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Amis Vs. Dickens

The authors Charles Dickens and Martin Amis have many stylistic differences. Even though they lived in different times, with diverse ideas about life, these two authors are still able to have a few stylistic similarities. Charles Dickens, author of the novel, "Hard Times" in the 19th century, focuses on the reality of life, and how many people seem to forget about "living" and concentrate too much on work. His ideas are straightforward, and don't pay much attention to "fancy". The author of "Times Arrow", Martin Amis, is a contemporary novelist. It was written in 1991, which makes it easier for the reader to relate to. The novel is written from the point of view of the main character's soul, and therefore the story seems to be told backwards. Both Charles Dickens and Martin Amis have admirable writing styles that attract readers both young and old.

Dickens' use of rhetorical devices is exceptional in "Hard Times", and Amis uses this stylistic feature equally skillfully in "Time's Arrow". Rhetoric devices are a way for the narrator to speak to the reader. This is particularly effective device in each novel, since it attracts the reader to the novel, and gives the reader a sense of "belonging" to the story. In "Hard Times", the narrator says of M'Choakumchild, "If he had only learned a little less, how infinetely better he might have taught much more" (15). Through this, we can see that the narrator is inviting the reader to be a part of the novel. He is also trying to get the reader to express an opinion about M'Choakumchild - does the reader agree with the narrator, or disagree? The narrator in "Time's Arrow" tells the reader that, "We sat around the fire, as you do …" (169). For the last time in the novel, the narrator invites the reader to experience the story with him. By attracting the reader, it leaves the reader with a sense of fulfillment, and a sense of being part of the storyline for the last time.

Although rhetorical devices add a...