Analysing Style and Structure
The novel is an imagined story of ordinary people in believable situations. Its purpose is to explore the behaviour of human beings interacting with one another in various situations, to show cause and effect, and to find and analyse the motivation behind human behaviour. Many modern novelists are concerned with the state of contemporary society and the position of the individual in it. Questions of right and wrong, good and evil values, human responsibility are therefore prominent themes.
Style is the term used to cover all aspects of the way authors present their material. In a novel, it is the way they arrange the sequence of events, give life to its characters, solve their needs and problems, and present their themes. In practice, style usually refers to the language – vocabulary, syntax, imagery, other devices, mood, tone etc - whereas structure refers to the organisation of the material.
Author can use a number of techniques for making their story grow and for giving meaning to the characters, to incidents, and to life. They must seek to involve us if they are to achieve what good novels do: illuminate human experience and deepen our understanding of human beings and of their place in the universe.
A discussion of the style of a novel is therefore a discussion of how the author has developed it. Brief, relevant quotations must support your points, which must be discussed, NOT merely stated.
Narrative Structure
How the story is unfolded. Points to consider:
Does the story proceed in chronological order, i.e. begin at the beginning and move steadily forward in time to its conclusion?
Does the author sometimes interrupt this forward progression of time and events to look back upon some past event(s) before moving on again? (flashback). If this happens frequently, does the author manage to preserve the continuity of the story and unite these past events and experiences successfully with the immediate story they are developing? Do the flashbacks illuminate the character in/or their present situation?
Is the story revealed bit by bit, with hints and foreshadowing, rather than more simply told? (revelatory)
Does the author establish setting and character(s) briefly in the present as an introduction to the real story that lies in the experiences recollected from the past, and directly related to the character's present?
Do the beginning and end form a kind of prologue and epilogue to the recollected story? (i.e. the story follows a circular movement). Does the recollected story proceed chronologically or are further flashbacks employed? If so, do they appear at crisis points in the main narrative? What significance do they give to situation, state of mind or motivation of the character?
Is the story loose/episodic - disjointed, with no strong connecting links to hold incidents together? Has the story (a) unifying theme(s), even if it seems to be episodic? Is the author's choice of episodic structure vital to the nature of the story being told?
Is the story built up on one plot, or has it a sub-plot involving other characters and events that must be developed to a conclusion? If so, what is its relation to the main plot? Are ends all tied up convincingly?
Does the author foreshadow events, so that expectations are built up? or so that parallels can be drawn between similar incidents?
Are motifs used to help create unity?
Point of View
Who tells the story?
Is it narrated autobiographically - through one character who speaks for themself with dialogue and interaction with others, commenting upon them and upon life in general?
Is this narrator the central character (the protagonist) or is it a minor character, narrating and commentating from the sideline?
If this type of narration is used, has the author been able to involve you in a personal relationship with the character by taking you into their innermost thoughts?
Have you been brought to actually face their situation and make a response to, or reaction against, them? Has their situation and conduct in it challenged your own values and understanding of his life and human motives/actions?
Is stream of consciousness (interior monologue) used to take you into the mind of the narrator, so that you share their often random or disjointed thoughts?
Drawback: The autobiographical method - ideal for the concentrated study of one human being - can give great depth to the narrator but they make an unreliable witness about other people, and events that others initiate or are part of, because their views are coloured by their own needs and experiences. They are therefore a dubious symbol for all mankind.
Does the author speak through other characters in this style of narration tobalance the predominant viewpoint (of the narrator)? If so, how?
Is third person narration used (he, she, John) with the story being told by the author? Is the Eye of God (omniscient) technique employed, seeing and knowing from the outside - through what they say and do only?
Is the story told solely or mainly through one character? - Third person limited technique. If so, is it a central or a minor character on the sideline?
Is stream of consciousness used to take you into other character's mind?
Stories are rarely told in the present tense, particularly those told autobiographically. If a narrator speaks in the past tense, we can be fairly confident that they know the end of their own story, and that they have survived to tell it.
Style of Writing
Is it a simple prose style in familiar language?
Has it poetic qualities, with imaginative and vivid use of words (metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia) and/or non-conventional syntax?
Is colloquial language characteristic of the author's style, or is it reserved for dialogue only?
Is the story related primarily through dialogue? Does it suit the age, social background of character?
What is the tone created by the author's choice of language?
Is the style of writing rambling and discursive or is it concise and to the point. Does it make the story live?
Is description of characters used extensively or does the author reveal them through other means, such as dialogue, thought, interaction with people and environment/situation?
Is descriptive background used to build up atmosphere of a character's environment or is it merely a comment on places?
Do people and incidents seem credible or unreal and contrived?
The author's vision of life comes from their imaginative power and their sense of reality? Has they been able to express it in words and/or in their patterning of events and their outcome?
Has more attention been given to developing characters or to incidents? Why and with what effects?
Has the author used allusions? If so, to what and with what effect?
Characterisation
How are the characters brought to life by the author?
By speech, attitudes, habits, reaction to others/to situations… by physical description… by description of what others think/feel about them… by stream of consciousness?
Are they flat, static and/or stock characters orround, developing through their experiences?
Do the characters develop and grow, or do we just learn more about them?
Are parallels and/or contrast used to highlight characteristics?
General
Is it a picaresque type of adventure novel wherein the hero is involved in a succession of adventures - each with its crisis and climax (or anti-climax) - as he roves from place to place? If so, how does the author weave these together to achieve the unity and purpose of a novel?
If symbolism is a feature of the style, remember that it stands for something not clearly recognised by the character(s) associated with it. What significance has it? Does it assume meaning for the characters finally?
Is it a political satire, presented in fable (Animal Farm where animals speak as human beings);
is it allegorical, where the real story is told under the guise of another suggestively similar, and in which characters, places etc. are personifications of abstract ideas?
Or is it a parable, in which a simple story presents moral issues with much wider application?
What is the author's angle of vision, i.e. how does they view the people/situations in the novel? How is their attitude revealed? Does one character represent the author's perspective?