Child 44


Aspects of the novel or short story

Every novel or short story you read will have the following aspects:

¨ setting = where the story takes place

¨ characters = the people or individuals involved in the story

¨ plot = the action of the story and why it happens

¨ themes = ideas that run throughout the book

¨ author = the person who wrote the story

¨ narrator = the one who tells the story

¨ style = the way the author writes the story: the words and phrases s/he uses, the sentence structure and the register.

¨ intention = the reason the author wrote the story

These aspects together create the final novel or short story.

Author

· Who is the writer?

· What nationality is s/he?

· Is it a male or female?

· What else did s/he do in his / her life besides write?

· When did s/he publish the book?

Narrator

The author chooses who will tell his/her story. This is called narrative voice.

The narrator can be:

1. omniscient narrator = one who sees everything and knows everything. This narrator is not a character in the story but knows what each character does, feels and thinks.

2. first person narrator = This narrator is the main character in the story and tells the story from his/her own point of view only. S/he uses the pronoun “I” and only knows what s/he sees, experiences, thinks, and feels.

3. third person narrator = This narrator is also a character in the story, but tells what happened to another person. Like the first person narrator, s/he also uses the pronoun “I” and only knows what s/he sees, experiences, thinks and feels.


Background information

  1. Author’s name?
  2. Is the author male or female?
  3. What nationality is s/he?
  4. When was the novel published?
  5. Summarise the following notes about the author of "Child 44".

About the author, Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith is an English writer born and raised in London. His mother was Swedish and his father English. He wrote throughout his childhood and was encouraged by his drama teacher to start writing screenplays. Smith was awarded a scholarship to and subsequently studied at St John’s

College, Cambridge, and after graduating in 2001 he received the Harper

Wood Studentship for English Literature and Poetry. He continued his creative writing studies and spent a year at Parvin University in Italy. He has worked as a freelance writer and script editor for various shows. He has also won several awards for his writing, especially for Child 44, namely; ITW 2009 Thriller Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Magazine 2008 Critics Award for Best First Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was listed for the Man Booker Prize.

www.franceslincoln.co.uk/authors

Background information on the novel

The novel is set during the time of the USSR and was considerably larger in area as it there were several associated states in the Eastern Bloc. The communist Bolsheviks were in charge. Joseph Stalin who headed the dictatorship and was thus the solitary ruler. Citizens were paranoid because it took place during the cold war. It was commonplace for people to be arrested, tortured and executed during this time as suspected spies or traitors. It was usual for those who were arrested to be sent to the Siberian Gulags and where they labored until many died. Few outlived their sentences. Under Joseph Stalin’s rule, it is estimated that 20 million Russians died of starvation, overwork or execution. People were arrested without a fair trial and often were arrested simply for saying the wrong thing. Propaganda was rife in the USSR and Russia was depicted as a flawless place to live even though this was mostly untrue. Propaganda was used to promote patriotism amongst the Russian people.

It was the communist belief that a classless ideal society would be created in which all people would be equal. Nevertheless, this was not to be and criminal activity abounded. The novel is founded on the story of The Rostov Ripper who was a serial killer from the Ukraine who it is confirmed murdered 52 women and children, but claimed to have murdered more than 56 people. He was raised in a time of immense famine in the USSR when it is estimated that between 1.8 and 7 million Ukrainians died of starvation. He was finally tried and sentenced in the 1990s after considerable time had lapsed since his killing spree had begun.

A review of Child 44

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview29

by Tom Rob Smith

480pp, Simon & Schuster, £12.99

First things first: this is a compelling detective story that I read in the proverbial single sitting. The Soviet Union has been fertile ground for thriller writers, from Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park to Hannibal Lector's taste for human flesh being sourced there. Tom Rob Smith's debut borrows something from both these authors, but Robert Harris's Fatherland is perhaps the best comparison. Just as Harris used a detective to unpick the true nature of Nazi totalitarianism, so Smith uses a murder mystery to explore Stalinism.

The plot revolves around a murderer who can continue killing because the Soviet system cannot admit to having such capitalist social problems as murder or prostitution. Despite an omnipresent secret police force knowing everything about everyone, they are not equipped to handle a serial killer. Children are killed and mutilated across the country, but the local authorities dare not report them as murders, so there is no way the central authorities can register what is going on. The killings are treated as the acts of "deviants", homosexuals or mentally retarded people, never of "normal" healthy Soviet citizens. In this and much else, Smith is elaborating on the case of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered over 50 people in the 70s and 80s.

Smith has moved the scenario back in time to the months before and after Stalin's death, giving him the opportunity to open up a range of political and social issues - and providing a convenient cop-out at the end. Challengingly, his hero, Leo Demidov, is no glamorous spy but a Stalinist secret policeman. His normal job is to interrogate and torture those who might think, act or think of acting out of synch with the status quo. At first, he rejects evidence that a murderer is at large. Only when he himself becomes

the victim of a piece of bureaucratic infighting do the scales fall, and his wife and family are swiftly drawn into the nightmare.

Smith uses his detective story to explore the realities of life in the Soviet Union, both in the Stalinist period and the decades that followed. He is at his best when dramatising how silence and fear breed ignorance: the inability to tell the truth corrodes the very fibre of people's being. Love itself is tarnished. So Leo learns that his wife only married him out of fear, while his parents have never talked about the secret of his childhood. On occasion, Smith attempts to squeeze too much in; Child 44 could serve as a hugely entertaining and original primer on Soviet history, though fortunately this never overwhelms the narrative energy.

