Essay/Term paper: How the use of the diary form narrative is beneficial to the novel dracula.

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Narrative Essays

How The Use Of The Diary Form Narrative Is Beneficial To The Novel Dracula.


Bram Stoker, being the creative and intellectual writer himself, wrote
the novel Dracula in the diary form of narrative. This was a good choice of
how to write the novel since it was very beneficial to the plot of Dracula.
Examples of how the diary form is beneficial to Dracula is seen in his writing
and book.
One of the greatest benefits of the diary narrative is that the reader
is allowed see, and feel the emotional hearts and souls of the emotional
characters. This is great because when a character is not feeling too great
and is trying hide something, the reader knows this, and therefore the reader
knows everything that is happening; nothing is being hidden from the reader.
An example of this happening is when Mina is at the insane asylum and is
worried sick about something happening to Jonathan Harker. Mina hides all that
she feels when Jonathan Harker is near her. All that Mina is feeling is
written by herself, and what, how she is feeling is ready for a reader to
examine because they are able to see her diary. If Mina's diary was not open
to the reader, or if Someone was telling of what he or she saw, the observation
could be false and the reader would lose valuable information that would be
valuable to the whole plot of the book.
Some things that can be noticed about the diary form is that different
views of the same thing can be expressed by many different people; all in first
person view. Then, along with that, there are extensive and very detailed
descriptions about a thing, or person that is being described. In the novel,
this is seen as Jonathan Harker is traveling and he describes almost everything,
he does, eat, sees, etc.
Another use of the diary form is that Bram Stoker can have people "talk
to themselves." So if the person who is writing in his or her diary, that
person can make notes to him/herself writing "I must ask the Count about this."
So by "talking to him/her own self" in this manner, he is writing it down and
they do not in any way make it so that they seem strange in front of public.
The good thing about using the diary to write is that it can be used
interchangeably with periodicals and letters being written or read by a person.
In the same way as in a diary, extensive descriptions and large emotional
feelings can be expressed and felt by the reader. Also, during the usage of
letters, two people conversing will and can be written out in dialog form;
because of this, the two people, while talking, will not have to switch tenses
after a couple of sentences. When the newspaper form is used, the reader can
see what is happening and will be able to think for themselves and they will
not have to have the book, or someone in the book explain what they are reading
to them. So in other words, if a newspaper is written in the book, the reader
will have the freedom to think, derive, and draw their own conclusions from the
article being read.
When the diary form is used, many things can go on at once. So one
person can be talking or writing about something, and then someone else can
also be telling about what is happening somewhere else. An example is where
Mina finishes writing a journal entry and then all of a sudden, a new story of
Dr. Van Helsing and his patient comes in through a new start of a diary.
A great thing that is controlled wonderfully with the diary form is time.
Time, which normally cannot be changed or moved around can be taken back
through time for things that need to happen when the diary form of narrative is
used. For instance, after Lucy had written what was happening to her when her
mother passed away, the story went back in time for another important matter to
take place.
When, there are different people of different places, they can be
identified by how they act and how they talk. If, Bram Stoker did not use the
diary form narrative, this would not be possible because if one person was
telling the whole story, the reader would see and hear what the person telling
the story heard and wrote down. So using, the diary, Bram Stoker could make
the reader "see" exactly how a person was talking and acting through the
written dialects.
In the novel Dracula, all the diaries, of all the individuals come
together and in the end, become one powerful, combination of descriptions,
facts, that represents a group as a whole and the reader can feel as if they
are part of the group and read, and think along with the characters.
Another thing dealing with the diary form is quick referencing. The
reader, if needed, can easily flip back through the book to look for something
that he needs or wants.
The diary form is great! It lets a reader feel, and see how characters
interpret things themselves. The form lets dialogues take place, it lets many
people altogether tell a story in first person, and it lets a reader be able to
see densely detailed scenes through a person that isn't being a fool talking to
him or her self. The diary form of narrative is basically a form of writing
that lets a huge possibility of good ways to write into a good book.