Magic Toyshop Essay

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Read the two prose extracts (Item A and Item B) carefully, bearing in mind that they were written at different times by different writers and are open to different interpretations Write a comparison of these two extracts Both Angela Carter’s ‘The Magic Toyshop’ and Laurence Sterne’s ‘A Sentimental Journey’ contain aspects of desire. However, they contrast greatly in the sense that in ‘The Magic Toyshop the love is unrequited whereas it is requited in ‘A Sentimental Journey’.’The Magic Toyshop’ is in third person narrative, but it privileges us with seeing events through the perspective of Melanie. The tone throughout is quite gothic, with images such as the ‘phantom chess board’ and ‘subaqueous eyes’. Contrastingly, ‘A Sentimental Journey’ is in first person narrative, so we see events in the view of the male protagonist, Yorick. The tone throughout the extract is one of intimacy and passion. There is a stream of consciousness in ‘The Magic Toyshop’ which puts you in the shoes of Melanie, and helps you to see the situation through her eyes. It has the same effect as a first-person narrative, but with the added bonus of perhaps a more reliable storyteller. This contrasts with the first person narrative within ‘A Sentimental Journey’. The story is told by the main protagonist Yorick. This makes the story a lot more personal as you are taken through events with the same emotions and opinions as this man. He appears to be reliable as nothing is too extreme or descriptive in order for the reader to question anything. This romantic novel, similar to ‘The Magic Toyshop’, has a stream of consciousness. Both of these contrast with the dual narrative in Wuthering Heights. This technique was virtually unprecedented when she wrote Wuthering Heights. Her first narrator, Lockwood, is demonstrably unreliable: he mistakes social relationships and radically misreads Heathcliff
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