1978. Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary.
There are always characters in a plot line that don't quite seem right; like something is wrong with them. Truthfully, this does happen in literature such as in An Inspector Calls, where Inspector Goole is quite a unrealistic character. However unrealistic Inspector Goole is, there is definitely a realistic element of his presence to the rest of the play.
Inspector Goole's role in the plot is surely a significant one- the entire plot revolves around him. When he first enters the scene, Goole seems to be a somewhat normal person, just there to investigate a suicide. However, as the story progress, Goole just seems to get more unrealistic. He knows little details about every family member, as well as specific details relating them to this girl, Eva Smith. The family members find it strange how he knows everything, and this adds to the realistic elements of the drama. The fact that all of the family members had done something undeniably wrong is enforced with his presence; had his unrealistic or even supernatural powers not been there, the family would not have realized their wrongdoings, defeating the moral of the drama.
Inspector Goole's name is already quite a bit unrealistic- it resembles Ghoul, which means ghost, thus implying that Inspector Goole is a ghost. This is related to his ghost like powers, such as foresight and excessive knowledge about the family's deeds and behaviors. If it were not for his ghostly qualities, the story would not have been as eerie as it was. Near the end of the drama, it is revealed that at that point, there was no Eva Smith that had committed suicide, deeming Inspector Goole to be a fake. However, even closer to the end of the story, it was revealed that an Eva Smith had just been checked in to the infirmary; this makes Inspector Goole seem even more like a ghost. If Inspector Goole had not ghost like qualities, the fact that Eva Smith had died would not have been as important.
Although An Inspector Calls is full of unrealistic characters, Inspector Goole is the one unrealistic character that stands out of the crowd due to his many traits, causing most of the realistic elements in this drama.
Hey Erin!
ReplyDeleteWHAT WAS GOOD:
I really like what you did with this prompt. It had a strong voice and many textual examples to support your thesis. Your first paragraph was great! It gave lots of examples and left me wanting to read more and really think about the drama. Good job!!
WHAT COULD BE BETTER:
In your second to last paragraph I liked the idea of comparing Goole's ghostly qualities. You could relate these qualities more to the drama itself and how it connects to the meaning of the drama as a whole.
Overall, great job!
Nice. I respectfully disagree with your final sentence, Goole is the only unusual character. The rest are made to be exceedingly usual to symbolize all of the British society. Remember: Literature is always dicussed in the present tense. Also watch out for repetition of phrases, like "it is revealed". Change sentence structure and vocabulary to avoid that. You often put extra words in that are distracting and unnecessary. For example: "truthfully" and "surely". But I really like where you're going. :-)
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