Narrating and Symbolism - Writers, be your own Catcher in the Rye

Narrating and Symbolism - Writers, be your own Catcher in the Rye

By: Sophia Tsinas

ASSOIATING A POINT OF VIEW TO A NARRATIVE:

Ever wondered why an author chooses to write in a specific way? Why one chooses to use certain words over others? Why symbolism is evoked subtly into the lines of a novel? Are these elements relevant? Do they even matter? I assure you, they do. An author doesn’t just sit down and type up a series of random words to compose a story that lacks imagery, symbolism and practicality. Of course not! Depth, emotion and individualism are what navigate novels and permit the longing of the main character’s personal development. Also, the point of view of a novel is essential to the way the audience can perceive its story and the way it unfolds itself. Depending on who is telling the story, the audience gets insight as to what is happening from different perspectives. For instance, as you may already know (and if you don’t, you should) there are three types of points of view an author can choose to use when writing: the first person point of view, the second person point of view and the third person point of view.

First-person point of view: With this point of view, the author does not participate in the action of the story. Seeing as though everything is recounted through a particular character’s perspective, the readers are limited to certain specifics of the story. Due to the fact that one character cannot know everything about what the characters are thinking/feeling, the audience needs to recognize that not all that is said is the absolute truth. (In order to identify this point of view, the use of the words “I, me, my” and “mine” are what stand out).

Second-person point of view: In this point of view, the narrator talks to the reader and refers to him/her as “you”, making it seem as though he/she is talking directly to them. It is also the least used viewpoint in literature, seeing as though it is hard to describe a particular story when the audience is not a part of it, meanwhile the narrator makes it seem as though he/she is talking about them.

 Third-person (omniscient/all-knowing) point of view: the narrator does not participate in the action of the story, but lets us know what the character is feeling, experiencing. Told through a omnipresent figure, like a supernatural force such as God, the narrator can dip into any character’s mind and reveal things about them, even matters of their past. This point of view is also known as the “all-knowing point of view”, seeing as though the narrator actually knows everything that is inside each character’s mind.

Everyone has a certain writing style, a way to vacate a story in his or her own terms. However, people generally tend to focus more on the content of a story rather than the storyteller. When it comes down to it, the base of a story is the way it is told and the voice it is told through. Everybody has their preferences, their favorites. I for one adore the first-person point of view, because it leaves way for a little mystery, due to the fact that we can’t always trust what the narrator is saying, leaving us to deduct our own conclusions from what is being told. A good example of the use of this point of view would be in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is also the narrator of the novel. Caulfield does a good job of recounting the story through his experiences, his thoughts and his viewpoints on life. He is s a young, depressed adolescent scampering the streets of New York, looking to find a sense of purpose, of belonging. Considering he is depressed and believes that most people surrounding him are fakes, phonies as he puts it, we the readers cannot always believe how he depicts others. He even states throughout the novel, that he has this uncontrollable need to lie, even if it is a tinny fib; he can never truly be straightforward.

Remember that anyone of these points of views can be good and useful when writing. However, you have to make sure to follow the rules and conventions of the appropriate point of view, when it comes down to choosing one. What I mean by that is that if you choose to incorporate the first-person point of view, for instance, than you have to make sure that the narrator uses pronouns such as “I, me, my” or “mine”, this way the reader can be sure of what type of narrator is being used (this way he/she knows if the narrator can be trusted). That’s a good thing to have when you’re an author: being able to fool your audience. If you’re able to write a story where the audience is constantly wondering “Is this real or will there be something lying ahead?” then you’re on the right track.

ATTRIBUTING SYMBOLIC MEANING TO OBJECTS:

Not only is the narrator’s point of view important, but also the incorporation of symbolism is crucial to a novel’s development. Keep that in mind for whenever you decide to jot down ideas. Why is symbolism important, you may ask? Because it challenges one’s perspective of a particular sequence, that’s why. What would a great novel be if the reader weren’t invited to challenge what the author was saying? A novel is never straightforward; you have to dig for the deeper meanings behind things in order to properly understand what is happening. For instance, in Catcher in the Rye, Salinger does a great job of inserting symbolic meanings to ordinary objects, leaving the reader to deduct what that meaning could be. For example, Caulfield possesses a bright red hat, resembling one that a hunter wears when going outdoors. If you aren’t a careful reader, you’ll skim through the pages without noticing its relevancy and you’ll probably think it is solely “a red hat.” However, that hat is a symbol of individualism in Caulfield’s eyes:

“I put on this hat that I’d bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way.” (3.3)

He is insecure about wearing it in public, but wears it anyways because it defines him as his own person and reflects how he sees himself; different, real. This can be associated to the everlasting theme of “not being fake” that courses through the novel. By him wearing this particularly odd hat, he can consider himself to be real and not fake as he believes everyone surrounding him is. See what Salinger did there? He subtly integrated the theme of individualism through the presence of what seems to be “just a red hunting hat.” Read and learn, writers. Take notes!

Salinger also uses the ducks of Central Park as symbolic means to identify change. Now, I know what you’re thinking: can ducks really represent anything other than just ducks? Of course they can, pay attention! In the novel, Caulfield is preoccupied with the ducks and where they are migrating to, seeing as though it is around Christmas time. Where are they off? Why do they leave? This bring forth the feeling of “people always leave” whether you want them to or not. This saddens Caulfield, seeing as though he wants them to stay; he doesn’t want anything to change; he wants sameness. The ducks represent his longing for things to remain the way they are and for people to stay in his life. Even though he is comforted by the fact that their absence is only temporary and that they will return in the spring, he is discouraged by the fact that his deceased brother, Allie, will not return, permanently. If you really want to analyze it to the T, Caulfield’s first name, Holden, sounds like the verb holding if you say it fast enough, which can be associated to holding on, not letting go. Bet you didn’t think you could get all that from ducks, huh?

Finally, one of the most important symbols of the book is the theme of childhood innocence. Now how can one depict innocence through materialist objects? Hope you have your notepads and pens in handy. Although Salinger does a good job of portraying this theme sporadically through the pages of the novel, I’ll state concrete examples of how he portrays a theme as such. At the end of the novel, Holden goes to visit a museum where he reminisces on his childhood visits:

“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move… Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (122)

This quote reflects that Caulfield does not want to change; he does not want to grow up. Now how can a building represent such a thing? How can a physical object represent a psychological belief? That’s the beauty in the novel! He tries to explain that even though the objects inside the museum remain the same, the people who go back to visit it, change. This reflects Caulfield’s wish for kids to remain innocent and to not grow up. He relates sameness to innocence due to the fact that he himself does not want to grow up, because he believes grown-ups are phonies. And in order to avoid becoming a fake, he must remain young forever.

So you’ve got it! If you can properly master the art of integrating a proper narrator point of view while simultaneously applying symbolism to the story, than you’re set to write a proper narrative. The key is to read, read, read and I couldn’t stress it more. By reading, you grasp what other writers have accomplished and what their writing style is like. But remember to always be unique: learn from others and apply I in your free-minded way. Believe in yourself and you’re halfway there!

Sit down and write like the bad ass you are - Bianca Frattasi

                    As aspiring writers, we have all felt the frustration and anger that comes with not being able to get your ideas out of your head and out, into the world. These mental blocks tend to occur right when your piece starts to get good. You sit down in front of your laptop of pad of paper (if you’re old school) and start to write all your ideas down. At first they poor out fluidly, beautiful sentences just seem to come together. But then, the dreaded block. You sit there, watching your cursor flash, taunting you. You sit there and try to force yourself to write another sentence. You try to force yourself to push on because you think the beautiful sentences and insightful ideas will come flooding in once more. This is where you’re wrong. 

          Step away from the computer! Put down that pad of paper! I can only speak from personal experience, however I have found that my best work occurs when I write a piece gradually. If I’m working on a piece and suddenly encounter a mental block, I step away from my work and occupy myself in other ways. By doing this I am giving my brain a break as well as giving myself time to be inspired by new and exciting things around me. If you write a full piece from beginning to end in the same mindset, the piece might lack a certain flare that you might have gotten through if you were to write the piece over time, drawing inspiration from things you experience gradually.
          Another issue I often face, which is loosely connected to not being able to get your ideas out, is being too critical of my own work. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say this, but every time I think up a new story or character or even a short scene, my first instinct is to harshly critique my lack of creativity and to begin finding reasons as to why I should scrap the idea. It’s hard enough to come up with an idea in the first place. Don’t hinder your chances of getting your words out further by anticipating the failure of your piece before you even begin! You just have to step back and give yourself a pep talk. Look at yourself in the mirror and say “Hey, I’m a bad ass capable of amazing things. Sit down, stop whining and get your ideas out, no matter how cliché they might be.”
          So that’s my advice. Don’t drive yourself crazy if you can’t get something out from beginning to end in one sitting. Work at them gradually. Slowly stitch together bits of your piece, drawing inspiration from everything around you. And lastly, don’t hate on yourself! There are a bunch of people outside your own head that will gladly do that for you. If anyone is going to believe in your writing it’s you. 

Geoff Barber. "On the Importance of Work Ethic and Slaying Dragons"

I maintain the opinion that everything comes down to work ethic. As I’ve grown up, people have asked me what I want to do with my life. My answer is usually the same: I dunno, but I’m an okay writer. One of my dad’s friends who I’ve spent a fair amount of time with, a big and outspoken guy, always asked me that very same question, and I’d follow with the same answer. And then I’d get the same speech every time. “You know Ernest Hemingway was this incredible guy. There was his writing, but he was this larger-than-life figure. He’d be out playing cards and drinking in Havana all night, growing his legend as this super manly man, big game hunting, Marlin fishing, boxing and fucking girls. But come morning Hemingway would be up at six with a pot of black coffee, sitting at his typewriter until lunch. That’s what you gotta do, just write every day about anything, write about shaving!”

My dad’s friend who gave me this same impassioned deliverance on several occasions was in no way a writer or artist of any kind. I think he owned a company that manufactured industrial paint sprayers or something, but he certainly got his message across. I get up at six sometimes, make coffee and write, but this is just the product of procrastination, not an overzealous work ethic.

If you approach a new sport you are not going to expect to be good at it, we've come to learn that through experience. Why should writing be any different? Give it all you’ve got, and then some. Progress is inevitable if you work at it.

I hate to stray from the original subject matter of work ethic but this particular theme has a tendency to grow heads, like the Hydra. One head that keeps rearing up in my mind as I cut off the head of work ethic is the subject of being the best, closely related to work ethic. So I will follow up in the subsequent lines with that. Here are my worthless meditations on being the best:

It is a common thing to read writers accounts of writing, how discouraging it is, how you can write book after book and not get them published, how you’ll just be poor forever. But writing is just like everything else. There is a one percent; there is the elite, and the names everyone knows. You just need to figure out what got those elite to where they are. Their needs to be this deep seeded, burning desire to be the best. And I mean the very best, slaying dragons and murdering motherfuckers!

This applies to everything, not just writing and not just the arts. Natural talent is easily recognized but it will only take you so far.

When confronted with the decision between writing, and watching Netflix, the latter usually wins. It’s been a long day, I’ve been in school from 8:30 until 6, the metro broke, I burnt my tongue on microwave lasagna, I just want to chill. What would’ve happened if Ernest Hemingway decided to do the early 20^th century version of Netflix, instead of enlisting as an ambulance driver on the western front in his early twenties?

-Geoff

Stumped? Stumped.

Written by Mara Larkin  

I always imagined myself in the same place as J.K Rowling, surrounded by paparazzi and given more attention than a chocolate bar would get from a fat kid. I seriously thought one of my ideas, as simple as they were just as Harry Potter was, would bloom into a magnificent story, and would be viewed by the millions. I would be praised, and labeled as the Author of the generation.
   But as I write, I have come to realize something. Maybe Harry Potter wasn't as simple as I see it to be. Maybe even J.K Rowling thought she could do better with it. As I sit at my writing station, and type words that I assume would lead to the story, I just stop. I can never finish them, and I always marvel as to how Rowling ever managed to finish her wonderful series.
I always get this marvellous idea, and I say to myself, "Oh, this is a grand idea. This could definitely get published one day." I've been working on that story for 7 years now. I got the idea when I was 11, and I've never let go of it. I see the potential it has! I've been in full editing mode that whole length of time, but you know what, I still don't deem it ready.
   There are scenes that just stop, as I move on to the next idea. There are characters that don't develop enough for me, so I change them up. There are times I think, "Is this a novel or a short story?" and I could never answer that question. I try my best with grammar, and yet sometimes what I've written just doesn't flow.
   I'm completely stumped on it, and I've been trying to climb over that wall for 7 years now, and I can't. But I'm not giving up because somewhere deep inside me I know that one day this story will either get printed by someone else who was able to get it done before me, or rather never get printed at all. And if I don't even try for the fame Rowling has now, how could I ever presume to get it?
When you reach that wall, I suggest to go back to the beginning. Every time I reach mine, I return to the beginning, run at it, and it just so happens I can jump over. I start at the beginning of my story, and I read through it, I re-edit certain scenes, I re-write complete others, I create something new, I completely destroy something that's been there since day one. And then about 6 months later, (laugh all you want) I come back to that wall, and because I have a story that flows more, I am swept right over that wall of "Stump" and I continue on my way until I reach the next wall. Though maybe my method of climbing that wall is the reason it's taken me 7 years to complete this idea I have. But though it takes me a while, I persevere.
   Sometimes I'm stuck on that wall for weeks though, not even willing to climb over it. And then I remember it's my world I created, anything could happen. I sometimes just leave a huge space in between, write another scene with a different idea, or maybe write a train of thought, and then I work on how I could connect those two. Sometimes, it's as a simple as the linking sentence being: "Chapter 8". Sometimes it's as easy as that.

Characters Walking Out of the Pages

           

             Ever since I was eight years old, I’ve wanted to be an author. Two years ago, I started to write a book and finally finished it six months later. To this day, I am still in the process of editing it and I wouldn’t have been able to get through those stressful and long hours of editing without Hallie Ephron's The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel. This guide is a wonderful book that helps writers of all ages edit their first draft and eventually publish their novels. Ephron covers each step to writing a novel and suggests what you should or shouldn’t include in it. Her tips and suggestions have really helped me with my editing progress; I’ve learned a lot. However, there is one part of writing a novel that I have trouble with: character development. Whenever I introduce the characters in my story, I get caught into the plot and completely forget to describe them in brief detail. After reading Ephron's book, I started to develop my characters easier than before, and I know that I'm not the only writer in the world who has this problem. Therefore, this post will teach other writers who struggle the simple steps for developing character.     

            In Ephron’s The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel, one of the steps is to describe your characters in one or two details that show their personality. For example, if your character has wristwatches on both arms, the reader gets an idea that your character manages time well and is never late for anything. Or if your character is described as having a lot of wrinkles, the reader gets the idea that the character is old or has been through a lot of stressful situations. Remember to “think about which of the details are most striking” (119) in order to help the reader visualize your character.

            Another thing a writer should do when introducing a character is show them with words (don’t just talk about them). Likewise, Ephron says “one of the best ways to show a character to the reader is by putting [them] on the page and letting [them] perform” (120). In other words, writing about your character’s gestures, nervous ticks or habits is what conveys their inner self. For example, just by saying that “Suzy rubbed her sweaty palms together” indicates that she is nervous or anxious. You don’t have to tell the reader that “Suzy rubbed her sweaty palms together because she was nervous”, the reader already knows that she’s nervous because her palms are sweaty, and she's rubbing them together. In addition, your character can still show their inner feelings even if they are standing still (indicating that they are shocked, calm or indecisive about where to go).

            The final and the most important way to describe a character (in my opinion) is through dialogue. Your character’s personality should be illustrated through voice. For instance, the greeting between two characters reveals a lot. For example, if one character says “Howdy” and the other character says “Yo”, the reader gets the idea that one character is a cowboy and the other is, stereotypically speaking, a gangster or “cool dude”.

            Overall, I hope that I helped make character development easier for those who struggle with it. Personally, Ephron’s tips on writing characters have really helped me overcome writer’s block. Therefore, I recommend her book to every writer who is writing their first novel, or who have already finished their first draft. It is an incredibly, useful guide that will increase your writing skills and hopefully one day land you in a publishing house.

By Victoria Kennedy

Source:

Ephron, Hallie. The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel. Massachusetts: Adams             Media, 2011. Print.

opinion is universal

it is my opinion that stories serve a purpose. they entertain firsthand, but also convey the author's opinions of the world we live in and attempts to express it in a way to convince the reader to follow it. furthermore, the idea can never be interpreted the same way. it is my philosophical opinion that there is never a black and white answer to any circumstance. one person will believe that this is an answer to the problem, while the other thinks that is. when is it appropriate to release the criminal, to help him, imprison him, or execute him?


you may think it is proportionate to the crime over the idea of say, if he's a killer as apposed to a murderer, but even then it is never as simple as that. and what makes us question this more than ever, the story. if the written word or the spoken language of the stage or the mythical spectacle of cinema can teach us anything, we will learn anything. as a writer, you have to be open to the ideology of the individual. this doesn't simply mean whether people think your works are good or bad, but that they may interpret what you have written differently.

there is an Aesop fable about the two men and the donkey, the men follow the opinion of everyone they meet in an attempt to please all, but in the end destroy their donkey and lose what they believed in. in other words, if you try to please everyone, you'll please no one. in this blog, i will use cinema as an example, admittedly because i am most familiar with it as a genre.



controversy is never bad. first of all, it means publicity, and furthermore, it just means your work is being taken seriously. example,  the 1992 film "man bites dog", the story of a documentary team following a round a serial killer as he goes about his crimes, is widely controversial even today due to the graphic violence depicted towards such groups as the elderly and children. some called it a scathing indictment of the media's obsession with violence and the masses ever growing admiration and desensitization to it, while others called it a pointless piece of garbage that reveled in grotesque violence and poor writing. today this little no-budget Belgian film remains banned in several countries. it is also one of my favorites.



more recently, we have the epic, Oscar-nominated "Life of Pi". this is on the surface, a simple shipwreck story about a teenage Indian boy trapped in a lifeboat with a tiger. but by the time it ends, we are left with a religious allegory about the nature of belief and reality vs. fiction. those who have seen the movie or even read the book will know of a floating island inhabited by meerkats and dotted with pools of acid.

i myself struggled to understand its meaning. as it turns out, there is more than one. when confronted with a story about what you believe and whether or not it is real, as well as a religious allegory, you can't help but stir up debate. does the island represent Eden, the evil cook from an earlier passage, or something else?


to conclude, this is where it gets interesting. the makers of "dog" claim their movie is about film-making, not violence, and "pi's" author admits the island does not symbolize anything, but is merely a device to make pi's astonishing tale of survival seem more impossible.

as a writer, you give birth to an idea. but that idea spans, changes and reproduces. it is important to remain open to what the world will see, for better or worse. even if it is negative, it just means a person saw, and he was able to breed his own ideology, which in the frightening land of reality, means you inspired a wave of change in someone. who knows, it may be many someones.

that is what i believe. what do you?



Shaun Perrier

Thanks Anne Lamott

     Whenever I talk with people about writing, I always tell them that it is the scariest thing that I put myself through. I'm not sure whether it is the pressure to write something meaningful, or if it is the desire to write something that simply doesn't stink, but writing is a very difficult hobby to pursue. I always find intimidating to sit down and write because I am too afraid that I won't be able to produce something amazing, which is terrible because that means that I never produce anything at all. 

Since reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird it has become obvious to me that I am perfectionist that expects literary gold on the first shot. I am sure that I am not alone in this either, and this is why a lot of people find writing to be frightening. Lamott's advice has been really helpful in moving past these unrealistic expectations. You have to write a really terrible first draft, and maybe more, before you will be able to have a piece that is somewhat good. It is this idea of using the first draft as a means to get everything down on paper that is important. The first time you explore an idea should not be the place that you expect to see Pulitzer Prize worthy writing. Perhaps there will be amazing lines that will come from this first draft, but the majority of it will not be amazing. I think it is when we accept this fact that we can truly begin to write with relatively more ease, as it takes some of the pressure away.

I recently had the opportunity to implement this horrible first draft technique when attempting to write a paper. I sat down and just began to write with the thought in mind that I would just go back and fix anything and everything later. I was just going to throw up all my ideas on to the paper and worry about arranging them in a coherent way later. I can honestly say that this paper was one of my best. I had taken the time to get everything out and then was able to really focus on editing my work.

I would recommend this method to anyone who wants to write, whether it is creatively, or academically. It is a simple piece of advice, but it really does help. Writing can be phobia inducing, so anything that will take away some of its frightfulness, is a big deal. Anyone who loves to put pen to paper would probably agree with me, which is why I owe Anne Lamott a great deal of thanks for her incredibly helpful advice.

 By: Melody Wilson