Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine essays

Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine essays Anne Fine uses a number of literary features in her novel Goggle-Eyes to influence the ways the reader responds. These literary elements include: point of view, theme, style, plot, mood/tone, setting and characters. Point of view establishes how the reader sees the story. Lukens (2003, p 168) describes this type of story-telling as one where the reader is able to live, act, feel and think the conflict as the protagonist experiences it and tells it. Fine uses first-person point of view effectively throughout the novel as the reader shares the opinions and feelings of the narrator, Kitty Killin, one of the main characters. Although scarcely more than a child, Kitty appears to be a trustworthy and likeable narrator as she is intelligent, articulate and perceptive. She often appears wiser and more insightful than the adults in the novel. As a result of this we find ourselves sharing her views. Even though Kitty is quite harsh towards Gerald, we agree with her assessment of Gerald as a political Neanderthal (Fine, 1989, p 28) and understand why she states that, After that horrible, horrible row with Mum I absolutely hated him. (Fine, 1989, p 35) Later in the novel when Kittys feelings towards Gerald change, as she wonders if she hadnt been a bit unfair to poor old Gerald Faulkner, deciding so early on that he was the worst thing to have happened to our household since Dad packed his boxes and went off to Berwick upon Tweed....(Fine 1989, p 128) we also modify our views. The personal, chatty style of the novels first person narration, accompanied by simple sentence structure also influence the way we respond. Kittys informal conversational style draws us into her world. We feel as though we are the good friend she is confiding in when she reveals her innermost feelings, for example, when she tells us It suddenly occurred to me that part of the reason I couldnt s...