Edgar Allan Poe & V.S. Naipaul

 “The Purloined Letter” and “The Night Watchman's Occurrence Book”

How do the ways in which these two narratives are narrated and plotted affect the way in which we make sense of their respective stories?

Every story is subject to the reciprocated effects of the aspects of narrative art and the qualities in which the narrative story is developed. Along with a close reading of the two short stories “The Purloined Letter” and “The Night Watchman's Occurrence Book”, this essay highlights narrative characteristics of these two stories and discusses the form, plot, personage, language, and the ways in which these factors affect the meaning of these stories.

The form is the most fundamental feature of a literary work, which produces the overall capacity of the work. However, both of these narratives are in the form of short stories, each of them uses a specific plot or sets the unique order in which events are presented. The plot of “The Night Watchman’s Occurrence Book” is comical and chiastic set in a series of switching messages on the hotel logbook following a new watchman taking over the duty, while in “The Purloined Letter” the plot consists of rather complicated conflict which directs toward a climax prior the last denouement. Therefore, any interpretation and significance of these stories are restricted by their form and bounded to their plots. 

Although the characterisation in “The Purloined Letter” does not seem promising, the very first reaction of the protagonist defines his personality. Following the avoidance of lighting the lamp, Dupin says: “we shall examine it to better purpose in the dark” (330). Also in his meeting with the Minister, he was wearing “a pair of green spectacles” (345), to narrow his vision. In contrast to the other personage “G—” who projects light on Minister’s house and uses many instruments, even a microscope, Dupin is a character who does not need so much light and equipment because he tries to distinguish the Minister’s method. He does not speak so much but thinking a lot. That is why his unique approach for finding the letter is grounded on the significance of identification of the opponent rather than utilising extrinsic methods. Consequently, the story tells that a clear vision does not necessarily bound in light or darkness.

The narrator is also another factor which may affect the way a story make sense. In “The Purloined Letter” the story is narrated by the first person. “At Paris, […] I was enjoying […] with my friend C. Auguste Dupin,” (330). As the roommate of the main personage, the narrator facilitates readers to get in touch with the protagonist: “"And what, after all, is the matter on hand?" I asked” (331). The narrator speaks very little so Dupin has enough floor to explain his detective work. Differs from “The Night Watchman’s Occurrence Book” in which the logbook is used as a motif in the narrative. The struggling between Chas Hillyard and the W.A.G Inskip throughout the logbook provides a glimpse into the boreoarctic system. The logbook exposits the relation between the night-watchman and his manager, who represent a different social spectrum. Likewise, in the first instance, the narrator is used to arrange the detective story in a way that shows that close proximity to the overall human’s potential may result in successful detection.

Language has been used in a creative way to illustrate the intended meanings more attractively. In “The Night Watchman’s Occurrence Book” the author has benefitted of using the language with some genuine mistakes.  Although there are frequently grammatical and spelling mistakes in Night Watchman’s notes: “but they was drinking still” (209), it is not clear either he is doing it deliberately or it is the direct outcome of being ordered to perform his job literally. Furthermore, he signs the notes each time differently, unlike the manager who always uses the same initial followed by his last name “Inskip”. In such a context this is a subtle way to show that not just the language but the whole identity of the watchman is extremely unstable compared to his manager who belongs to a different social class.

In “The Purloined Letter” the whole story is about finding the letter which has been stolen by the minister. There is a question that why does everyone in the story seem so reluctant in what the letter actually contains. Perhaps, it is better to left the letter unrevealed because with the purpose of blackmailing, the more hypothesis about the letter the more power at the hand of the minister. Although the narrative is arranged in a way in which curiosity about the letter is overshadowed by the plot, one can easily observe that the story does not show artless, because there is an obvious exaggeration in favour of Dupin, whose eyes can find an object that a microscope was failed to do. 

Reference:

Naipaul, V, S. “The Night Watchman’s Occurrence Book” in Introduction to Literary Studies Spring 2016. Ed. Achilles S. Western Sydney University. Print.

Poe, E, A. “The Purloined Letter” in Introduction to Literary Studies Spring 2016, Ed. Achilles S. Western Sydney University. Print.