Lockhart's 'We Were Liars'

“Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest, I was standing on the lawn and fell, the bullet hole opened wide and my heart fell from my chest” (Lockhart 2). This is one of the many great scenes in We Were Liars. We Were Liars is a novel written by E. Lockhart. This novel dives deep in the Sinclair family's lives. They battle corruption, greed, jealousy, and love. No one is safe from hardship. The book takes place on an island called Beechwood with 4 houses, Clairmont, Windemere, Redgate, and Cuddledown. Clairmont is a source of great corruption and greed among the Sinclair family.

The style of the narrative point of view is vital in the meaning the author wishes to convey in their novel. The narrative of the text is imperatively central in the way in which the events of a novel are expressed to audiences, the way these are framed is very important in relation to the effect it has on the reader’s impression of the events. The basis of the reader’s understanding and opinion of the events in a text is hugely dependent on the outlook and perspective from which they are described. With the assistance of the narrative style in The Awakening, Edna’s journey to realisation of the self and her ‘awakening’ is made apparent to the reader, as we are given insight into Edna’s inner-turmoil and thought process as we see her reasoning

In the novel “We Were Liars”, the setting takes place on an island called Beechwood Island in Massachusetts. Beechwood is a owned by Cadence Sinclair’s grandparents Harris Sinclair and Tipper Taft who unfortunately dies early on in the novel. Harris and Tipper have lots of money and were able to build four different buildings for each aunt to live in (along with their partners and children) and a staff building for their workers. All the families travel out to Beechwood every summer and the Liars, Cadence, Johnny, Gat, and Mirren, are all cousins and at the age of fifteen. They name their summers by their ages so for instance, the novel mainly takes place in summer seventeen with flashbacks to summer fifteen from Cadence. The setting is very important because Beechwood is where all the kids practically grow up and where conflicts take place. You would think that Beechwood island is a happy place where memories are made and where everyone has fun, but the island is not. It sets an eerie and unpleasant mood for the story because of all the secrets and rough family matters that occur during summer seventeen. Beechwood island is the setting of the novel that gives off an eerie mood that affects the Liar’s summers.

There are many instances throughout literature where two pieces, told by two different narrators, and telling two different stories can be found to have similar textual qualities. This instance can be shown between A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson herself and Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson. The stories depict the great suffering of two individuals who express similar qualities in their writings; the qualities being that each piece is a captivity narrative, there is a struggle with faith, and a silenced sexual subtext.

Heather O’Neill portrays the narrator with a sad tone throughout her essay in order to seduce readers to feel sympathetic towards the young woman. The narrator often recalls certain scarring event which occurred,

Susan Glaspell's texts, Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers” relay a singular story setting, but are different in the styles in which they are told. While there are many similarities and differences between the texts, the perspective and point-of-view play a big role in the telling of the overall story. The different changes of point-of-view can change, “Well, Mr. Hale, tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning” (Trifles 209) to “‘Someone should have been left here yesterday,’ said the county attorney” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 2). The change in either the point of view or perspective can change the way how we interpret a text and can also modify the material given. The point of view of the stories may both be a form

A Jury of Her Peers Speaks Volumes Above Trifles. While Susan Glaspell’s drama “Trifles” uses actors to vocalize the many emotions of the story of the investigation of Minnie Wright, her short story “A Jury of Her Peers” makes the emotions very clear without making a sound. Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers” makes the reader feel the emotions evoked by Minnie Wright’s story much deeper than her drama version of the same story, “Trifles”. Glaspell uses the same dialogue and action in both works but she is able to elicit much stronger feelings in her short story by including descriptive passages to accompany the dialogue in her narration. These passages evoke intense feelings from the characters and introduce new emotions.

It is interesting to see how works of anonymous origin, can have such an impact on the society in which it is created up to the present, while not being deemed as scholarly literature. The human condition of being emotionally, selfish beings is something that is not purely tied with that of serious literature. When scanning the realm of scholarly works The Thousand and One Nights makes an appearance, ironically. To have a such a source of knowledge from many different countries over a long period of time is a literature goldmine, which demands to be studied. There is a element of surprise when the author -or in this case authors- create more than just a descriptive narrative. Together they alluded to each-other, enhanced each other’s works, and created a world that seems to never end. One might simply think that to write a story-within-a-story is simply a device to make a narrative interesting. It is rather a way of teaching the characters and the audience how not to repeat history through an allegorical framework established in the prologue and through the extended anthropomorphism of in The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey.

