Because George Lamming's novel In the Castle of My Skin is autobiographical in nature, the protagonist is G., a boy very similar to the author himself as a child. We should be careful to consider G. as at least a partially fictional creation, though, and not necessarily a faithful representation of George Lamming himself, since the novel is not considered a true autobiography.
As you read Chapter 1, you don't yet know the protagonist's...
Because George Lamming's novel In the Castle of My Skin is autobiographical in nature, the protagonist is G., a boy very similar to the author himself as a child. We should be careful to consider G. as at least a partially fictional creation, though, and not necessarily a faithful representation of George Lamming himself, since the novel is not considered a true autobiography.
As you read Chapter 1, you don't yet know the protagonist's name, but you know that he's narrating the story and that he's just turned nine years old. By Chapter 2, as G. is talking with his mother and his neighbors, you realize they call him "G." This name will stick with him all throughout the novel. (You might be tempted to call him George, but again, we need to acknowledge that the author and the protagonist have separate identities.)
Although the narration makes dramatic shifts to focus on other characters and images, veering away from the first-person point of view provided by G., he remains the novel's most important character and the vehicle through which the larger story of the changing community of the Caribbean village is told.
Some readers might even argue that the entire village itself is the real protagonist. You can certainly make a case for that by citing how often the narration focuses on other members of the community.
No comments:
Post a Comment