Scribd
Upload
731 views6 pages

Sample Craft Analysis

This document provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of how character drives the plot in different works of fiction. It examines how Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses use a character's dilemmas and decisions to create tension and propel the plot forward. It also looks at how Jorge Luis Borges' "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" generates tension through mysteries rather than a character's actions. Additionally, it discusses Martin Amis' London Fields, where the narrator's manipulation of expectations drives the plot more than any single character. The analysis demonstrates different ways that character can influence plot structure across genres.

Uploaded by

Natalia Baizán
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
731 views6 pages

Sample Craft Analysis

This document provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of how character drives the plot in different works of fiction. It examines how Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses use a character's dilemmas and decisions to create tension and propel the plot forward. It also looks at how Jorge Luis Borges' "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" generates tension through mysteries rather than a character's actions. Additionally, it discusses Martin Amis' London Fields, where the narrator's manipulation of expectations drives the plot more than any single character. The analysis demonstrates different ways that character can influence plot structure across genres.

Uploaded by

Natalia Baizán
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Below is an example of a successful craft analysis written by a

former student. This sample is by no means perfect, nor is it entirely


consistent with what you are doing for this course. For instance, this
sample exam essay was completed as a sit-down, timed examination in
which no outside materials were allowed, and as a result, the essay
contains no secondary sources. It is also 1,000 words shorter than
what you will be required to do in this course. What the essay below
does provide, however, is an excellent example of the sort of content
that I will be looking for in your responses to the week 8 essay
assignment. What you see below is the sort of analysis that I will
expect.
In short, the most important aspect of this assignment is this:
demonstrating that you can analyze a storyor storiesfrom a
writers point-of-view, and the essay below accomplishes that.
Question #3
Plot is character, writes Henry James. This tyrannical truism,
like all truisms, is somewhat simplistic. What James means here is
that the plot of a novel (or story) is driven by the concerns, dilemmas,
decisions and psychology of an individual psyche (i.e. character). In
other words, all plots are character-driven, says James.
First off, we need to define plot. At its simplest, plot is that
which entices the reader to keep reading. Plot is the pattern of
tension and release which pulls a reader through a book. It answers
some questions, keeping a reader satisfied, while simultaneously
sparking off others to entice the reader to keep reading. A writers
ability to decide when to withhold information, when to hint vaguely,
and when to reveal determines whether a story or novel is wellplotted.
On the most basic level, this tension-release pattern is dramatic.
By dramatic, I mean that the reader keeps reading to find out what
happens next. In this casethe case of a what happens next plotplot
is, almost always, character. That is to say, in a character-driven plot,

the tension-release pattern arises from questions that spring from the
particular circumstances of a particular character. An excellent
example of this familiar plotting device is Mark Twains The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Within the opening pages of the book, Twain places his main
character (Huck Finn) in a dramatic dilemma. Twain establishes the
need for Huck to run away by having Pap kidnap Huck and locking
him in a cabin on the other side of the river. Twain then releases some
tension by letting us know that Huck has escaped from Pap, but he
then immediately ups the ante by giving Huck bigger dilemmas, such
as will I go jail for helping a fugitive slave escape? And beyond that,
since Huck believes he is committing a mortal sin in helping Jim
escape, he worries, Will I go to hell?
Likewise, we as readers are caught up in this drama as well. No
longer are we wondering simply, Will Huck manage to escape from
Pap?. That question gets answered as soon as Huck and Jim find the
raft and start floating downriver, which provides a measure of tension
release. But that release is soon replaced by a larger tension, as
Hucks joining with Jim causes the questions in the mind of the
readers to multiply. We are now waiting for answers to several more
questions: Will Jim escape to the North and get his freedom? and
Will Huck get caught helping a fugitive slave? and so on and so
forth, tension and release until the last page of the book.
In the case of Huckleberry Finn, plot is character, because the
source of the tension and release in this novel are the characters of
Huck and Jim. Our questions about what will happen next and the

