What do you find interesting in the way Dora tells her story
‘Wise Children’ tells the story of the trials and tribulations of Dora and Nora Chance. The story is a first person account from Dora, the often outspoken, flamboyant and open narrator. There are many aspects of Dora story-telling which I find interesting, in particular the way she engages the reader into the text by directly addressing the reader and withholding information. I also find Dora’s speech interesting as she appears to possess a lack of restraint as she is often enthusiastic, crude and open to the readers. Dora’s narration also conforms the novel to magic realism as she often creates absurd, unrealistic and surreal imagery which she than applies to realistic situations.
From the very beginning of the novel Dora directly addresses the reader ‘Good morning! let me introduce myself, my name is Dora Chance’. Dora immediately confronts the reader introducing herself, the reader can already establish that Dora is enthusiastic by the use of ‘Good morning!’, the exclamation mark adds to the effect that Dora is confrontation but also eccentric and flamboyant. Dora continues to engage the reader in the first extract of the novel with lines such as ‘Give us a minute, puss, let’s have a look out of the window’. The use of ‘us’ and ‘let’s’ are very effective as the give the reader the feeling that they are in the same room as Dora ‘Give us a minute, puss,’ It seems as thought the cat is interacting with the reader as well as Dora. This sense of belonging will comfort the reader as Carter is trying to start a trust relationship with the readers.
