Compare The Narrative Strategies Of Richard Wright`s `native Son` And Jane Austen`s `emma`

In both Jane Austen`s Emma and Richard Wright`s Native Son, a crucial distinction is made between perception and reality. As Emma Woodhouse consistently lacks personal insight and constantly misinterprets the actions of those around her, Bigger Thomas prides himself that `if he could see while others were blind, then he could get what he wanted and never be caught` (Wright, 2000; 136) while in reality he is just as blind as those around him. Both authors` narrative strategies target the distinction between perception and reality, but in entirely different ways. Using free indirect style, Austen uses Emma`s own viewpoint to ironically highlight how ignorant she is. The role of narrative in Native Son, on the other hand, serves not only to present the reader with a clear view of what nearly every character misunderstands, but also to articulate Bigger`s thoughts where he himself is unable to do so. Wright`s use of the third person narrative gives Bigger a voice to articulate his thoughts and motivations. Unlike Emma, Bigger is incapable of expressing himself through words throughout the novel and the reader relies on the narrator to understand and sympathise with Bigger`s character. `He lay on the cold floor sobbing; but really he was standing up strongly with contrite heart; holding his life in his hands, staring at it with a wondering question. He lay on the cold floor sobbing; but really he was pushing forward with his puny strength against a world too big and strong for him. He lay on the cold floor sobbing; but really he was groping forward with a fierce zeal into a welter of circumstances which he felt contained a water of mercy for the thirst of his heart and brain.` (Wright, 2000; 340) Throughout the novel, the narrative style distinguishes between Bigger`s view of the world around him and the reality, yet here, perception and reality are inverted as Bigger`s actions are presented as symbolic of the struggle behind them. The repetition of the apparent reality - `he lay on the cold floor sobbing` - could solidify the image of Bigger as a passive, helpless pawn in a `world too big and strong for him`, but by separating his actions from the purpose for them - even literally in the sentence through the use of semi-colons - Wright paints a completely different picture of his protagonist - `strong` and `fierce`. While the other characters in the novel may see Bigger at his weakest and most vulnerable, Wright allows the reader to see past Bigger`s actions to the emotions and motivations behind them. In reality, Bigger is at his strongest `standing up strongly with contrite heart`, as he ceases to justify his actions and accepts responsibility for what he has done. Throughout the novel, the omniscient narrator depicts not only Bigger`s lack of perception, but the blindness of every character by contrasting appearance with reality. However, even here, having obtained a level of personal insight, Bigger cannot fully see or understand the world before him, as he is `groping` his way forward. Although Bigger has begun to understand himself, the events before him are a confused `welter` which none but the narrator can clearly see. Unlike the narrator of Emma, who deliberately uses Emma`s viewpoint to ironically obscure the events of the novel, the narrator of Native Son allows the reader, and the reader alone, to see the truth of events as they happen, while the characters are blindly `groping forward`. While the narrator communicates the truth of the actions with the reader, Max comes the closest to filling the role of narrator in the novel itself, as the only person truly able to guide Bigger and represent his viewpoint to the rest of the world. `Bigger felt that he was sitting and holding his life helplessly in his hands, waiting for Max to tell him what to do with it; and it made him hate himself. An organic wish to cease to be, to stop living, seized him.` (Wright, 2000; 374) Again, Bigger is `holding his life in his hands`, but while the action was earlier associated with strength and assertiveness, here it here connotes only helplessness and weakness. Even while `lying on the cold floor sobbing`; Bigger is at his strongest as he stands `strongly with contrite heart`, but here he is entirely reliant on Max. The image of `holding his life` is no longer associated with strength, but servility - When being interviewed for his job with the Daltons, Bigger submissively enters the house `with cap in hand` (Wright, 2000; 75). `Holding his life helplessly in his hands`, Bigger has again been reduced to this subservient manner, wholly dependent on the fate others decide for him. Bigger`s sense of helplessness is almost fatalistic at this point in the novel. As the murder of Mary Dalton `seemed natural` (Wright, 2000; 136), here, his resignation is `organic`; are Bigger`s actions and emotions predetermined by his very nature? While almost every character in the novel demonises Bigger`s behaviour, only the narrator and Max attempt to understand Bigger`s actions as a result of society. `"I say, your Honor, that the mere act of understanding Bigger Thomas will be a thawing out of icebound impulses, a dragging of the sprawling forms of dread out of the night of fear into the cold light of reason, an unveiling of the unconscious ritual of death in which we, like sleepwalkers, have participated so dreamlike and thoughtlessly."