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Use of Language

  • Sibilance - shows her as a sensual female: "The exposure, and the sensation on her soles of thick carpet through the silk excites her..."
  • "...the sorrow and the see-sawing emotions and the sex..." (82)
  • "...adds pine oil and lilac crystals" (83) Add a sense of feminiity, sensual and emotional.
  • Words used to connote intuition and mysticism: "wisdom", "inner peace"
  • Physical feelings are referred to much more: "a tenderness" across her nose.
  • The langauge of relationship dynamics: "emotional field", "vulnerable" and "protective".
  • Joe stumbles over the word "phenomenon" = ""phenomenum". Therefore, struggling with this Latinate, scientific word seems to show his deterioration.

"Enduring Love" Chapter 9

Characterisation - Joe Rose

Why has he chosen to have Clarissa narrate this chapter, what does it tell us about Joe's character?

  • Anger - straight away Joe is ranting at Clarissa: ...there appears to be some kind of accusation, perhaps even anger against her" (80)
  • "'Agitated"' (84)
  • "I know I've said this before, so don't get angry." (84)
  • ...a warning chill in his last word" (84)
  • ..."anger is directed at her." (85)
  • He tells us that "His emotions are slow to shift to anger in the first place."
  • He tells her to "fuck off" and wants to throw the dressing table stool.
  • Clarissa perceives that he is "conversationally deaf and blind" (81)and he has a "wild look about him". (80)
  • Seeing Joe as another might perceive him gives his charater more depth - we see how driven he has become since the accident.

Narrative

Their Relationship

This chapter deals mainly with the Joe and Clarissa element of the plot.

The status changes and the plot is moved forward.

The ending: Joe storms out into the street, this compounds tension, the argument has not been resolved.

Clarissa doesn't believe him

"The first time he phoned and told you he loved you, you admitted you lied to me about it." We see their estrangement and the fact that he isn't being open with her.

The status of their relationship changes.

There is a conflict of needs: Joe looks back imagining how she may have felt coming home: "...and she experiences a little lift of the spirits when she remembers...is always good at looking after her when she needs it." His words.

"..and now she is being rewarded by his aggression while her own needs go unnoticed." Perhaps his guilt.

"They rarely row, Clarissa and Joe. She is especially bad at arguments." Obviously this is supposedly from her POV, though reads as if it is his POV - but stated in the third person

Why has McEwan used this change of POV do you think?

Characterisation -Clarissa

He states that she feels a "pulse of triumph that is easily confused with vindication". But how does he know this? It seems like his own feelings.

"So what am I meant to think? You tell me. Then we'll see what kind of support and help you need."

  • Appears to be having problems at University ? due to the incident
  • Or maybe due to other issues: "...consistently late in filing her Workload Quota Schedules..."
  • Feels unwell and has a bad back.
  • She is the rational one at this point: He's not the cause of your agitation, he's a sympton."
  • She doesn't like to argue: "Clarissa feels the little cold thump to the heart she always gets when anger is directed at her".

Summary of Chapter 9

Joe writes from Clarissa's Point of View. Clarissa arrives home after a "bad day". She is met by Joe who is ranting about Jed Parry, and about his future in science. He has no understanding of her needs. They argue and Clarissa doubts Jed Parry's obsession. Joe leaves the flat and outside is Jed Parry.

Point of View

Narrator

Joe assumes a god-like position as editor of Clarissa's story. Ironic as he is an atheist.

Joe admits he has "construed" Clarissa's narrative. but does not explain how. The lack of explanation is strange as he usually concerns himself with metafiction. Could this be from her diary, her conversation or both?

Her appointment diary went missing (79) and the chapter lists events that occur in it.

Joe narrates Clarissa's Point of View. "Or at least, from that point as I later construed it".

  • Where does he find out this information about Clarissa's POV?
  • Do we think that he has taken her diary?
  • Narrative transition: from 1st person to 3rd.
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