{ Narrative Techniques For Task D: Novella Response With examples from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

 The context in which the story takes place  Consider:  Where (geographic location)  When (historical moment in time)  The society and/or culture  Simulation of reality or imaginary  Why might the author have selected this setting?  To determine the importance of the setting, ask yourself whether the story would be the same without it  e.g. change the time period, exchange the city for the country or one nation for another Setting A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool… A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool…

Foreshadowing  Affects the readers’ expectations about what is to follow in the text  Giving “clues” about the progression of the story  Ways to foreshadow include the more obvious (usually outright predictions in dialogue or the narrator’s inner monologue) through to the more subtle (e.g. the epigraph, the title of a chapter, imagery such as weather)  If you feel that the story is going to proceed in a certain way, ask yourself “how do I know what I know”? Has any foreshadowing shaped your opinion? “I ought to have shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”

Dialogue  Spoken exchange between characters  Consider how dialogue contributes to the characterisation (i.e. conveying the attributes of each character)  If the text has first person narration, dialogue is critical for incorporating other characters’ points of view  Sometimes the narrator expresses different opinions in his or her internal monologue compared with his or her dialogue – why would this be the case? “Tell me - like you done before.” “Tell you what?” “About the rabbits.”