Structure and Meaning in Literary Discourse - Book Report/Review Example

Structure and Meaning in Literary Dis linguistics Structure and meaning are closely connected in literary dis and the significance of the structural elements of a narrative in relation to the overall meaning and interpretation of the literary piece is often emphasised. Structural elements of a narrative ensure cohesiveness and coherence of the literary piece. The famous Caribbean novelist and short story writer Michael Anthony provides an illustration of how structural elements can make a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse through his short story "Drunkard of the River." The apparently simple plot of the story is successful to draw the attention of the readers through the superiority of the plot-structure and the other structural elements. The genius of Anthony is mainly due to his expertise over the structural elements of narrative discourse and "Drunkard of the River" illustrates his skilfulness for cohesive and coherent narrative discourse. As Daryl Cumber Dance promulgates, one of the characteristics of Anthony's narratives is that "each work is a model of unity - a compact, orderly, well-organised whole" (Dance, 22) and he achieves this quality, as in the short story "Drunkard of the River," mainly through cohesive and coherent narrative structure. In an understanding of the pertinence of structure in a narrative, it is fundamental to realise the constituents or events of the story which determine the overall meaning of the narrative. Eventsof a story, which deal with the incidence of change, suggest its narrative structure. When these events are closely connected in a narrative - one state of affair following another with a suggestion of the change - the story is said to be a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse. Thus, a profound literary reading of the short story "Drunkard of the River" confirms that it is a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse which marks an important progression of different events indicated by suggestions of change. In the opening state of the story, one finds Sona in argument with his mother over his duty to go all-out for his father and there is a change in the event when the mother is taut in her voice which made Sona rise from his position. "'Who you tellin' not me,' she shouted. She was furious now. 'Dammit, you have to go for you' father!' Sona had risen from the couch on the alert." (Anthony, 55) The next event in the narrative sequence indicates the nutshell of the plot and anticipates the following events of the story. "The very thought of his father sickened him Sometimes he had listened to his father and he had wanted to kick him because he was so ashamed. Often in silence he had shaken his fist and said, 'One day, ah'll ah'll'" (Anthony, 55-56) Thus, one event follows another and there is clear demarcation among these events in the narrative structure. The structure of the short story "Drunkard of the River" greatly contributes to the development of the theme. The different discourse units or episodes of a narrative play a great role in the cohesion/coherence of the narrative. Episodes share the feature of coherent sequence of events in a discourse which is remarkably evident in the narrative structure of the short story by Anthony. The notion of coherence has been used by several critics to establish the concept of episode and there are implicit as well as explicit coherence. Cohesion, consistency, and relevance are the three main components or conditions for coherence. Thus, in order to ensure the coherence of the text, it is important that the sentences of the narrative must be formally linked or cohesive. It is a quality that the sentences of the story by Anthony achieve. "Sona quickly slipped outside. Fear dazed him now and he felt dizzy. He looked at the river and he looked back at the house and there was only one word that kept hitting against his mind: Police! Police! He knew what would happen. He felt desperate." (Anthony, 59)All these sentences of the culminating section of the story, for example, are formally connected by various linguistic elements such as the use of noun and pronoun. The ultimate effect of the narrative structure is that of cohesion of the sentences which apparently contribute to the coherence of various events within the story. Another condition for the coherence of a narrative is consistency, which means that each sentence of the story must be consistent with the previous sentences of the text. In other words, these sentences should be true in the same state of affairs or change of events. The story "Drunkard of the River" achieves narrative consistency which ensures the coherence of the entire discourse. "Far into the night Sona's mother waited. She slept a little on one side, then she turned on the other side, and every sound she woke up, straining her ears. There was no sound of the paddle on the water. Surely the shops must be closed by now, she thought. Everything must have closed by now by this time. She lay anxious and listened until her eyes shut again in an uneasy sleep." (Anthony, 59) This paragraph is one of the apparent illustrations of the consistent narrative structure which results in the coherence of the overall narrative. Finally, for a coherent narrative discourse, "sentences must be relevant to the underlying discourse theme of a text as well as to the text of the utterance." (Ehrlich, 29) That is to say, relevance of the structure to the overall theme of the narrative has immense value to the explicit coherence of the narrative. Analysed from these criteria, it is important to observe that the story by Anthony achieves the great quality of narrative coherence and cohesiveness. Every sentence of the narrative, from the opening remarks to the closing sentence, is deeply connected to the overall theme of the story. Thus, the opening question by the mother anticipates the entire theme of the story and the ultimate sentence concludes the whole theme. "'Where you' father'" (Anthony, 54) - Thus begins the story and the overall theme is linked to this question and there is no answer to the question by the mother until the end of the story. This narrative structure is strongly relevant to the entire theme which culminates in the suggestion to the ultimate answer to the opening question. "'Mano!' He heard his mother call to the emptiness of the house, 'Mano!' Panic-stricken, Sona fled into the mangroves and into the night." (Anthony, 59) The narrative structure of the story, therefore, achieves remarkable coherence and cohesiveness. Linkages in the discourse, which link the various constituents of the narrative to the general framework of the structure, have a vital significance in connection to the coherence in narrative structure. In the story "Drunkard of the River" one identifies the working of referential linking which is a major linguistic feature. Referential linking means that the "cohesive discourse can result from the repetition of referents within adjacent sentences." (Ehrlich, 31) In the narrative structure of the story by Anthony, one finds several illustrations of such referential linking. In fact, the story as a whole is linked among the constituent sentence patterns and the referents within the adjacent sentences indicate this cohesive technique. In the following paragraph, there are many such referents. "His bones, too, seemed to be turning liquid. Not from drunkenness, but from fear. The lion in him changed into a lamb. As he spoke his voice trembled." (Anthony, 59) Therefore, one finds several examples of internal linking of the narrative through such referents and they are all crucial to the general cohesive nature of the story. The order of the various events of the story forms one of the most important aspects of the narrative structure and anachrony or the discrepancy between the arrangement ofeventsinstory-orderand text-orderinvolves aflashback(analepsis) orretrospection (prolepsis). Though there are not many apparent examples of the use of flashbacks or flash-forwards, a profound analysis concludes that the writer has given indications of their existence in the story. Thus, one finds the opening question by the mother as an indication to the story to come. "'Where you' father'" (Anthony, 54) - This is not merely an opening, but rather a suggestion to the entire story movements as such. "He looked at the river and he looked back at the house and there was only one word that kept hitting against his mind: Police! Police! He knew what would happen." (Anthony, 59) Here, too, one finds indication to whatever is yet to happen. Therefore, the short story employs anachrony,which in turn enhances the charm of the narrative strategy. In conclusion, "Drunkard of the River" by Anthony is an illustration to how structural elements of the narrative can make the story a cohesive and coherent narrative discourse. Works Cited Anthony, Michael. "Drunkard of the River." Cricket in the Road. Heinemann. 1973. P 55. 08 Nov. 2008. . Dance, Daryl Cumber. "Michael Anthony." Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. 1986. P 22. Ehrlich, Susan. Point of View: A Linguistic Analysis of Literary Style. London: Routledge. 1990. P 29. Read More