same assignment as the first post, Wuthering Heights: narrative technique for chapter 1-3

Wuthering Heights: narrative technique for chapter 1-3

The ability to switch narration method engages the audience and provides information about the character and the setting of the novel. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte, the author, used different narrative techniques. In the first sentence, she uses flashback and tells the reader the year at which the story begins. The beginning is written in past tense which means that the narrator is thinking back in time, reliving the memories.

Bronte used scenic technique through dialogues while panoramic technique was used to explain the setting of the novel. Within the first three chapters, first person narration was used to explain the settings and to characterize characters. However within the first person narration, there were dialogues that allowed readers to feel like they too are living the moment as the story is being told.

In the first chapter, Lockwood, the narrator had explained the environment and informed readers that he was in England. The thoughts of the narrator was written the way he thought during the time, in present tense rather than past because this method makes it seem like the situation and thoughts are being thought now. The switch from past tense to present tense guide the reader through and it provides a chance to live the character during that time. Lockwood describes the surrounding in detail and it allows reader to imagine the scene and environment of the house. From meeting Heathcliff in chapter one, Lockwood briefly describes the appearance of Heathcliff. In chapter one, the narration techniques were used to describe the setting and the people.

 In chapter two, Lockwood uses first person past tense to begin the chapter. Bronte used flashback to tell the story about the night he went over to Wuthering Heights and met Isabella. The description of Isabella was about her physical features along with the mysterious and hard to understand feeling she gives off. The dialogues in this chapter characterized Lockwood as a person not just the voice that guides the readers. Lockwood once again used narration to describe the situation.

Chapter three’s narration from Lockwood describes the room of Catherine which, in a way, characterizes her as well.  The diary that Lockwood finds and reads switches the narration from Lockwood to Catherine’s first person narration. This chapter is also told through first person narration but there was a switch in narrator a few times. The diary was the perfect chance for Catherine to tell her story through her thoughts and point of view. Lockwood’s narration described things he witnessed while Catherine’s narration describes the past.

With the three chapters, 33 pages, there is a variety of ways to make a play on the narration. Emily Bronte had mixed in different types of narrative techniques to engage the reader. The few pages explained many things without the need of being too descriptive. The different narrative styles made the book seem like a movie or video.