daughter did, but decides to remark on how it was up to her to save the child’s life. This comment shows readers that Anna has to step up and take responsibility for Tima, Alena’s son, because Alena is an unfit mother. Anna’s statement shifts the focus of the story from Alena’s troubles to her own, and in doing so she promotes the idea that she is far more important than the daughter. Anna, therefore, could be seen as a conceited character. This holds true later on when Anna reads a section of Alena’s diary which describes the pain she felt when her lover refused to touch her again after being discovered by a student. Upon reading this Anna parenthetically exclaims “Never have I let a man hurt me. And what do we read here? She calls this suffering? This nonsense?” (Petrushevskaya 20). Anna, once more, transfers the attention of the reader from the daughter to herself. She needs the reader to feel bad for her and all that she has dealt with in life. No matter how bad Alena’s story may seem, Anna’s is apparently far worse and much more important. The parenthetical comments affect the reader by shifting attention from one character to another, and in doing so promotes this character over the
Towards the beginning of the novella, Anna relays the contents of part of her daughter Alena’s diary. During this time Anna chooses to write parenthetical comments containing her thoughts. After reading a section describing what Alena was doing while her son was sick at Anna’s house, Anna interjects with “What nonsense. What matters is that I saved the boy that night” (Petrushevskaya 16). She is reading about what her daughter did, but decides to remark on how it was up to her to save the child’s life. This comment shows readers that Anna has to step up and take responsibility for Tima, Alena’s son, because Alena is an unfit mother. Anna’s statement shifts the focus of the story from Alena’s troubles to her own, and in doing so she promotes the idea that she is far more important than the daughter. Anna, therefore, could be seen as a conceited character. This holds true later on when Anna reads a section of Alena’s diary which describes the pain she felt when her lover refused to touch her again after being discovered by a student. Upon reading this Anna parenthetically exclaims “Never have I let a man hurt me. And what do we read here? She calls this suffering? This nonsense?” (Petrushevskaya 20). Anna, once more, transfers the attention of the reader from the daughter to herself. She needs the reader to feel bad for her and all that she has dealt with in life. No matter how bad Alena’s story may seem, Anna’s is apparently far worse and much more important. The parenthetical comments affect the reader by shifting attention from one character to another, and in doing so promotes this character over the