Literature Analysis #1

1. Forever Amber starts out in Marygreen in the 17th century, a humdrum little village that hasn't changed much in the hundreds of years that it has been there. Amber St. Claire feels very bored with where she lives, until she meets a group of cavaliers, falls in love with Bruce Carlton, and goes with them to London--confirming her belief that she was always meant for something more. This is the inciting incident that sets the stage for the rest of the book. The rising action consists of most of her life in London; where she goes, who she meets, hitting rock bottom, surviving the plague and rising to be the favorite mistress of King Charles II. Then she gets into a fight with Bruce, which leaves him with a bloody scratch on his face and her with cracked vertebrae, making up the climax of the story. The falling action follows with Amber trying to figure out how she'll keep Bruce in love with her (despite his having a wife) and how she'll make him forgive her. It ends when someone tricks her into believing that his wife has died, and she boards the first ship to America she can get on to follow him there and, she thinks, get Bruce to marry her.

2. One theme throughout the novel is how important youth is. The women back then, just as the women today, were terrified of growing old and were also rather naïve in thinking that it wouldn't happen to them. Men shared the common ideal that women started to "decay" after the age of 22. A woman's "prime" was considered to be in her late teens. That was seen especially through the life of Barbara Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine. Though she was the favorite mistress of the king before Amber came along, others began to take her place over the years. As she grew older, the king fell out of love with her slowly, and began to look for someone who could make him feel as she once did. Though Amber does, once, become conscious that she has aged ten years since she first came to London, she realizes that she hasn't aged outwardly a day and that keeps her able to be the King's mistress (though he does grow tired of her eventually. She doesn't notice because she's so focused on Bruce).

3. There are many tones throughout the novel as Amber grows and becomes less of a naïve girl and more of a deviant woman. At first, the tone is innocence: (trying on a pair of earrings) "And Amber leaned forward, tossing her hair back from her face so that her ears would show, her eyes shining with pleasure. They made her feel very grand, and also a little wicked. She gave Lord Carlton a sideways smile to see what he thought about it, longing to have them but afraid of making him think something bad about her if she seemed too eager." As a sixteen year old girl, the effect a new pair of earrings can have on her is rather childish--though appropriate, for where she lived no one wore earrings unless they were married. Still, to think that how she felt about earrings would have any particular effect on a man is incredibly silly. As time moves on, the author alters the tone so that Amber is still naïve where men are concerned, but is also cunningly clever in deceiving them. She starts living with a man named Rex Morgan who gets very jealous, but despite this she still sees Bruce behind his back. "Don't trouble yourself about Rex. I'll take care of him, I warrant you. I know just what I'm going to tell him--and he'll never suspect a thing." Amber takes Rex for a fool, which he's not, and uses the skills she's learned in London to deceive him over and over. Towards the end of the novel, when Bruce has a wife, Corinna, Amber tries to make sure his wife won't get her way if she can help it. It doesn't matter how small it may be--if it will make Corinna happy, Amber must quash her happiness. "Amber's voice rang through the room, loud and clear and defiant; she was half startled herself to hear it. For certainly she had no use for that calico--pretty as it was; it was printed in colors she never wore and would not have considered wearing. But Corinna had bid for it, wanted it--and must not have it." The tone here is maliciousness at its finest. Stopping the wife of the man Amber loved from being happy knew no bounds, even over a piece of material that she knew she would never wear.