resolution of those questions always spring from the particular


circumstances of Huck and Jim.
A contemporary example of a character-driven plot is Cormac
McCarthys All the Pretty Horses. At the opening of this novel,
McCarthy shows us the character John Grady Cole attending the
funeral of his grandfather. We then find out that, upon the death of his
grandfather, the ranch where John Grady has worked all his life is to
be sold. We see John Grady go to a lawyers office to find out if there
is anything that can be done to halt the sale, but the lawyer tells him
no. Thus, within the first twenty pages, McCarthy has placed his
character in a dramatic predicament. Again, I say dramatic, because
the predicament of the character forces us to wonder: What will he
do?.

And from that initial question, What will this character do

next? the entire plot unfolds. Once they get to Mexico, the question
what will he do next? is answered for us, but once again, it is
replaced by other, bigger questions: What will they do to earn a
living? What has become of Jimmy Blevins? Will John Gradys
liaison with Alejandra be discovered? and so on and so forth. The
proverbial thickening of the plot is nothing more than the build-up of
such questions, the authors delay in giving us an answer until we can
stand it no longer. This build-up also incorporates a continual and
gradual raising of the stakes. In other words, as the story progresses,
each question has more impact and risk for the character than the
previous ones. For example, Huch begins by wondering How can I
escape from Pap? and seventy pages later, he is grappling with Will
I go to Hell for helping Jim escape?.

But what if the source of tension and release is not dramatic? By


that I mean, what if the source of tension is not what will happen
next or what will the character do next? An example of tension
arising from a source other than character is Jorge Luis Borgess story
Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius which begins with the narrator telling us
I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an
encyclopedia (3). The question which springs immediately to our
mind is not: what will happen next? or what will this character
do?. The question which the opening words of Borgess story inspires
is: How is it that a mirror and an encyclopedia can lead someone to
make this discovery? And not only do we wonder how, we also
wonder: What is this Uqbar place?. In other words, the source of
tension is not what will happen? but how is it that this has
happened and in this particular way? Borgess plots are rarely
character driven. They are not made up of a causal chain of linear
events. Rather, they are, as the title of his collection suggests,
labyrinths, meant to be deciphered partially, but never completely
understood, inexorably looping back onto themselves, leading the
reader through a fascinating, inscrutable maze.
An example of a novel that falls somewhere in between Borgess
Labyrinths and McCarthys All the Pretty Horses is Martin Amiss
London Fields. In this novel, the narrator tells us in the first three
pages the basic outline of the book. By the end of page one, we know
that there will be a murder: This is the story of a murder. It hasnt
happened yet. But it will (1). By the end of page three, we know the
identity of the murderer (Keith Talent) and the murderee (Nicola Six).
What then is the point of reading the book? What is the source of

tension? The tension arises not from what will happen or even how it
will happen, but how and why. As the narrator says, the story is Not a
whodunit. More a whydoit (3).
But this novel is a bit more character driven that it first appears.
The central difference between Amiss novel and the character driven
plots of Twain and McCarthy is that the character that drives the plot
of London Fields is not a main character enacting the action of the
plot on the page. Rather, the character that drives the tension and
release pattern of this novel is the narrator himself. Because the
narrative voice alternates between first person (sections in which the
narrator comments on how he has gone about preparing to write
certain sections, etc. ) and third (the actual dramatic scenes which
enact the events and interaction between characters) a tension
between these two different voices does a lot to drive the plot
forward. In certain first person sections, the narrator will allude to an
event in a cursory way, and as readers, we wonder, When will I get
to witness that event played out on the page in full dramatic detail?.
Sometimes we get it. Sometimes we dont. But whether Amis
frustrates or satisfies our desire for detail, the pattern of tension and
release is the same. As for there being a protagonist whose
psychology drives our interest and moves the plot forward, it does not
exist here. Rather, the tension and release arises from the authors
careful manipulation of traditional narrative expectations of his
readers and the occasional satisfaction of those expectations to
produce release, and the occasional fulfillment of them to produce
more tension.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy