In Reading for the Plot<\/u>, Brooks asserts \u201cin working out and working through plots, as writers and readers, they were engaged in a prime, irreducible act of understanding how human life acquires meaning.\u201d How can this statement be applied as a lens in understanding The Moonstone<\/u> and in particular Collins\u2019s objective of tracing \u201cthe influence of character on circumstances\u201d?\u00a0 At first reading it would appear that the lens inverts Collins\u2019s premise.\u00a0 As P.D. James writes in her introduction to The Moonstone<\/u>, \u201cCharacter is to direct plot, not plot dominate character\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet while character may be predominant and guides the reader through the plot, ultimately character is shaped as well by circumstances. In order to understand and reveal how human life acquires meaning, character can not only impose on plot but must be molded and formed and developed by situations and events.\u00a0 Those influences on character then reveal how human life ultimately acquires meaning.<\/p>\n
Taking just the Prologue in which to apply this lens, we would have the narrator repulsed by what he has witnessed: a theft and possible multiple murder. John Herncastle is the accused thief and murderer.\u00a0 This plot reveals the absence of significance of human life for John (jewels are worth more than human life) while dictates the insurmountable importance of human life to the narrator who ultimately refuses a lifelong relationship with his cousin, John, after what he has witnessed.\u00a0 The way it which the prologue has been structured would imply that plot is influencing character and not the reverse.<\/p>\n
As the novel continues, we are lead through various stages of plot as narrated by different characters. Clearly this style of narratorship fulfills Collins\u2019s objective in showing the imprint of character on plot.\u00a0 The plot develops and is viewed and thus communicated to the reader through the eyes of each particular narrator.\u00a0 To that extent, character does indeed direct plot.\u00a0 However, ultimately if the prime and irreducible aim of plot is to understand the significance of human life, then the impact that plot has on character growth is preeminent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Reading for the Plot, Brooks asserts \u201cin working out and working through plots, as writers and readers, they were engaged in a prime, irreducible act of understanding how human life acquires meaning.\u201d How can this statement be applied as a lens in understanding The Moonstone and in particular Collins\u2019s objective of tracing \u201cthe influence … Continue reading Which Comes First<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4449"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}