Browsing by Subject "narrative ethics"
Now showing items 1-5 of 5
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(2023)In this thesis I analyze how a neurotypical reader can feel empathetic towards neurodivergent characters. Additionally, I will argue that the first-person narration in Mark Haddon’s 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time encourages empathy towards the main character by bringing the reader closer to the protagonist, who is also the narrator of the story. I start my thesis with the definition of narrative empathy and analyze the novel from that perspective. In addition, since representing neurodivergent characters can cause further stigmatization and harm, I will discuss some ethical questions that underlie Curious Incident. I use Phelan’s narrative communication model to portray the interplay between audiences and authors and apply the model to Curious Incident. With the help of the model, I argue that Christopher, the protagonist, is both the narrator and the narratee of his own story and that his story reads like a journal rather than an ordinary novel. Furthermore, I claim that the first-person perspective together with the journal-likeness of the novel brings the reader closer to the protagonist, eliciting empathy towards him. Additionally, I pose some ethical questions about the underlying problems of representing a neurodivergent character and also pose questions towards the readers about their ethical responsibilities towards both the character and the author. Moreover, I note that the question whether reading makes us better people needs to be researched further with longitudinal studies for us to have concrete answers. I suggest that there is a compelling interplay between first-person narration, narrative empathy, and the ethical dimensions of representing neurodivergent characters. I believe that there is a potential for future research in these areas and further I believe that literature holds a transformative power to enrich our understanding of each other, one narrative at a time.
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(2022)This thesis studies three of Kate Chopin’s stories through narrative aesthetics and ethics, in which the focus is entirely on female characters. These stories include the author’s novel, The Awakening (1899), and two of her short stories: “A Pair of Silk Stockings” (1897), and “The Story of an Hour” (1894). The goal is to study the aesthetics of Chopin’s works, how the author has composed these stories, and how this approach also proposes ethical criticism on the theme that arises from these three works, which concern gaining a greater sense of self. The term narrative aesthetics comes from James Phelan (2007), and this approach is also supported by the aesthetic approach to literature, which is discussed by Peter Lamarque (2013). With this combined method, the analysis focuses on specific elements that have purpose in terms of the whole narrative. These elements are examined through the female protagonists and the depiction of the narrators, since the stories closely follow Edna Pontellier, Mrs. Sommers, and Louise Mallard through third-person narration. This aims to exhibit how an aesthetic approach to Chopin’s texts unearth a thematic vision for ethical criticism as well. Narrative ethics brings an ethical interpretation of what the aesthetics of the narratives present, and it is built on feminist discussion. The method comes from James Phelan’s explicatory article Narrative Ethics (2013), which provides four narratives levels for a moral interpretation. These concern the character, narrator, the role of the author, and the role of the reader. Another important source is Martha C. Nussbaum’s introduction to Love’s Knowledge (1992), which also poses guiding questions for a moral inquiry in emphasizing both form and content. This approach follows the aesthetic study to demonstrate the significance of the unearthed theme, namely, gaining a sense of self. With the ethics of the told and telling, which follow the analysis sections, the thesis discusses the significance of the female protagonists’ awakenings in their vivid connection to their surroundings and to themselves. The thesis first analyses The Awakening for its significant elements and aesthetic principles to exhibit how Edna Pontellier gains a sense of self. This analysis is followed by the ethical reading presented by Phelan and Nussbaum. The same method is applied to the short stories to demonstrate further the aesthetics of Chopin. “Silk Stockings” and “The Story” showcase how the author’s works are built on the presentation of awakenings of both body and mind. The study shows how Chopin attempts to engage the reader with her narrative gaps and descriptions of the surroundings and their effect on the characters and how Chopin carefully builds her narratives to show an awakened body and mind. This combination then places significant importance on gaining a greater sense of self and the connection of this self to one’s surroundings, which give a timeless aspect to Chopin’s stories.
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The Fault in Our Ethics : Ethical Reading of The Fault in Our Stars and Conversations with Friends (2024)This thesis studies how illness is portrayed in two novels, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012) and Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (2017). The Fault in Our Stars focuses on two cancer patients who get to experience incredible things and fall in love before one of them dies. Conversations with Friends focuses on complicated relationships and at the same time shows how the main character struggles with endometriosis. By showing the realism in Conversations with Friends and the romantization and sentimentality in The Fault in Our Stars this thesis argues that the novels bring out very different ethical considerations. The thesis builds on narrative ethical approaches and makes use of the work of scholars in narrative ethics such as Wayne C. Booth, James Phelan, and Howard Sklar. In the light of the theories of narrative ethics, the thesis analyses the lessons that the books can teach, how the characters and their illnesses are portrayed and what are the reader’s and writer’s responsibilities. The analysis brings up the various ethical questions: for example, is it ethical to romanticize cancer or to present endometriosis so that it can be interpreted to be a punishment for immoral actions. Both novels are shown to have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to teaching readers lessons. When comparing the two novels, it can be seen that The Fault in Our Stars, which uses cancer as a vehicle to create a love story, is ethically more questionable that Conversations with Friends in which endometriosis is only one part of the main characters life. As ethics of representation is interested in how different groups of people are represented in novels, it is also important to look at how people with illnesses are portrayed in young adult and new adult literature.
