Prompt: Edward P. Jones’s “The Known World” and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day” each make use of unique formal strategies in the telling of their stories. For this question, compare the narrative techniques—that is, how each narrative’s content is expressed— within these two novels. What deliberate formal choices does each author make in the composition of his narrative, and how do the novels differ from one another as a result? What are the effects of these particular narrative techniques on our ability to interpret and analyze each novel’s content? Some elements you might consider in your response are the two novels’ narrative progressions and/or overall structures, how they present their content through narration and focalization/perspective, and so on (although it is your choice which of these elements you want to focus on). Please begin your response with a sentence that articulates the overall claim you will be advancing and evidencing about the two texts and their narrative techniques.
