Explain the difficulty of life yet stressing its essential sweetness and desirability. What sweetness? Flowers in the spring, the glory and fulfilment of human life, a bird-song at evening--you know very well what I mean.
Importance
This dialogue, between the narrator and his soul, Joe, exemplifies the tone throughout the book. The conversations that the narrator has with his soul are completely nonrealistic and even humorous, and that idea is repeated throughout. When the narrator talks to the police officers for the first time and when the narrator talks to the mysterious man beside the road (Martin Funnicane), the conversations are all bizarre yet entertaining. This passage shows that the narrator has no objection at all to the idea of basically talking to himself. His nonchalant attitude is indicative of the mood of the novel.
Analysis
Joe asks the narrator to talk about what he calls the "sweetness" of life. His description of this supposed sweetness, however, is said in a robotic tone that is ironic. Joe describes things that can be appreciated by humans and can be exclusively perceived by human senses, yet he says these things as if he were a machine. This shows that Joe is not an organic part of the narrator but instead one that is artificial and purely fictional; he does not have the same capabilities of a human so he will always be inferior to the narrator.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Third Policeman 2
Never before had I believed or suspected that I had a soul but just then I knew I had. I knew also that my soul was friendly, was my senior in years and was solely concerned for my own welfare. For convenience I called him Joe.
Importance
This is the section of the book where the narrator's insanity is first apparent. Although he had been talking to a man he had killed, the narrator's conversation with Mathers can be written off as some kind of hallucination or dream. In this section, however, the narrator gives a part of himself a name different from his own. This soul character is not based on an actual character, like Mathers, but is instead completely invented. It is this complete departure from any kind of reality that alerts the reader that the narrator is no longer in his right mind.
Analysis
The first two sentences of this quote have multiple clauses and sections. The narrator also is treating the subject with a sense of seriousness in the first two sentences so the reader also feels a sense of seriousness. The last sentence, however, is abrupt and contains only one section. This change of syntactical style lends a humorous mood and shows the reader that this section will be absurd. The fact that the narrator named his soul, a part of him that is apparently authoritative, the simple name "Joe" also is humorous. The style reflected in this passage sets the tone for the rest of the chapter.
Importance
This is the section of the book where the narrator's insanity is first apparent. Although he had been talking to a man he had killed, the narrator's conversation with Mathers can be written off as some kind of hallucination or dream. In this section, however, the narrator gives a part of himself a name different from his own. This soul character is not based on an actual character, like Mathers, but is instead completely invented. It is this complete departure from any kind of reality that alerts the reader that the narrator is no longer in his right mind.
Analysis
The first two sentences of this quote have multiple clauses and sections. The narrator also is treating the subject with a sense of seriousness in the first two sentences so the reader also feels a sense of seriousness. The last sentence, however, is abrupt and contains only one section. This change of syntactical style lends a humorous mood and shows the reader that this section will be absurd. The fact that the narrator named his soul, a part of him that is apparently authoritative, the simple name "Joe" also is humorous. The style reflected in this passage sets the tone for the rest of the chapter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)