A Novel Should…

A question that we are often asked in this class and I even find myself wondering often is what should a novel do for the reader?  What is the novel supposed to do for the reader?  After reading Beloved, Myra Beckingridge, and The Uses of EnchantmentI think I have come up with a general idea.  A novel should make the reader entertained and keep them wanting to read.  A novel should be suspenseful (not so much in the way we think of murder mysteries), but suspenseful in the sense that the novel should want you to keep turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next.  A novel should take you on this adventure with the main character.  I believe that The Uses of Enchantmentdoes pretty much all of these things.  The book has kept me more than entertained and some nights I have even struggled to put it down.  It has also been extremely suspenseful and I cannot wait to see how it ends.  It has made me constantly question what is going on and what the real truth to this   is.  Finally, the novel has taken us on an adventure with Mary.  We have learned about her family, her “abduction”, her physiologist appointments, and her life after this whole fiasco.  I would say that the novel has definitely kept us on an adventure.

Henry James once said, ” A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression.  But, there will be no intensity at all, and therefore no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say.”  I picked this quote because it immediately drew my attention.  I feel like I can relate to what James is saying, because how he feels about the novel is very similar to how I feel.

Throughout high school and college I have read a great deal of novels and the ones that have always stuck out in my mind are the ones in which there are lessons to be lived, or something in society the author is trying to stress.  James says, “A direct impression of life.”  The novels that we have read this semester are all just that- direct impressions of life.  Belovedstressed not only slavery but the physiological effects that tragedies or events have on our lives.  Myra Beckingridge, although some would argue does not really have a point, I believe did.  I think that Gore wrote that book at a very dangerous times, when people were very unsure of transsexuals and trans genders.  People did not understand who these people were and why they wanted to be a different gender.  I think that this book really took a stand and stood up for people who were often ridiculed for a life that others did not understand.  Finally, in The Uses of Enchantment, I believe that the author is trying to say a ggreat deal about feminine sexuality and the society we live in.  I think that she is also trying to break the mold and say something about these girls who fake abductions, which has not become rare in our society. 

Also, James writes, “But there will no intensity at all, and therefore no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say.”  This is also an essential part of the novel because I believe without novels that break the barrier and talk about issues that are often ignored, some people would still be ignorant to issues, such as in Myra Beckingridge.  It is crucial that author’s have the freedom to write and express what they want, becuase it teaches all of us as readers different lessons and helps us to become more open-minded people.

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