Narrative Commentary & Control in VL

[Tim Strzechowski]

From: "Terrance" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>

> VL Page 5
>
> "You'll see," weary Slide advised.
>
> He sure would, but only after spending more time ...
>
>
> What effect is achieved by the narrator's explicitly controlling the
> reader's expectations, insuring that the reader will not continue on
> with the false hopes and fears, paranoia, ignorance ... and so forth
> held by the characters?

Aside from perhaps adding to some of the humor in the passage, in much the
same way Heller achieves humor by controlling the reader's expectations of
what may/may not be fully accessible to a given character *and/or the
reader* at a particular moment (e.g. the Dead Man in Yossarian's tent who
wasn't there), the "effect" of these passages also adds to Zoyd's
characterization by making him (and the reader) seem more out of the loop
than anyone else in the passage.  By dropping lines like "He sure would" and
"These were the first of several rude updates," the other characters (Slide,
et al) and the narrative consciousness are aware of something that Zoyd and
the reader aren't. You're correct -- technically, this isn't dramatic irony
(in its classic definition).  But it IS ironic, no?  Question is, what kind?
>
>
> Even though the narrator doesn't tell us exactly what is going to happen
> to Zoyd he does let us know that what Zoyd expects will happen, won't
> happen. Slide knows this.  Every one but Zoyd seems to know this. The
> reader still doesn't know what will happen. But the reader does know
> what Zoyd expects. Moreover, the reader also knows that what Zoyd
> expects to happen (has in fact planned) won't happen.
>
> The narrator has controlled the reader's expectations.

I guess I'm a bit unclear about the point you're making with this.  Does the
fact that the narrator has controlled the reader's expectations in these
examples support your contention that the narrative "privilege" is either
total or limited?  We certainly get plenty of examples of how the privilege
conveys Zoyd's thoughts ("Zoyd, he hoped demurely, yanked at a silk cord on
a dainty starter pulley" - p. 6; "Zoyd, trying to maintain a quickly fading
image of dangerousness" - p. 7), but also those of a logger ("guiding by
strange jovial magnetism a logger's hand that would just as happily have
been a fist up off of the leg of by now mentally paralyzed Zoyd" - p. 8).

Total?

Regardless, how does it loop back to the original question of narrator
reliability?

>