The Storm: An Inner Reflection Essays -- Emotions Psychology Essays

The Storm An interior(a) ReflectionMemories argon all we have sometimes, but what if memories bring protrude unwelcome feelings? In Romesh Gunesekeras short story Ranvali, a young wench goes back to her fathers old holiday bungalow and begins to discover new feelings toward her making love Communist father. The story is set in an idyllic bungalow in Ranvali, by the coast of India. Theorists such as Roland Barthes would argue that setting in modern narratives no longer need meaning they simply are that is their meaning. (qtd in Chatman 145). However, in Ranvali, the draw that besieges the bungalow while the young skirt is there clearly mimics her thoughts and gives the reader a greater sense of the sexual turmoil that she must be going through. It can thus be shown that the storm is an essential part of the setting that Gunesekera uses to evoke certain feelings in the readers of Ranvali.In the story, the storm mimics the narrators inner turmoil at discovering new feelings act ive her father. But is the storm part of setting? Chatman makes a distinction surrounded by existents - characters and setting. For Chatman, setting sets the character off it is the place and collection of objects against which his actions and passions appropriately pop (Chatman 134). The storm is part of the description of the place where the story unfolds. The memories of the narrators father, which may be considered the actions and passions within the story, emerge before and after the occurrence of the storm. The storm is thus part of the ground to which the events in Ranvali occur. Chatman also gives three criteria for being a character - presence, being named and importance (Chatman 139). The storm in Ranvali is clearly not explicitly... ...der is given a definite analogy to how she might be feeling. Gunesekeras use of this narrative whirl as opposed to using the narrator to describe her emotions makes the reader benevolent to the narrators plight in an almost unconscio us way. Although the storm is part of the setting, it subconsciously draws a connection to the narrators inner thoughts. The reader thus can conceive that a storm rages within her mind, with thoughts about her fathers idealism conflicting with her love for him. Without this narrative device of the storm, the story would have been much impoverished, as the final exam effect of Ranvali would have been much reduced. Works CitedChatman, Seymour, Existents Story and Discourse archives Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca Cornell UP, 1978. 131-145. Gunesekera, Romesh. Ranvali. Monkfish Moon. London Granta, 1992 89-102.