Essay question: How is the story told in Enduring Love in chapter one?

Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and the once upon a time comes to stand for some renascent truth. This approach applies to all the incidents of everyday life: the phrase in the newspaper, the endearing or infuriating game of a toddler, the misunderstanding at the office. Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories. As Mary Catherine Bateson effectively articulates; storytelling is paramount in any culture or society, as it is the prime method which humanity utilises to shed light on inexplicable occurrences or to broaden their own understanding of an issue. In Enduring Love, the theme of story-telling is prevalent; where Joe Rose; the narrator, is involved in a balloon accident; which is witnessed and partaken by six other people. The different accounts of what happened begin to shape the understanding and sometimes the frustration of Joe, leading us as the reader, in the very first chapter; to question the credibility of the narration. To begin, the narrative voice of Enduring Love is that of Joe Rose; who is recounting the story to us retrospectively; which immediately adds a greater subjective slant on the unfolding of events; as Joe identifies key moments or points where he would have acted or thought differently. This was the moment; this was the pinprick on the time map Joe marks the moment for the reader in which he conveys a rather obsessive quality as he goes on to decelerate the time and swamp the reader with unassailable details I was stretching out my hand, and as the cool neck and the black foil touched my palm, we heard a mans shout The employment of these negligible details seems to serve the purpose of allowing the reader to have a balanced judgement as they are in possession of all the facts. This in itself infers a slight scientific facet to the narrative as the novel is begun with the confident statement The beginning is simple to mark appearing to be a hypothesis; which the narrator goes onto support with the particulars We were in sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong, gusty wind and in itself contains interspersed subjectivity when pathetic fallacy is employed sunlight and strong, gusty wind infers that Joe and Clarissas relationship is exclusive; sheltered in sunlight, and essentially foreshadows that their relationship will become more turbulent which Joe is attributing to outside influences. Furthermore, Joe recognises the alternative viewpoint of the buzzard as being the superior, omniscient perspective I see us from three hundred feet up, through the eyes of the buzzard... This gives us clues to the questionability of Joes narration as a participant.

We often see first person narration as unreliable and biased; because the narrator has a restricted perspective and knowledge of events. Others, in particular Sean Matthews, a professor at the University of Nottingham; interpret Joes retelling of the story to be a solipsistic narration in the sense that he can omit misjudgement and culpability as to the events, but maximise the responsibility of others. This is made evident when Joe describes the ballooning accident I didnt know, nor have I ever discovered, who let go first. Im not prepared to accept it was me. But everyone claims not to have been first Generally, Matthews opinion has greater relevance to the novel as a whole rather than the first chapter; as initially we tend to trust Joe. However, it is certainly the case that Joe delays giving us information and can fully dominate what we as the reader believe; because there is no other perspective to challenge it; except for the epistolary narratives of Jed and Clarissa later in the novel; which are already pre-empted by Joe as being delusional and inaccurate respectively. Im holding back, delaying the information We as the reader only know what Joe is telling us; which links to the idea of authorial intention and reader response theory. In an interview, Ian McEwan discusses that he wanted to have Joe mistrusted...the reader should take the side of the police, or Clarissa We as the reader are made to fill in any gaps that Joe leaves in order to satisfy our own epistemophilia the readers desire to know. Directly linked to narrative voice is the aspect of language; and how it reveals details about the narrative and what could come next. As well as the scientific semantics mentioned previously, which shows the characterisation of Joe; McEwan uses language to great effect to heighten the drama and tension of the rescue attempt. A mighty fist socked the balloon in two rapid blows, one-two, the second more vicious than the first. And the first was vicious. It jerked Gadd right out of the basket on to the ground The use of metaphor fist for the wind is effective because it shows the level of brutality that is being endured and makes the storytelling more breath taking as we can see that one wrong move could mean disaster. This is further reinforced by the semantic field of brutality socked...blows...vicious...jerked which shows the superiority of the natural surroundings compared to humanity or logical thought. The language also reinforces the scientific narrative of the novel when Joe shows his emotional detachment from the death of John Logan I still thought there was a chance that a freak physical law, a furious thermal, some phenomenon...You could see the acceleration...only ruthless gravity This could be interpreted that Joe consciously chooses to rationalise everything through science because it means he doesnt have to make an emotional commitment to something this could suggest the intensity of Joes feelings is even greater than Clarissas, in other words, he is more effected by them; hence why he drowns them in science.