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(2019)Maisterintutkielmani käsittelee amerikkalaisen kirjailijan Raymond Carverin novelleja ”So Much Water So Close to Home” ja ”What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. Kirjailija oli pitkään tunnettu minimalistisesta kirjoitustyylistään, mutta vuonna 2009 hänen perheensä julkaisi jo edesmenneen kirjailijan alkuperäiset, ja huomattavasti pidemmät, käsikirjoitukset tämän kuuluisista novelleista. Kävi ilmi, että Carverin kustannustoimittaja Gordon Lish leikkasi novelleista joissakin tapauksissa jopa seitsemänkymmentä prosenttia ja teki myös muita muutoksia, mitkä myötävaikuttivat merkittävästi novellien minimalistisen vaikutelman syntyyn. Analysoin tutkielmassani Lishin editoinnin eettisiä vaikutuksia kertomuksen eri tasoihin, sekä editoinnin eettisyyttä. Analyysissä hyödynnän minimalismin ja eettisen kritiikin (ethical criticism) teorioita. Pääargumenttini on, että minimalistisemmat versiot ovat eettisesti tehokkaampia, sillä niissä esiintyvien moraalisten elementtien havainnointi ja arviointi vaativat lukijalta aktiivisempaa osallistumista lukuprosessiin. Kolmiosaisessa analyysissä vertailen ensiksi novellin ”So Much Water” käsikirjoitusta sen editoituun versioon, jonka jälkeen vertailen saman kaavan mukaisesti Carverin toista novellia ”What We Talk About”. Vertailun tulokset ovat samansuuntaiset. Alkuperäiset käsikirjoitukset sisältävät enemmän yksityiskohtia novellien hahmoista, ja tarinoiden minä-kertojat pohtivat enemmän historiaansa ja ympäröivää maailmaa, minkä kautta lukija ymmärtää vaivattomammin hahmojen kohtaamat konfliktit. Editoidut versiot ovat minimalistisempia: novellien henkilöhahmot kuvaillaan niukemmin ja neutraalimpaan sävyyn, joten lukijan on haastavampi tietää, kritisoiko vai tukeeko kertoja kuvailemiaan tapahtumia. Kun novelleissa esiintyvät teemat tuodaan näin esiin vihjailun, eikä suoran toteamisen, kautta, lukijan kyvyt erottaa ja arvioida moraalisia ongelmia kehittyvät. Lukija joutuu aktiivisemmin soveltamaan omaa arviointikykyään tulkitessaan tarinan moraalisia konflikteja. Tämä taas tekee minimalistisista versioista eettisesti vaikuttavampia. Viimeisenä tutkielmassani analysoin editoinnin eettisyyttä. Edeltävän analyysin perusteella totean Lishin muokanneen tarinoita eettisesti tehokkaammiksi ja myötävaikuttaneen Carverin uraan menestyvänä kirjailijana. Useiden lähteiden mukaan Lishin aggressiivinen editointi kuitenkin näyttäytyy kyseenalaisena, ja niiden perusteella argumentoin, että Lish toimi epäeettisesti luodessaan eettisesti tehokkaita novelleja. Lish piti editointia taiteenlajina, ja totean analyysissäni, että hänen tekemänsä muutokset Carverin novelleihin osoittavat, kuinka hänellä ei tuntunut olevan minkäänlaisia moraalisia velvoitteita tarinoita kohtaan. Hänen suhtautuminen editointiin oli puhtaasti esteettinen. Viimeisenä analyysissäni huomioin myös sen, että alkuperäisten käsikirjoitusten julkaiseminen ei paitsi ollut merkittävää Carverin perheelle ja tiedeyhteisölle, mutta oli myös omiaan korostamaan Lishin kiistattomia editointitaitoja.
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(2022)This thesis examines how Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" uses depictions of violence to tell the story and how these depictions simultaneously challenge the reader to examine their own relationship to violence as well as society’s overall attitude towards it. By using both theory on what possible positive effects depictions of violence can have on the reader and Phelan’s theory on narrative ethics, this thesis will show that the depictions of violence are necessary for the societal criticism Burgess presents in his story as well as for the reader to challenge their own expectations of the nature of violence and the people who commit violent acts. The aim of this thesis is to show why even unpleasant topics should be depicted in literature. Since the reader of fiction is able to identify with the events and the characters of the story, they are able to experience situations and emotions that would be unpleasant for them if faced with in real life, such as fear, anger and sorrow. However, because the reader knows they are not actually in any real danger, the experience of these emotions can become pleasurable. The notion that experiencing negative emotions can become enjoyable goes all the way back to Aristotle, who claimed that by feeling emotions of fear and pity in fiction (drama), the audience is able to experience catharsis and what Aristotle called “proper pleasure”. There exists a wide debate among literary critics whether matters dealing with ethics and morals are even relevant when examining a text. This thesis presents both sides of the argument: I claim that a text should be evaluated purely on its aesthetical values, but also that bad ethics in the story do not make the text worse, any more than good ethics would make a mediocre text better. A Clockwork Orange supports both of these arguments. The inventive language and references to previous literary staples such as Dante’s Divine Comedy make it an interesting piece of writing even with the questionable ethics. However, examining the story on an ethical level reveals that, especially when considering Burgess’ original, unabbreviated ending, the novel actually denounces violence instead of glorifying it. The thesis examines the novel on four different levels based on Phelan’s (2013) four aspects of narrative ethics: ethics of the told; ethics of telling; ethics of writing; and ethics of reading. The conclusion of this study is that since Burgess is in control of what is told and how, he has a responsibility of the way the violence is depicted in the story. Burgess uses language and ambiguity that distances the reader from the events, and he ends the story in a way that condemns the violence that occurs in the beginning of the story.
Now showing items 1-5 of 5