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Why is it that books about unusual people are narrated by the most dullest possible character? Like in a Prayer for Owen Meany. Owen was five thousand times more interesting than the narrator. He was bold, powerful and brave. Yet the book gets narrated by the most dullest person ever, someone who has had everything handed to him. Someone who doesn't seem to have half the sparkle Owen has. Is it because they figure the so-called average person won't get interested in the book if an unusual character is narrating?
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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maybe to allow the author to fully show the unusualness of the character? There's more room for pointing it out when its not the unusual character narrating
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I think there is a possible problem if you have an exceptional person talking about themselves. It may be because people can only be exceptional through someone else’s eyes. I would also think it difficult to write one of those sparkling personalities speaking about themselves without them becoming arrogant, at least in the eyes of the reader. For example, Phineas in A Separate Peace is a remarkable person through the narrator’s eyes. Through his own, I can only picture him as terribly self centered or, more probably, as possessed of as many human flaws as anyone else.
Posts: 288 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
That makes sense. Imagine how much more self-centered Holmes would have appeared if it hadn't been Watson narrating the stories. As difficult as it is to imagine, it would be more. Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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