GRGR (1): Wayward Thoughts and Forshadowings (pp. 3 - 7)

[Paul Nightingale]

1 - jbor asks why ask why ...

I think it reasonable to discuss the way a text works, rather than
simply assume the power to say what it means. In particular, the opening
pages of a novel will introduce settings, characters, relationships,
concerns, etc: how this is done, the choices made by the author, should
be of some interest. Moreover, we don't find out but conclude that it
has been a dream, just as we conclude that the he-character in the first
passage can be identified as the he-character subsequently named as
Captain Prentice.

The early reference to "[t]he Evacuation" (and capitalisation =
stylisation, which in and of itself begs the question) doesn't really
tune the reader in, given the reluctance of context to give up meaning.

2 - And then ...

The first sentence can't be decoded, no matter how badly we want it. We
can argue forever that the screaming in question is this or that. In
fact, the sound (any sound) is outside the scope of the novel, so
designating it a scream(ing) comes within the text, a judgement made by
a character or the narrative voice. (DePalma's Blow Out, anyone?)

I think it noteworthy that this particular first sentence is followed by
one that, at the very least, invokes the relationship between signifier
and signified. Again, we conclude that the "it" in the second sentence
does refer to the screaming, although whether it refers to (i) the sound
itself, or (ii) the response to it, the aftermath, or (iii) the cause of
the sound, or (iv) everything whatsoever to do with it, will remain a
matter for conjecture.