I think I’ve used a hybrid of what you are defining here. Have you ever used the narrator-observer point-of-view? Can you think of other examples of this technique in literature? It’s rarely used, but it can be an effective tool in a story where the main characters are too biased to reveal all of the dimensions of a novel. The narrator-observer is an unusual narrative technique. He has an avid curiosity and he uncovers details about their relationship as he becomes a confidante, especially to Sophie. Styron presents Stingo as an earnest and honest young man. He can present the complex relationship between Nathan and Sophie in a way that neither of them can. What Stingo brings to the story is a greater degree of reliability. Stingo cannot possibly know Nathan Landau’s true state of mind. The narrator-observer technique creates distance between the reader and the main characters. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby.” Another famous example is Nick Carraway in F. In “American Pastoral,” Zuckerman is not a major character but is an observer/narrator. Stingo’s family also took part in the racist system of slavery.Īuthor Philip Roth has published eight novels where the character Nathan Zuckerman appears. Sophie, as a Polish-Catholic, lost her family and suffered as a result of the tyranny of the Nazis. Nathan, as a Jew, is obsessed with and haunted by the holocaust. Stingo as narrator also underscored the theme of the universality of cruelty and racism. I suspect Styron selected Stingo as the narrator because he is the only character who could view the relationship between Nathan and Sophie with some measure of objectivity. He tied in his own family’s past history as slave owners in the South, which Stingo abhorred. So why did Styron choose a character other than Nathan or Sophie as the main character?Īs the narrator, Stingo described the events of the story years later when he was an older, successful novelist. Without revealing any further plot details, Sophie’s “choice” refers to the dilemma when an individual must choose between two equally horrible alternatives. Sophie shares with Stingo her harrowing past as a concentration Stingo and Sophie leave Brooklyn when Nathan, believing they are having an affair, threatens to kill Stingo. Stingo finds out from Nathan’s brother that Nathan is schizophrenic and he has made up his career as a cellular biologist working on important medical research. Nathan is at times generous and at other times abusive. The reader finds out later that Nathan has invented his background and he is a paranoid schizophrenic. The story revolves around the relationship between Sophie, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, and Nathan, who poses as a Harvard graduate and a biologist. He is a boarder at a rooming house in Brooklyn, New York, where Nathan and Sophie live together. The narrator is a young writer from Virginia named Stingo. A popular example was William Styron’s classic 1979 novel, “Sophie’s Choice.” The story focuses on two young lovers, Nathan Landau and Sophie Zawistowski. That goes without saying, right? However, some stories call for a different strategy: the narrator as observer. The principal narrator of a novel is usually the main character.
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