A nameless narrator is used in this piece. I believe he is reliable because he is a childhood friend of Roderick, but because he hasn't seen his friend in years, he is able to see great changes in his character. The reader is able to imagine the transition of Roderick from the past to the present due to the narrator's character. I believe we are who our friends are; therefore, his past, intimate friendship with Roderick might note similar characteristics in the two characters. I believe Poe used this type of narrator for his work to add to the mystery. In Gothic literature, murky elements lead the reader to ponder and read on. In this case, the reader is left on a limb to personally interpret the story. I believe Poe wanted to create multiple interpretations about his piece.
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I feel poe uses the nameless narrator for the reader to become the narrator and experience the story as a witness of what happen. The narrator in this story only knows what is either told to narrator or seen, though the narrator is a friend of Roddrick, i feel he left him nameless and his knowledge limited to draw the reader to incorporate their self as the narrator to become part of the story and maybe uncover something deep about them self.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat got the feeling myself that Poe only did the narration through one characters eyes so that then we could think up of different reasons why he did that or think of how the story might have been different from Madeline or Roderick's eyes. Of course we wouldn't get that lovely description of the house at the beginning if it wasn't for the narrator! All joking aside, I enjoyed the stream-of-consciousness because the characters weren't jsut described to us but more or less compared to how they used to look when they were younger, gicing us a better feel for how much they've changed in that house.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the narrator is probably reliable in the beginning of the story, it's hard to deny the fact that the house started to ware on his nerves and mental state. It's hard to say whether or not he was reliable towards the end of the story after being in the house for a while. I do like the idea that the narrator was nameless because it does bring the reader in more and able to experience the story.
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