Impacts of Munro's Revisions on the Story “The View from Castle Rock”
An essay (from French, “to try”) attempts to think through the nuances of a topic while building toward a conclusion about the topic’s significance. Write an argument-driven essay (min. 3, max. 6, double-spaced pages, excluding the work cited page) that addresses one of the following prompts:
Narrative Perspective. Compare the use of narrative perspective in Munro’s “The View from Castle Rock” and McGill’s “Something Something Alice Munro.” How does these stories use narrative perspective to explore how human beings know (or do not know) each other?
Representation of Immigration: Compare the representation of immigrant communities in Blaise’s “A Class of New Canadians” and Richler’s “The Street.” What do these stories suggest about the relationship between Canada and immigrants to the country?
Nostalgia for Place and Identity: Compare how Richler’s “The Street” and Leung’s “Grass” reflect on the significance of a specific place (e.g., the street). How do their narrators identify nostalgically with these places?
Metafiction: Compare the self-conscious story-telling in MacLeod’s “The Boat” to the metafictional story-telling in McGill’s “Something Something Alice Munro.” How do these narratives reflect on the purpose and process of story-telling?
Making Sense of Revisions: Examine the ways Munro’s revisions to “The View from Castle Rock” change the shape and significance of the story. How does Munro’s revisions to the 2005 New Yorker version alter the story’s representation of the past? (I.e., don’t simply list the differences between the versions. Focus on changes that you think make a larger, unifying difference in what the story means.)
Choose your own adventure! You can propose your own topic or focus, but it must be approved by me (Joel) before you submit a draft. This option works best if you have a clear idea of the question you want to explore. For that reason, post your proposed topic to the discussion board before the end of Week 7 for approval.
These topics are relatively open-ended, which means that I’m not looking for a specific “right” answer. Instead, I’m looking to see how you “draw out” a specific answer on your own — how you notice and explain the significance of details in a text — and not simply regurgitate the plot of the story or what others have said about it. See the ENGB25 Formal Writing Tips (which we’ll discuss in Week 7). For a lengthier set of suggestions, see Jack Lynch’s helpful website, “Getting an ‘A’ on a English Paper.”
Sources & Instructions
This essay is meant to practice your skill at rallying evidence from close reading into a text-based argument. You are free to consult dictionaries and other reference materials as tools for your analyses, but you should avoid the many online sources purporting to tell you what these stories mean. These sources are often weak, too broad, or just flat out wrong in their views. Likewise, you should not be consulting secondary source research beyond the critics or materials provided in class. Feel free to consult any sources I quote in lecture.
Remember to format your response according to MLA citation style — e.g. no title page but identifying information appears in the upper-left hand corner of the first page; Times New Roman, 12-point font size; double-spaced; 2.54 cm margins; with a work(s) cited list. For an overview of MLA style, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Please note that I may ask to discuss your paper with you after you submit – and you should be prepared to discuss how you arrived at your conclusions.
Institution
Course
Professor
Date
Impacts of Munro's Revisions on the Story
Munro's revisions to "The view from Castle Rock" alter the story's significance, shape, and depiction of the past in various ways. In both versions, Munro introduced the story by narrating young Andrew's visit to Edinburg with his father and some men for the first time. The author then described various aspects, including migrating from native lands, family relationships, cultures, emotions, and geography. However, Munro’s revisions on several things from the beginning and, as the story continued, changed its structure and representation of the past events. This paper highlights how several revisions in Munro's story significantly impact the story's meaning, shape, and presentation of the past.
At the beginning of the revised version, Munro emphasized the past by giving a more extended narration of the geography and what happened as young Andrew and the men climbed the castle yard. For instance, Munro included that the other men joked by asking whether Andrew was James' son or some pickpocket (Munro 410). Such expansion of including jokes alters the story's significance by enhancing attention and engagement towards the story. The author also added details of the castle yard the men were climbing to make the story more vivid. For instance, Munro revised and noted that "they were climbing uneven stone steps, some as high as Andrew's knees" (410). This addition alters the story's representation to engage readers more and give more precise, memorable, and vivid images in their minds than in the first version.
Munro added new scenes as she narrated Old James' and his family's migration from Ettrick, their native land, changing the story's shape. For instance, in the revised version, she added a new scene and narrated that three witchy aunts raised the older man and his cousins (Munro 415). The addition changed the story's structure and presentation of past events to incorporate witchy customs. Furthermore, the author revised and outlined that Agnes, Andrew's pregnant wife, contemplated how bothersome the older man and Walter were. This revision shapes the story's meaning by highlighting Agnes' attitudes and viewpoints towards some of her in-laws. The scene also altered the story's structure and significance by outlining tensions in family relationships.
Furthermore, Munro revised Mary's description and included that her brothers called her "Poor Mary" because of her timidity and meagreness, which were associated with other women in their family who were also referred to as "Poor" alongside their christening names, like "Poor Jennie" for Jane (Munro 416). This revision changes the story since the first story only narrated why the brothers referred to Mary as "Poor Mary" based on her height and facial structure (Munro 6). The new description alters the story's meaning since it highlights women's low societal expectations and status since the word "Poor" limit their life options. The author also added a new scene describing how a little sailor, almost as small as Mary, conversed with her, yet she found it difficult to speak to her father or neighbor in her native land (Munro 417). This revision changes the story's si...