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Narrative Techniques in Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code Essay

Decent Essays

Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is one of the most successful and controversial novels of our time. Other authors have jumped on the bandwagon writing novels on Christian topics or treasure hunts or simply discussing The Da Vinci Code. Even the film industry has profited by using Brown’s strategies (and topics) in the successful movie National Treasure and by taking advantage of the Grail publicity in TV productions like The Blood of the (Knights) Templar. But which strategies does Brown use to make the reader enjoy reading The Da Vinci Code? In my essay, I would like to focus on his use of narrative techniques.
The Da Vinci Code is told by a restricted third-person narrator. He tells the story from various points of view without ever …show more content…

‘I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Sure you have. [ . . . ] You’re just used to hearing it called by the name ‘Holy Grail’.’

The reader is as surprised as Sophie Neveu is and wants to know how everything fits together – and reads on. In a way, this is also a key or turning point of the novel, because from that moment the reader is told bit by bit about the Holy Grail. This storytelling comes to a climax when Grail historian Leigh Teabing enters the scene, claiming that the Holy Grail is a person, more exactly Mary Magdalene and her descendants.
Dan Brown also uses stream-of-consciousness technique in order to enable the reader to follow the protagonists’ trains of thought while breaking the codes. If Brown did not use this technique, he would only present the result of the characters’ thoughts. This would be boring for the reader, because he could not become involved in solving the riddles himself.
The stream-of-consciousness technique includes flashbacks. These are important for the development of the plot as well. On the one hand they help the reader to get to know the characters; on the other hand they give hints regarding the decoding of Saunière’s messages, since all flashbacks are connected to the Grail quest in one or the other way.
In conclusion, the novel does not only attract the reader with

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