4. omniscient third-person narrative -- Forever Amber is written in third person omniscient which helps the reader know what is going on in the story. It provides an in-depth look at the characters as well as helps the storyline move along.  "Amber shuddered at the sight of them and looked swiftly away for fear her own baby would be marked before birth because she had seen them. She felt that living here she had left the world--the only world that mattered to her, the world where she might see Lord Carlton again." (pg. 181) Her country superstitions had not yet left her, and they influenced how she thought she might lose the only thing she had left of Carlton.
imagery- Winsor uses loads of imagery throughout the novel. There is so much description where scenery is concerned as well as characters. It helps to understand her writing style. "The small room was warm and moist. Furious blasts of thunder made the window panes rattle and lightning seemed to streak through the room itself." (pg. 3)
dramatic irony- We find out at the end of the novel that Buckhurst's note to Amber about Carlton's wife being dead is fake, which Amber doesn't know. He is simply trying to get her out of England. This moves along the plot to the end of the novel, as the reader realizes that once Amber has gone to America, she won't return to England out of shame, and will have to build a new life elsewhere. "Buckingham looked around over his shoulder, Arlington did not look back, but they exchanged smiles. "Good riddance," muttered the Duke. Then suddenly he laughed. "Gad, but I wish I could see her face when she arrives in Virginia and finds Lady Carlton in good health! I congratulate you, sir. Your plot worked better than I hoped. We've put that troublesome jade out of our way." " (pg. 971)
hamartia- Hamartia is a big part of the book--it shows how Amber is conceited, and how she often gets in her own way. It ultimately brings her down in the royal court, as the people there only want to see her fail. Her ambition and determination to have Bruce for herself makes it easy for her to believe Buckhurst's false note. Her love for Carlton ultimately drives away Almsbury, one of her dearest friends and the most good natured man in the book. "...Won't you help me, plese? I won't say a word--I just want to look at him. And I don't know where to findhim now--he never comes to Court. Oh, Almsbury! I must see him again!" The Earl set his mouth grimly and turned away. "Not with my help you won't." " (pg. 964)
backstory- The backstory is in the form of a prologue and shows how Amber wound up in Marygreen, a small village, instead of heiress to Rosswood. Her mother was a "lady of quality", originally residing at an estate called Rose Lawn. It explains why the story begins in Marygreen. "The decision was hers to make, and there could be no explanation once she had made it. With only one extra gown and her few jewels, she left Rose Lawn. All that night she and the servant travelled and by mid-morning of the following day had come to a farmhouse in Essex which was well within the borders of Parliamentary domination." (pg. 13)
eucatastrophe- Throughout the novel, Amber passionately hopes that Carlton will marry her. When Carlton gets the plague, she nurses him back to health, and when she gets it he cares for her. After this, they go off on a sort of "vacation"on a yacht for a few months, and Amber is certain that he will marry her. After all they went through, how could he not? But he explains that he won't be marrying her, keeping the plot on the same track it was before though it may have looked like it might change. "But not all her brave assurances could still the doubts and torment that grew more insistent with each day that passed. She began to realize that, after all, nothing had changed--he still intended to go on with his life just as he had planned it, as though there had never been a plague."
framing device- There is a little bit of a framing device used toward the beginning of the novel, when Almsbury, Carlton's friend, is explaining to Amber about Carlton's past and financial issues. Through telling her, the reader also learns that Carlton is not as rich as Amber first thought him to be, though that doesn't matter to her. "Then she remembered what Almsbury had told her about Bruce's parents and added: "My father and mother are both dead. My father was killed at Marston Moor and my mother died in Paris ten years ago." " (pg. 112)
ticking clock scenario- The whole book is a waiting game--reluctantly waiting for Carlton to leave on his travels, anxiously waiting for him to come back. It seems that the whole story revolves around that with Amber's life thrown in, as he never entirely leaves her mind. Especially the first time he is set toleaveafter meeting her, Amber s counting the months nd weeks and days before he is set togo. It gives the story a feel of intensity and helplessness.
dramatic visualization- Similar to imagery, but much more descriptive. Winsor describes every detail of every character in every scene, giving the reader an exact mental image of what is going on. This is typical of Winsor's style of witing.
bildungsroman- Usually applied to genre, it means that a book shows the education or growing up of a character. This is used in Forever Amber as it shows the maturation of her mind as she grows older and the way that living in a place like London corrpts her mind--she learns to think like a Londoner so she won't be cuckolded and adapts to the way of life which would have warranted severe punishment in Marygreen.
   

Characterization

1.  Direct- "There was about her a kind of warm luxuriance,  something immediately suggestive to the men of pleasurable fulfillment--something for which she was not responsible but of which she was acutely conscious. It was that, more than her beauty, which the other girls resented." (pg. 23) Direct characterization is used mainly in the beginning so that the reader can get a feel for the personalities of the characters. Right away the reader knows that Amber is aware of her looks and uses them to her advantage.
Indirect- "His voice answered her quietly. "Leah died a year ago, in childbirth." She looked up at him swiftly, saw that he was serious and a little angry. "Oh, I'm sorry," she lied. But she turned to another subject." Amber doesn't care that one of Carlton's mistresses is dead. In fact, she's probably rather happy--less competition. Indirect characterization is used later in the book because we already know the type of person Amber is, it just indirectly verifies that.

2. The diction and syntax of the author toward Amber and other characters don't really change, besides the fact that what she writes reflects the hostility towards Amber of the other characters. "She saw other smiles too, all around her, mocking jeering faces that seemed to close in upon her, to swim and dance all about her head." When Amber loses the piece of material to Lady Carlton at the auction, everyone else is pleased to see her humiliated.

3. Amber goes through major character changes throughout the book, so she is a dynamic character. She faces a lot of conflict as well, so she is a round character. After Carlton leaves her in London while he goes to America, Amber gets herself into some trouble and lands herself in Newgate for debt. It was one of the worst prisons at the time. She gets involved with a man named Black Jack, who's basically a con man, and he gets caught one day while she gets away. He is hanged while she lives. This thought hits her hard and she has a hard time coming to grips with it. Surviving the plague changed her as well, and for the first time the reader realizes how strong she really is. She has to deal with things that may have driven anyone else insane, or at least stay with them for the rest of their lives. Conflicts with other people often arise that shape who she becomes at Court (namely making a lot of enemies) and internal conflicts, such as loving Carlton and hating him at the same time, contribute to the actions that she takes because of those feelings.

4. After reading Forever Amber, I definitely felt like I knew her. She reminds me of me in the way that we think is exactly the same, and I probably would have made the same decisions as her. I did feel like I met her and I can pretty much tell what would have happened upon her going to America and finding Lady Carlton alive and well.