Throughout Literature the reader often finds themselves thrust into the world of its author, this world relies heavily upon imagery to assist in the formation of this world. In saying this, however, a significant amount of this literary world derived from text is lost due to it being written from the point of view of the recorder, this is even more true in regards to history. Narrowing down the notion of historical point of view, the reader must often times seek out information from both sides to get a pure account of the past and are scarcely ever given a completely unbiased historical account due to the primary ascender being given free reign as to what will be recorded. This idea of the victorious being the recorders of history connects

With the brief synopsis of the story, the contingencies of narratology can now be applied. Unreliability has been a concept of narratology, Bal states that “Characters resemble people. Literature is written by, for, and about people.” (Bal, 1985). The narrartion in Lockhart’s We were Liars begs us to examine the concepts of reliablitiy and unreliability, when distingusihing the events that occur within the text. Lockhart admits that “ it is part of a continuum of YA novels that play with perception and expectations while doing something structurally or narratively unusual,”. In Lockharts We were Liars she utilizes the concept of first person narration “MY FULL NAME is Cadence Sinclair Eastman.” (Lockhart, 4). In presentation of first person

A closer look at Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Old Creek Bridge” reveals a number of ambiguous passages that sound normal in the flow of narrative about Farquhar’s escape, but can also depict the actual horrors of dying at the end of a rope. In these ambiguous passages, Bierce’s narrator makes a point about the relativity of time and about how people tend to take for granted the valuable things in life until threatened with their removal. These two themes, the fluid nature of time and the value of things often taken for granted, are clear, and readers usually have no problem seeing

Characters are a significant, if not the most important component of a story. They express the emotions of relatable people, and are used by the author to influence readers to support their own desired conclusion. Many people discuss the characters in a short story or novel, but don’t actually read for characterization. Reading for character is a higher-level skill because “analyzing characterization is more difficult than describing plot, for human character is infinitely complex, variable, and ambiguous” (Arp 161). Like in most interpretive fictional stories, Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” the reader sees richness in the characterization of three women: Minnie Foster Wright who is accused of murdering her husband, Mrs. Hale who is Minnie’s childhood friend, and Mrs. Peters the wife of the local sheriff. Through an in depth portrayal of the setting, as well as the characters' outlooks, feelings and passions, Glaspell gradually divulges the story's real underlying conflict and theme which is that under constant subjugation, one may choose to take strong actions without concern of their consequences.

This is a passage recounted in a series of events by the editor. In this passage, Werther received the inconceivable news that a farmhand, a man he identified with, had committed a horrific act. The farmhand, a man desperately in love with the widow he once worked for, had murdered the new farmhand as a selfish act of devotion to the widow. Werther, as recounted by the editor “torn from his resentment, experiences an overwhelming sympathy for the unhappy man” (Passage II). He tried to plead the Land Steward to turn a blind eye to the ignominious act committed and for the man to be saved. The following passage uses characterization and setting to impart the consequences of unrequited love.

In the poem “XIV”, Derek Walcott paints a vivid picture of a young boy, the narrator, and his brother are travelling to listen to a storyteller, and suggests the profound impact that the experience has on the boy’s life as he continues to grow. Due to the tone of the poem and the way speaker talks about the story, it is very clear that the speaker remembers his childhood experiences with the storyteller fondly, and still believes she is magical to this day.

I was ultimately too absorbed after all, in pursuing the Muse to realize that I had already become prey, myself. Thus, despite my extensive efforts to catch some creativity, this paper does not have a subject line or even a proper structure. While I realize that it is in poor technique for a writer to “tell” when composing a narrative, I feel it is necessary to inform you on how this text has come to travel off the beaten path. In this way, you, as the reader, will surely understand that I am not entirely aware of, or responsible for, the nature of what