The Efficacy of the Opening Paragraph - Essay Example

The Importance of Opening Paragraphs Opening paragraphs are the gateways of stories in both the literal and figurative sense. They are important because if written effectively, they are able to capture the interest of the readers and hold the person’s attention long enough to read the entire story. It is also important figuratively because it sets the mood, blueprint, and the setting for the story to progress to whatever the author wished it to be. To clearly elaborate on my point, I shall compare the opening paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and James Joyce’s Araby in effectively capturing my attention by analyzing the use of figurative language in setting the mood, tone, and theme of the story. Also I would try to look at the narrative point of view and the attitude of the writer towards the subject matter. But mainly, I would focus on the efficacy of the opening paragraph and gauge if it was effective enough in capturing my attention by comparing the two short stories. Araby Araby (27-33) is a short story written by James Joyce that is narrated in the first person point of view. The story discussed the subject matter of discovering sexual desires from the perspective of a boy at the brink of adulthood. Although the topic of the story is not something that I have discovered on the latter part, the opening paragraph did contain in a nutshell the attitude of the writer towards the subject matter—“North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street…” (Joyce 27) As a boy, the narrator was blinded by his youth towards his perception on sexuality and love. And upon finally arriving at Araby late at night, was symbolic because he saw ‘adulthood’ for its true colours. It was not what he imagined it to be—of shops with their wares and bustling people but instead, “nearly all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness.” In the end, the boy realized his folly: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce 32-33) Opening Paragraph Though there have been a truck-load use of metaphor and symbolism used throughout the story, the opening paragraph, on my opinion was not effective enough in capturing my attention. For me, it lacks interest. There was nothing familiar in North Richmond Street that could spark my interest that though it was an exact location that could symbolize any typical English suburban street during the early 18th century, it was insignificant, detached; greatly because it was very time/ era –specific, it was not timeless. So for me living in the 21st century who cannot fully appreciate “porcelain vase’s,” “flowered tea-set’s,” “chalices,” and “petticoat’s,” the opening paragraph was not satisfying. If I were to gauge the whole story based on the opening paragraph alone, I would more likely move on to the next story. The Tell-Tale Heart Like Araby, The Tell-Tale Heart of Edgar Allan Poe (81-85) is narrated in the first person point of view and talks about the meaning of madness. It vividly details how the narrator who happens to be the caregiver of an old man patiently plots the murder of him and the convoluted rationale behind his thoughts who is simply annoyed by the old man’s vulture-like eyes. It provided a glimpse on the mindset or perspective of a madman—how he thinks, how he interpret things. For instance, there was a part of the story where in the narrator thought that he had awaken the old man because he had heard him groan in his sleep. The slight groan from sleeping was overly interpreted by the narrator as: “the groan of mortal terror.” Further explaining his claim that “it was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well” (Poe 82) However, it was just the groan of a man sleeping. In the end, the narrator could have gotten away with the murder but his proud heart could not contain the joy of his success upon himself. Truly, madness descended upon him thinking that the silence of the old man’s beating heart was silence too unbearable. This was symbolic of his guilt. In addition, when he could not contain his guilt any more, or in the world of mad men could not contain himself from telling others of what he had done “tear up the planks!—here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!" (Poe 85) Opening Paragraph Araby could not hold water on the way Poe was able to grab my attention on his opening statement. That is how powerful and enigmatic it was! It was an opening to a story you know would only get better because the opening paragraph itself is already full of suspense! It is full of electrifying words like ‘nervous,’ ‘dreadfully,’ sharpened,’ ‘senses,’ and ‘mad.’ And at the same time it also adds “how calmly I can tell you the whole story...” (Poe 81) which further reassures the reader that this will definitely be a very detailed story indeed. The interplay and use of words were also very manipulative that though the subject matter being discussed is dark and depressing, the story did not come out too morbid for my taste. For instance, though the narrator did murder and decapitated his victim, the author did not focus on the act of murder but on the emotion that the author was feeling while he was doing the act. Personal Preference In the use of figurative language, both authors comparatively have used symbolisms and metaphors’ consistently throughout their stories. Their uses of emotionally charged words were also a literary genius to elicit reaction and emotion from the reader and to arouse genuine interests towards the subject matter being discussed. Both stories’ moods were also depressing. Araby was about shattering childhood illusion while Tell-Tale Heart was about madness and insanity. In totality, Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart is more to my fancy compared to Araby because I was literary mesmerized by the use of Poe’s language. There was something so captivating about Poe’s opening paragraph that it captured me then and then. The opening paragraph was so effective that I really wanted to finish reading the entire story. The thing is, both Poe and Joyce story took on the first person narrative, both used a lot of metaphors and figurative languages, both mood of the stories were dark and gloomy but the main difference is Joyce was very time specific—his was confined in a specific location and era while Poe was timeless. It Limited Joyce to a very specific audience that if the reader was not well versed with English culture, say someone from Asia or North Pole read his short story, then that person might have a hard time appreciating his story. After all, the study of literature, according to Farrell is a glimpse on the cultural patterns of societies on using words to study patterns of conflicts and culture (Farrell 142). With Poe’s story, it is cross-cultural, both the Asian and the guy from the North Pole could relate to the story. And so did me. Works Cited Farrell, Frank B. Why Does Literature Matter? New York: Cornell University Press, 2004. Joyce, James. Dubliners. BiblioBazaar Reproduction Series, n.d. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Best of Poe: Literary Touchstone Classic: The Tell-Tale HEart, The Cask of Amontillado, and 30 others. Ed. Paul Moliken. Delaware: Prestwick House, Inc., 2006. Read More