Furthermore, in terms of characterisation, McEwan reveals very little about the narrator; in fact, we are not even told his name or profession until after chapter two. McEwan seeks to emphasise the point that the narrative itself and the reasons behind it take precedence over the narrator; hence this lack of identity. However we are made to read deeper into the subtle hints left; which builds on the idea of reader response theory we are being made to actively partake in the storytelling. The character of Joe is articulated through the narrative; which already establishes that the narrator may be quite obsessive Im lingering in the prior moment because it was a time when other outcomes were still possible... Joe constantly re-examines a particular moment in order to deduce a conclusion from it; where it may not be possible. The character of Joe seems compelled to categorise things and have a great respect for order and regularity, hence why the language of the novel contains a great deal of scientific jargon ...the convergence of six figures in a flat green space has a comforting geometry Joe uses the euphemism of a snooker table to illustrate the role of destiny within the novel as he compares himself and the other men to being played with as if they were balls in a game of snooker otherwise manipulated. Also, the scientific semantics of geometry leads the reader to infer that the character must have some link to science. This seems to be the case throughout chapter 1, with phrases such as mathematical grace...nuclear furnace of the stars...relative distance are employed to show the rational nature of Joes mind and how he finds comfort and understanding in his analytical thought processes. In contrast, Clarissa is very much characterised entirely by the narrative and by Joes love for her: ...the warmth and tranquillity in her voice, the Celts pale skin and green eyes...we were talking about Clarissas research John Keats... This could be interpreted that Clarissa is a more genuine character so we are told everything about her; in other words, we can take her at face value. However, we see that her and Joes ideals on love differ greatly Lately Id had the idea that Clarissas interest in these hypothetical letters had something to do with our own situation, and with her conviction that love that did not find its expression in a letter was not perfect...I had tried to match hers, but all that sincerity would permit me were the facts We can see from this quotation, that clearly Clarissa is more passionate and expectant about love than Joe is; as he cannot match the level of feeling she writes in her letters to him. However, this could be a misconception, when alternatively; Clarissa may be too expectant in terms of love and rather utopian and unrealistic in nature. Nevertheless, the key connotation that we can take from this is that Clarissa is the exact opposite of Joe emotional, passionate and artful; Clarissa makes sense of things and forms a perspective on events according to how she has personally experienced them.

Time is also used as a device to tell the story In Enduring Love; in which it is manipulated to lead the readers thoughts and exemplify events. In the opening of the novel, McEwan experiments with time to show the contrasts in atmosphere and situation before and during the balloon accident. Shortly before the accident, the action is in slow motion to accentuate the apparent importance of Joes actions prior to the event: This was the moment, this was the pinprick on the time map: I was stretching out my hand, and as the cool neck and the black foil touched my palm, we heard a mans shout Joe takes a great deal of time to explain something that would happen in a mere matter of seconds. This infers that he is not comfortable with the variable of time he cannot control, nor manage it effectively when the action is taking place, he can only tell us the story with the shadows of time in place. This is further substantiated by Let me freeze the frame, theres a security in stillness In other words, stillness in this context means time cannot progress when nothing is happening; which means Joe feels safe in himself and safe with just one variable to analyse possibly showing his inaptitude as a scientist who is supposed to be able to evaluate several factors at once. Furthermore, time is loosely linked with structure; in that the opening of the novel is not constructed chronologically; but with the main event the climax; right at the beginning, followed by explanation when the action is taken back to the very start of events, when Joe goes to buy the picnic and meets Clarissa. The purpose of doing this is to establish the reasons behind what happened; rather than the events themselves. This reflects again, the mental obsession Joe has in re-examining every action that took place prior to the event to ascertain whether it could have been prevented. Another important aspect to how the story is narrated is the setting; which is employed to signify the world around Joe and how dissimilar it is from his own mental territory. Firstly, the setting of the balloon accident is a field a habitat of natural beauty Joe goes into much detail in explaining how relatively untainted this environment is: ...the fresh foliage...Each leaf seemed to glow with an internal light. We talked about the purity of this colour, the beech leaf in spring, and how looking at it cleared the mind Joe is clearly relaxed by this environment; which is directly contrasted by the ballooning accident as it taints the seemingly flawless place because of John Logans death. Furthermore, the ballooning accident demands a fast pace, so the appreciation of the setting is destroyed and replaced with fast, rushed images of the farm workers by the fence and John Logan emerging from his car. Another way in which the setting conveys the narrative is the use of the airport versus the field. Firstly, Joe meets Clarissa at the airport a scientific, man-made and very public place. This could infer that on the surface, Joes scientific ideology dominates Clarissas art forms; but even deeper, it could foreshadow the fact that the exclusivity and rarity of Joe and Clarissas relationship is going to be penetrated. In contrast, Joe first meets Jed in the ideal romantic, natural setting of the finest landscape he had ever seen A setting where Joe feels and comfortable, and can make sense of things; but this also links with the religious facet to Jed Parry in the sense that this place is like the Garden of Eden.

To conclude, the narration of chapter one of Enduring Love is centred on psychologically manipulating the reader into trusting the narrative voice of Joe but in the same breath questioning his sanity. The opening chapter is a way of understanding not only the suffering that goes on in the world; through the most extreme scenario possible; but also the world itself, in all its forms. The opening chapter seems to focus on reforming the way we see ourselves as humans and whether our psychological makeup allows us to question what exactly morality is. McEwan uses a wealth of devices such as chronology, setting, language and a great deal more to ensure we as the reader become hooked on his story; which makes a highly effective opening.