I struggled with the narrative style of this novel; for a book that is meant to be objective the narrator is very judgmental. Wikipedia is kind enough to describe McTeague as simple minded; however, the narrator completely abuses him. He is referred to using a number of cruel adjectives. It kind of defeats the purpose of a naturalistic novel, I mean aren’t they meant to stay objective, to observe from a higher plane. In the fact the narrator of the story continually speaks as though he believes himself to be above the people he is representing in the novel.
Also some of the characterisations seem a little too harsh, call me an idealist but surely they cannot be that driven by greed. I just feel as if this is a really offensive view of the characters. Okay so Trina could have used her lottery winnings to help them out but is it not a sensible idea to save one’s money? And McTeague seems to go from okay to horrible very quickly. I realise that he becomes an alcoholic and that can change someone but the transformation lacked realism for me. Like it was too sudden, to overnight in a way. It is as of Norris wants to show the very worst of the characters and as much as I usually love characters without redeeming qualities I feel like these characters do have redeeming qualities, Norris just doesn’t want to look for them or to show them.
I’m going to hold the rest of my judgement until I have finished the reading next week because Norris may be able to convince me otherwise in the meantime
Also I really enjoyed the class discussion on literature in general; it’s nice to see everyone’s opinion on the matter and how they interpret. Although I maintained that if we are to be judged by Twilight I am going to deny being a part of this generation.
At first thought i believed that such a bad representation of the characters, and how cruel Norris was in the creation of them, could make them more intersting. It can be interesting to find out the worse points of people, but he does take it too far and it just becomes a little TOO cruel, like you say.
ReplyDeleteNorris picks a specific moment for McTeague's becoming an alcoholic: it occurs when he begins drinking whiskey, because he has an "inherited tendency" toward alcoholism, in Norris's scheme of racial thinking.
ReplyDeleteI actually found the transition to be pretty smooth, and the misfortune of Mcteague to be layered on in a well constructed manner. He loses everything in a layered way (practice, apartment, objects) that makes his snap not justified by any means, but at least understood in my head.
ReplyDeleteChris Kiick