The narration Voice and the Depiction of Fiction in Cogwheels by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Literature

Document 1

All these factors play an important holistic role in developing a voice that improves the quality of the narrative and the fictional flow of the narrative. In the first person point of view, the narrator openly acknowledges his or her own experiences where the storyline is dominated by the pronoun “I” or “we” for a group of narrators. Akutagawa, the first person narrator, describes numerous events and encounters as he wonders in thoughts throughout the story the most important being the experiences in attending his friend’s wedding reception. Through the use of a passionate tone, the narrator develops defines the fictional events in a way that it is possible for the reader to sympathize with the fictional events that Akutagawa presents.

Sign up to view the full document!

The choice of words is the center of the fictional flow of the story where the narrator uses quality fictional words that plays an important role in creating a fictional view of the events described in the mind of the reader. This story is told through the main character, Akutagawa, who uses the first person voice to narrate his personal experience as he travels to his friend’s wedding reception. In the first person point of view, the narrator openly acknowledges his or her own experiences and the storyline is dominated by the pronoun “I” or “we” for a group of narrators1. It usually involves the narrator posing as the protagonist, expressing his or her inner thoughts to the audience and any other characters.

Sign up to view the full document!

A conscious narrator who is a participant of an event is normally considered as an incomplete witness, unable to see and comprehend events fully, often subjective in their inner thoughts, and maybe pursuing hidden agenda. The first-person point of view can take the form of a story within a story or can be a focal character. The narrator identifies with the situation and the people in the story that he tells. The first embedded listener is the barber who Akutagawa meets on his way to a reception at his friend’s wedding. They discuss someone’s house that is being haunted even during the day. Despite the narrator’s preoccupation with the short time-frame he has to reach his destination, he somehow manages to satisfy the barber with his intermittent responses.

Sign up to view the full document!

Mainly, the Cogwheels presents the story through the perspective of Akutagawa. He says, “…the man stared vacantly out” and relates this look to a story he had heard in the past. His description of the eatery at the station is also quite vivid as he notes that the café does not merit its name. The one striking element of the first person narration is the unclear timing of the narrator’s experience of the events and his time of telling it to his listeners. Characters relate recent stories more accurately and passionately than they do to events that happened in the distant past. This fact is closely related to what motivates the cast as they could be trying to get a peace of mind by clearing up their minds.

Sign up to view the full document!

The Use of Voice in Demonstrating Fiction in Cogwheels Akutagawa is part of this story, and despite him being the sole narrator, he does not know everything that makes the events. The conditions describe fiction as the readers and narrators unravel this case together. The Cogwheels is characterized by hallucination that is characteristic of the author’s deteriorating mental ability. The story consists of the intimate documentation of personal experience of the author that descent into insanity and ultimately suicide. In this fiction, Akutagawa shows great interest in three periods of Japan’s history. Economic and social reforms spanned this period as Japan embraced technology from the Western world. The narrative is important because it shows the events that culminate in Akutagawa’s last moments.

Sign up to view the full document!

In essence, this story is scarcely a fiction at all. The description of the state of the atmosphere is useful, and it gives a portrait of a man troubled by the worries of this world, which does not stand on its own but in conjunction with the Akutagawa’s myth. The editions that comprise this piece might be necessary for unraveling background information of the other and characterization. All these are factors that are presented in an ironic tone all with the aim of creating fictional images in the brain of the reader. In addition to that, Akutagawa chooses uses descriptive words in different places with the aim of creating pictures in the mind of the reader that is fictional in nature.

Sign up to view the full document!

However, Akutagawa faults the café, drifts his attention from one thing to the next, and engages in a few conversations. At the wedding reception, there is nothing unique. It begins with the ghost story and ends with the spinning of the cogwheels. In this case, the narrator’s voice in the story plays an important role in defining the narrative and the fictional events told by the writer. The first person point of view is used predominantly in Cogwheels as a way of telling the experiences that Akutagawa face in a fictional way. Tone, language, and effective word selection are the main voice elements that are utilized in the story to develop the fictional flow of the story. The first person perspective is used as a way of acknowledging experiences that are fictional in nature.

Sign up to view the full document!

From $10 to earn access

Only on Studyloop

Original template

Downloadable

Similar Documents

Noir Short Story

Words: 2015

Pages: 8

How mentorship changes life

Words: 2360

Pages: 9

Hamlet versus Macbeth

Words: 1736

Pages: 7

Breast Cancer Essay

Words: 1974

Pages: 8