But the desire for the plot to encompass every element of Soviet history eventually overrides any sense of artistic seriousness: the resolution is too pat for such a messy story. One suspects that Smith has Hollywood in his sights - and in that he has apparently succeeded, with Ridley Scott taking up the film option. However, the book remains a real achievement. I can think of few novels that have touched so eloquently on the complex moral climate of life in the Soviet Union while delivering all the pleasures of a brilliant airport read.

Setting

Setting is the place in which the story happens, physically and socially. “In works of narrative (especially fictional), the literary element setting includes the historical moment in time and geographic location in which a story takes place, and helps initiate the main backdrop and mood for a story.”

Downloaded on 26 November 2014: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setting_(narrative)

Suddenly Leo lost his footing, sliding to the side before tumbling face down into a snow drift. Dazed, buried in snow, he rolled onto his back, wondering if he was hurt whilst staring up at the pale-blue sky. He felt no pain. He got up, brushing the snow off his face and hands, regarding with cool detachment the cuts on his hands. He looked for the figure of Brodsky, expecting to see him disappearing into the edge of the forest.

But to his surprise the suspect had also stopped running. He was standing still. Confused, Leo hurried forward. He didn't understand – just as escape seemed possible this man seemed to be doing nothing at all. He was staring at the ground in front of him. Barely 100 metres now separated them. Leo drew his gun, slowing to a walk. He took aim, knowing full well he couldn't risk a shot from this range. His heart was pounding, two thumps for each footstep. Another surge of methamphetamine energy: the roof of his mouth went dry. His fingers trembled with an excess of energy, sweat seeped down his back. There were barely 50 paces between them. Brodsky turned around. He wasn't armed. He had nothing in his hands; it was as though he'd suddenly and inexplicably given up. Leo continued forward, closer and closer. Finally he could see what had stopped Brodsky. There was an ice-covered river some 20 metres wide in between him and the woods. It hadn't been visible from the hill, hidden under a blanket of heavy snow which had settled across the frozen surface. Leo called out:

– It's over!

Anatoly considered this remark, turned back towards the forest and stepped out onto the ice. His footsteps were unsteady, sliding across the smooth surface. The ice sheet creaked under his weight, barely holding him. He didn't slow down. Step after step after step, the ice was beginning to crack – black, crooked lines formed on the surface, criss-crossing and fanning out from underneath his feet. The faster he moved, the faster the lines appeared, multiplying in all directions. Icy water seeped up through the joints. He pressed forward: he was at the middle of the river, another 10 metres to go to the other side. He looked down at dark, freezing water flowing beneath him.

Character

Types of characters

A flat character is a term that refers to characters who are totally revealed immediately and do not alter or develop during the course of the novel. The reader knows precisely what can be expected from such a character.

Stereotypes are flat characters – these are characters which have a fixed collection of characteristics constructed from one section of knowledge e.g. accountants are boring, logical and earnest; Asians are studious, clever and good at Maths.

Round characters is a term for characters about whom more is learnt as the story develops. They alter and develop as the novel progresses and are more human because they do the unpredictable things. They are influenced by events and their motives and thinking are shown to us.

The protagonist is the main or primary character and is equal to the hero of the novel.

The antagonist is the character who is in opposition to the protagonist.

Characters:


  • Raisa Demidova
  • General Nesterov
  • Major Kuzmin
  • Vasili
  • Andrei

Plot

Plot is the pattern of events in a story. It deals with what happens, why it happens and it makes the reader curious to discover what will happen next. “Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, how the reader views the story, or simply by coincidence.” Downloaded on 26 November 2014 https://www.google.co.za/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=sJ11VNyAN4-p8wfRqYCIDg&gws_rd=ssl#q=plot


Parts of the plot structure are called:

exposition = introduction / setting the scene

rising action = increasing tension

climaxes = peaks of tension

falling action = release of tension

denouement / resolution = resolving the tension

Themes:

A theme is the main idea or concept that result from the story as it proceeds.

  • A common understanding of theme is an idea or point that is central to a story which can often be summarised in one word (e.g. love, death, betrayal).
  • Some examples of themes are: conflict between the individual and society; coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; and the dangers of unchecked ambition. Some other common themes are: ‘Love is stronger than hate.’; ‘Appearance and reality are not the same.’; ‘Revenge is sweet.’ or simply ‘jealousy’; ‘justice’ etc.
  • A theme may be illustrated by the actions, words, or thoughts of a character within a novel. An example of this would be the theme of loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, wherein many of the characters seem to be lonely.
  • Themes can also be expressed as statements in full sentences. In this way the author’s attitude to the concept is expressed which is of interest to the reader.
  • Sometimes, the author does not support one idea about a concept such as jealousy or racism (as in Bosman), but explores it in his/her work.
  • A story may have several themes.
  • Themes frequently explore historically common or cross-culturally familiar ideas, such as ethical questions, and are typically implied rather than overtly stated. An example of this would be whether one should live a seemingly better life, at the price of giving up parts of one's humanity, which is a theme in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
  • Downloaded on 26 November 2014: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_%28narrative%29

One discovers themes by looking back on the whole story and considering:

  • What ideas recurred in the story?
  • What impression stands out besides the plot, characters and setting?
  • What idea is the story about?