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Understanding Novels

All of us enjoy reading a good novel. In some novels we are enthralled by the story; in others we are absorbed in the characters. Quite often we are delighted by both. In the world of novels we meet all kinds of imaginary people from all kinds of interesting places.

How exciting it is to read a book like The Giver by Lois Lowry, where, in Jonas's world, everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. Then, when Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life.

How horrifying it is to be transported sixty years into the past in Hans Peter Richter’s novel Friedrich and experience through the suffering of Friedrich the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany before and during World War II.

When we read a novel we enter an imaginary world in which we share the emotions, thoughts and actions of its characters. We identify with

them as they struggle to overcome their problems. In some novels, the writers concentrate on true-life situations; in others they are concerned with romance, adventure or mystery.

Let’s now look at some of the important features of most novels.

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PlotThe plot is the novel’s story. It is the order in which things move and

happen in a story. It is through the plot that the characters and ideas of the novel are developed in a logical pattern. Often times, a plot develops as the story unfolds but writing down your initial ideas will give your writing direction.

Novelist Robert Leeson says:

While I’m making the plot, I get a huge piece of paper and down the left-hand side I put the names of all the characters. Sometimes they may be worked out in great detail. Sometimes they may just be ‘person’, ‘boy’, or ‘girl’, and I might not have even given them a name. And then, across the sheet of paper, I put down what’s going to happen to each character in the course of that story, just in little notes.

Setting

Elements of a

novel

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The setting is the time and place where the events of the novel occur. A famous writer of historical fiction, Rosemary Sutcliff, explains her creation of a setting:

I get a feeling that I want to write about a particular place and a particular period [in time], and I sort of sit and brew on that and see what emerges. Often the characters then step out of that place and that period.

Now read her description of King Camelot in sixth century England from her book The Light Beyond the Forest.

Camelot

On every side, Camelot climbed, roof above coloured roof, up the steep slopes of the hill. About the foot of the hill the river cast its shining silver noose; and at the highest heart of the town rose the palace of King Arthur. And in the Great Hall of Arthur’s palace stood the Round Table, which could seat a hundred and fifty knights, each with his name written in fairest gold on the high back of a chair behind him: the Knights of the Fellowship of the Round Table, which had been formed long ago when Arthur was new and young to his kingship, for the spreading of justice and mercy and chivalry and the upholding of right against might throughout the land.

Setting questions

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1. This is the opening paragraph of Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Light Beyond the Forest. What impression of Camelot is she trying to convey in the first sentence?     

2. What does the writer tell you about the river?     

3. Where was the palace of the King Arthur?     

4. What impression does the writer give you of the round table?     

5. What impression do you get of King Arthur and the knights?