The Opaque Pact

Expos : I. Writing the past : Vanished memories / things remembered a) The introduction b) An ode to the West c) Antonia Verisimilitude literature a) An unfurnished style b) A semi-autobiographical text

II.

I. Jim is the main character. It is based on the past. The narrator is an unnamed narrator. In the introduction the narrator is not the same than in the whole book and he disappears from the novel as soon as Jim appears. It is a friendly first person voice. The friend also knows Antonia. The narrator will disappear and Jim will be the narrator. The places evoked in the extract are an odd to the West (the pioneer vision). There are several places such as Wyoming Montana, Iowa. There are also references to wild places (seasonal description). There is a strong detachment to the landscape and an intense link between the characters and the surroundings. The narrator uses comparison between Jim and places. The landscape will become more and more important in the end of the story. There is a great part of the narration and description devoted to the landscape. The landscape is a character and Jims ally sometimes. It also helps the reader to understand Jims personality. The narrator also focuses on the character of Antonia. They are linked to the past by Antonia. The title is My Antonia, it is written for the first time in the introduction of the extract. Antonia is represented more as an idea than a human being. The narrator and Jim are closely related. The title is my rather than Antonia, shes the starting point of Jims memory. It can be an indication on the notion that the script will be a personal story, there is an appropriation of Antonia. She seems to be the heroine of the book (subject of the story within a story). She is a pretext to write than a real person. Jim creates a kind of folder, he is not writing to the audience but first for himself. The links to the past are clear and numerous and the connections between past and present are quite clear. We learn that he is over forty now, we see his evolution in life with a voice over. He has a kind of monotonous life. The past seems more important than the present time: a past they have lost. II. In verisimilitude the goal is to show something possible in the world view of the reader. It is to give the impression of real life. The author reflects realistic aspects of human lives. It is an unfurnished style. Whatever the novel talks about, we need some details but we need not too much. It is the idea of not delivering many details. The reader is not necessarily aware of it. But the character makes references to Willa Carter. She chooses not to describe it from a female perspective but she uses Jims perspective. Conclusion:

This extracts foreshadows the whole story. It is written by another voice than Jim. Places become very significant in Jims world. Carter through her semi-autobiographical character is writing in the voice of a man. She chooses not to describe her from a female perspective: distanciation. The framing of the introduction contributes to this narrative notion. We are at the beginning of a novel; the beginning is a threshold between reality and fiction: how do you negotiate the transition between the fictional and the non-fictional. What kind of contract do you have with your reader? Here it is a transparent contract.