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Aspects of narrative in Enduring Love, AQA English Literature B

So guys exam on Monday, I made this thread so people can contribute notes, significant quotes and ideas and it would be a huge help if chapter references were made when explaining ideas. Feel free to contribute and expand

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Voice

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Setting

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Characterisation

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Destination

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Time

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Viewpoint

Reply 1

donzy

Chapter 12 ideas

narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective and self-conscious narrator,
unreliable narrator foregrounded, use of Clarissa, Joeís self-confident masculine tone, etc
• setting: Joeís home, the motorway, journey to Oxford, etc
• psychological thriller, love story, etc
• linear chronology- story of Joeís search through Clarissaís papers for signs of an affair
framed by his decision to visit Mrs Logan, chapter ends with his arrival at her house, etc
• measured educated language, use of dialogue, scientific language, language of literary
criticism, romantic language, language of thriller writing, use of short sentences, use of
questions, etc.

Reply 2

donzy

Chapter 10 ideas

Form: psychological thriller, story about obsessive love, etc
? Structure: linear chronology - journey of Parry’s stalking of Joe; begins with Joe walking in
the rain, being aware of Parry’s movements and patterns, Joe ultimately shaking off Parry
and leaving him crying, etc
? Language: use of scientific and medical jargon, abbreviations, use of dates, use of
emotional, personal effusive language, use of exclamations, ornate style of literary romance,
use of descriptive detail, use of pathetic fallacy, imagery, contrast etc
? Narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective and self conscious narrator, ironic
tone, use of Parry’s voice, unreliable narrator, etc
? Setting: busy street near Joe’s house, car/rainy day, et

Reply 3

donzy

Chapter 19 ideas

Narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective and self conscious narrator,
unreliable narrator foregrounded, use of Clarissa, Jocelyn, etc.
• Setting: restaurant, night of Clarissa’s birthday, etc.
• psychological thriller, love story, etc.
• linear chronology, journey to the restaurant and the shooting, ends with the need to
continue the story and investigate the shooting, etc.
• measured educated language, use of dialogue, scientific language of Jocelyn,
intertextual references to Keats, use of detail, use of irony, use of time references, use of
questions, hazy description, dramatic action verbs, etc.

Reply 4

donzy

Chapter 5 ideas

• narrative perspective/voices: first person retrospective and self conscious narrator, unreliable narrator
ñ one who questions narratives, use of Clarissa, etc
• setting: Joeís house, the study and the bedroom/time: the night after the telephone call by Jed and
the sighting of Jed in the library etc
• psychological thriller, love story, scientific treatise, etc
• flashback to Joeís second meeting that day, narrative then moves to 8.15 and his wait for Clarissaís
return, focus on his scientific interests and thoughts interspersed with thoughts about Jed and
Clarissaís, ends climactically with the romantic and passionate love-making of Joe and Clarissa but
the haunting reminder of the telephone, etc
• measured educated language, use of scientific words, phrases, references, self-conscious use of
meta-narrative language, use of dialogue, sensuous imagery, use of irony, use of contrast, etc.

Reply 5

donzy

Please note all ideas are from AQA previous mark schemes!

Reply 6

donzy

Voice in Enduring Love

First of all the letters provide the reader with insight into Jed's and Clarissa's thoughts. It's a narrative technique, and is especially useful as McEwan uses a (unreliable) first person narrator, Joe, so the reader only has one character's interpretations of events and is excluded from thoughts of other characters.

The letters are most significantly an alternative from Joe's unreliable interior monologue. In chapter 11 it's significant because Jed openly criticises Joe's scientific, rational nature and it makes the reader doubt over who is right...yet you gain a real insight into how Jed is as he "covered 5 pages with your name

When Clarissa suggests Jed's writing looks like Joe's, the letter adds tension and suspense to the novel as the reader suspects Joe's sanity and honesty,

Clarissa's letter obviously lets us know what exactly she's thinking/felling about Joe and their relationship; but it also reflects her romantic ideals and her obsession with Keats and his letters

The appendix letter is very important. It shows the reader what happened to Jed, and how obsessed he still is. This is a novel about obsession as much as anything else, and his persists, and gives him hope. It shows how insane he really is, as he thinks he will be with Joe and that he's communicating with God.

This last letter relates to the title of the novel: Jed's love is 'enduring' (as in the adjective) as after years he still loves Joe. But Jed is also 'enduring' (verb) love, as this takes over his whole life, and causes him suffering

Reply 7

tobiacharles

Original post by donzy

‘Enduring Love pitches itself as a romantic thriller, whose sophistication is secured by its qualms about the validity of science and the duplicity of fiction’ Kiernan Ryan