Narratives can take on many forms: first-person, third
person. Narrators themselves can take
equally if not more numerous forms, depending on the narrator’s identity,
relation to the story, gender, level of knowledge of events within the
narrative itself and the narrator’s own biases or lack thereof. Scott McCloud iterates in his graphic novel Understanding Comics, where artist
(author) and patron (reader) diverge is usually at the point when the
understanding of what constitutes the medium they are sharing also
diverges. McCloud talks specifically
about how comics separate themselves from painting, photography, and other
illustration mediums.
Literary narrative also has to separate itself from poetry,
biography, and historical writing. It is
also not merely prose. Literary
narratives must have, as the name implies, a narrative—a story. Literary narratives are a symphony that can
only be properly performed if the participant and the author come to a mutual
understanding through the narrator.
Literary narratives depend on the reader’s ability to read,
understand textual symbolism, and connect events to the overall plot. Literary narratives depend as well upon the
author’s ability to arrange language to fit the audience that is skilled enough
to understand the narrative being written.
And when author and reader meet on the field of mutual understanding, that
is where the fun begins.
In The Metal Raindrop,
many aspects of literary narrative are emphasized. It explores the strengths and enormous power
a literary narrative can have. The Metal Raindrop also admits that literary
narrative is bound by that which it reveals, for the Reader can never know what
the Author has not yet written. Our
narrator reminds us of this constantly, pointing out things that the Author
neglected to tell us. And true to
literary narratives, the Author only gives us the pieces we need to know in
order to understand the story.
In the beginning, the narrator tells us of the lack of need
for a large fire. At the end, we realize
that it is not just that he is alone in his study, but alone entirely. And the end of the narrator is the end of the
narrative, as a literary narrative should be.
Our narrator also comments on one of the most powerful
things a literary narrative can do: create images and ideas inside the human
mind. Since literary narrative can only
function if the author can write and the reader can read, it is limited to
humans. Even within our species, there
is limitation due to language and culture.
Despite these limitations, the written word has changed and
influenced mankind since its inception.
Humans have tried to do physically what words do mentally, film and
painting being great examples. Many are
the people who confess that they enjoyed the book better than its film
adaptation. And though film is
influential in its own right, it still does not have the power of persuasion
that a literary narrative has. And as
the narrator wishes, let us all hope that our own narratives end better than
his.
