Essay on The Narrative Voice in Northanger Abbey by Jane...

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen expresses the powerful narrative voice. The narrative voice that she uses is different from other novels. Most authors try to hide their presence in their novels but Jane Austen does not try to hide her presence. Her presence in the novel is so clear. For example, â€Å"The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of sister author, and her treatment of the subject I will only add† (Austen 81). She tries not to trick her reader as he/she reads the novel. Instead she informs the reader that the book itself is just a novel. Her purpose is not to convince the reader and correct her story, but to understand the imperfection of language because language does not†¦show more content†¦She is telling him her version of the story, which then filtered through Lockwood’s perspective. Nelly is undependable narrator because she keeps important information about other characters and events. Lockwood is also not a dependable narrator because he does not fully understands the circumstance and might be misinterprets the stories that are told by Nelly. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses Mr. Lockwood to show that language is not enough to tell the truth and understand the other person. When Mr. Lockwood greets Heathcliff on their first encounter, Lockwood misjudges Heathcliff. He writes, â€Å"Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us† (Bronte 1). Also he describes Heathcliff as â€Å"a capital fellow† (Bronte 1). Bronte illustrates that the truth can be manipulated rather than fixed. And it can be manipulated by depending on who is telling the story. She points out that language is manipulated by unreliable people like Lockwood and Nelly. Jane Austen tries to make the reader doubt her stories so that they do not act like Catherine how she makes mistakes about people and cannot distinguish between fiction and real life. 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