` (Wright, 2000; 412) Unlike the narrator, Max is not omniscient and cannot intuitively understand Bigger`s actions, and makes it clear through the harsh verbs - `thawing`, `dragging` - that attempting to comprehend Bigger`s viewpoint is an immense task. `Icebound impulses` is a twofold image, representing how obscure and inaccessible Bigger`s motives are, but also how ingrained they are. His instincts are frozen to him, and thawing them out will be a difficult and arduous process. These animalistic instincts are ironically shaped by society, rather than nature, and society has conspired to create hideous `sprawling forms of dread` which occupy not only Bigger, but the black population as a whole. As these `impulses` are exposed to the court, Max directly addresses the whites` reluctance to deal with the `night of fear` - the mind-set of the oppressed black people - and reminds them that the law should not be anchored in rhetoric and emotivism, but the `cold light of reason`. The law itself should not work for or against Bigger, but must be `cold` and merciless - an idea which even the pitiless lynch mob has ignored. While Max does not claim that Bigger has no control over his actions, the fact that the `ritual of death` is `unconscious` reveals that crime and violence are stitched into the fabric of society, with no group of people consciously standing against the law. Bigger did not have a political motivation in mind when he killed Mary Dalton - the murder itself was accidental - and it was only after the crime that Bigger began to consciously evaluate his actions. Like the court, Bigger had been `dreamlike` and `thoughtless` until his actions were dragged into `the cold light of reason`. Many characters attempt to narrate Bigger`s actions in the novel, especially Buckley and the media - `a strange, sullen, fixed-from-under stare.utterly untouched by the softening influences of civilisation` (Wright, 2000; 310) but only Max really attempts to understand and explain the crime. However, like the narrator, Max is only able to observe the events of the novel, without impacting upon them, `"I have no choice in this matter. Life has cut this cloth; not I."` (Wright, 2000; 415) In contrast to Bigger Thomas, Emma Woodhouse is fully capable of articulating her viewpoint and justifying her actions throughout the novel without the help of an omniscient narrator. However, although the novel is narrated in a free indirect style from Emma`s perspective, the narrative is highly ironic as Emma`s perceptions are frequently mistaken. `She cast her eye over it, pondered, caught the meaning, read it through again to be quite certain and, quite mistress of the lines, and then passing it to Harriet, sat happily smiling,` (Austen, 1998; 65) One of Emma`s defining characteristics is her wit, and throughout the novel she is shown to be far quicker and more intelligent than those she surrounds herself with - her father, Harriet and Mrs Weston. On first reading, Emma`s quick decipherment of the letter from Mr Elton relates this cleverness to the reader as Emma accomplishes what Harriet cannot. However, by rereading we discover that, although Emma has interpreted the meaning of the letter, she has completely misread the fact that it is addressed to herself and not to Harriet. Throughout the novel, in fact, almost every point that Emma is `quite certain` about is false, and on rereading the narrator seems to be mocking, rather than supporting Emma. However, in spite of this mocking tone, the narrative does not condemn Emma`s character or actions. According to Marvin Mudrick: `the author is in her novel and not out of it.and she is there for the comic artist`s purpose only - to embody and direct our laughter.` (Mudrick, 1952; 183) While the narrative strategy in Emma gently mocks Emma`s lack of insight, it does so without making any judgements about any character within the novel, instead allowing any judgement to be conducted by Emma. As even the narrative seems to take Emma`s viewpoint, there could easily have been almost no blunt analysis of Emma`s character in the novel. However, where the narrative uses only irony to highlight Emma`s flaws, the blanks are filled with the blunt words of Mr Knightley. `This is not pleasant to you Emma - and it is very far from pleasant to me; but I must, I will - I will tell you truths while I can, satisfied by proving myself your friend by very faithful, and trusting that you will some time or other do me greater justice than you do now.` (Austen, 1998; 340) Like Native Son`s Max, Knightley struggles to analyse Emma`s actions - though out of affection for Emma rather than lack of understanding - and yet sees it as his duty to do so. Austen`s use of punctuation in the passage, combined with the repetition, `I must, I will - I will` makes it clear that even Knightley is blinded by Emma and finds it difficult to be so harsh to her. However, while Knightley`s bluntness marks him as the worthy hero of Emma, he is not the only character able to analyse Emma. Not only is Churchill as aware of Emma`s flaws as Knightley, but he is also one of the few characters in the novel with a clear picture of reality - that he is secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax. Throughout the second volume of Emma, clear distinctions are drawn between Knightley`s blunt honesty and Churchill`s charm; while both men see Emma`s flaws, the deceptive Churchill simply flatters Emma, while Knightley - the hero ultimately worthy of marrying her -is often brutally honest with her about her shortcomings. However, even Knightley `misinterpreted the feelings which had kept her face averted and her tongue motionless` (Austen, 1998; 340) and while, of all the characters in the novel, he has the clearest view of her character, he does not fully understand her. The narrative strategies of Native Son and Emma both distinguish characters` - and at times, even readers` - perceptions of the events of the novel and the reality. While in Native Son, this interpretive role extends to explaining Bigger`s thoughts and feelings, rather than an unbiased report of the action, Emma`s narrative ironically takes the protagonist`s viewpoint, allowing the action of the novel, characters such as Mr Knightley and Emma`s own growing self-perception to show the readers the reality of the situation.

Bibliography Austen, Jane, 1998. Emma (Oxford University Press) Mudrick, Marvin, 1952. Jane Austen: Irony as Defence and Discovery (Princeton University Press) Wright, Richard, 2000. Native Son (Vintage)