Romesh Gunesekeras Ranvali: A Refutation of Conventional Characterizat

Romesh Gunesekeras Ranvali A Refutation of schematic CharacterizationRanvali serves as a personal reminder. It conveys unhappiness and regret with the narrators acknowledgement only years after her father had died that she had been mistaken about genuine aspects of him and that after this realization, she was unable to try to improve their relationship because he was no longer alive. The characterization of her father is essential in carrying across this sadness and regret because his character - the person of the father, to be contrasted with the qualities of the father, is the preconditions for the narrators flashbacks. The objective of this paper is to repel the conventional argument that the functional utilization of a character makes it secondhand in splendor in a narrative and hence, show Ranvali to be a character-centred narrative. The stand that this paper takes, therefore, is that the functional role of the narrators father makes his character an integral part of th e narrative, such that Ranvali is a character-centred narrative.Before embarking on the synopsis of Ranvali, it is necessary to introduce three theories surrounding the notion of character in narratives. According to Aristotles theory of character, a distinction can be do between an agent - a person who performs actions and is necessary, and, a character - something that is added ulterior and in fact, not even essential to successful tragedy . . . Added later on . . . if at all (qtd. in Chatman 109). In Ranvali, the narrators father is an agent because of his importance to the story, which will be elaborated upon later. However, he will be ceaselessly referred to as a character in this analysis so as to be consistent with the terminology throughou... ...ves. By superimposing Todorovs theory of character, the second induction - this secondary importance of characters in narratives implies that such narratives are not character-centred, was made. The send-off argument has alre ady been refuted in the previous section where the functional role of the father is shown to cause him to be of primary importance in Ranvali. As for the second argument, it has been refuted along with the refutation of the first argument, as well as, the happiness of both of Todorovs criteria. The conclusion, therefore, is that Ranvali is a character-centred narrative, where the deceased father is a primary character. whole kit CitedChatman, Seymour, Existents Story and Discourse Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca Cornell UP, 1978. 108-114. Gunesekera, Romesh. Ranvali. lotte Moon. London Granta, 199289-102.