Postmodern aspects of the novel ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness.

Discernment and Ambiguity #

Tell me in more detail about “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness? #

“A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness: A Detailed Exploration #

Overview and Background

“A Monster Calls,” written by Patrick Ness and inspired by an idea from the late Siobhan Dowd, is a novel that blends fantasy and reality to explore profound themes of grief, loss, and healing. Published in 2011, it quickly garnered critical acclaim for its emotional depth, powerful storytelling, and unique narrative structure. The novel is also accompanied by striking illustrations by Jim Kay, which further enhance its haunting and poignant atmosphere.

Plot Summary

The story centers around Conor O’Malley, a 13-year-old boy who is struggling to cope with his mother’s terminal illness. The novel begins with Conor being visited by a monstrous yew tree at precisely 12:07 a.m. This tree, which grows near his home, comes to life and assumes a terrifying form, but instead of harming Conor, it tells him that it has come to deliver three stories. After the monster tells these stories, Conor must tell his own story, one that reveals his deepest, darkest truth.

Characters

• Conor O’Malley: The protagonist, a young boy dealing with his mother’s illness, bullying at school, and his own overwhelming emotions. Conor is a complex character, oscillating between anger, fear, and a desperate need for control in a world that seems to be falling apart.

• The Monster: A personification of the ancient yew tree, the monster is a paradoxical figure—both menacing and wise. It represents the natural world, ancient wisdom, and the darker aspects of the human psyche. The monster’s purpose is to help Conor confront his innermost feelings and fears.

• Conor’s Mother: A loving and caring figure who is gradually succumbing to cancer. Her illness is the central catalyst for Conor’s emotional journey.

• Conor’s Grandmother: A stern and seemingly unapproachable figure, who contrasts sharply with Conor’s perception of his mother. Despite their strained relationship, she is also struggling with the impending loss.

• Conor’s Father: Living far away in America with a new family, Conor’s father is largely absent from his life, adding to Conor’s feelings of isolation and abandonment.

Themes and Analysis

• Grief and Denial: The novel poignantly captures the stages of grief, particularly denial, anger, and acceptance. Conor’s recurring nightmares and the monster’s stories all serve as metaphors for his internal struggle to come to terms with his mother’s impending death. Conor’s denial is so intense that he refuses to acknowledge the possibility of her death, even as it becomes increasingly inevitable.

• The Power of Storytelling: Storytelling is central to the novel’s structure and message. The monster’s three tales are not straightforward moral lessons; they are complex and ambiguous, reflecting the uncertainties and contradictions of life. These stories force Conor to confront the fact that life is not black and white, and that sometimes, the truth is complicated and uncomfortable.

• The Complexity of Human Emotions: One of the novel’s most striking aspects is its exploration of the conflicting emotions that Conor experiences. He feels anger, guilt, and sorrow, often simultaneously. His darkest truth—one he struggles to admit even to himself—is that part of him wishes for his mother’s suffering to end, even if it means losing her. This revelation is central to his emotional journey and the monster’s ultimate lesson.

• Isolation and Bullying: Conor’s feelings of isolation are compounded by his experiences at school, where he is bullied and ostracized. This sense of being alone with his pain is a critical part of his character’s development, emphasizing how children often feel isolated in their grief, unable to fully express or process their emotions.

• Acceptance and Healing: The novel does not offer easy resolutions, but it does provide a path toward healing. By the end, Conor begins to accept the truth of his situation, and through this acceptance, he finds a way to begin healing. The monster’s role is crucial in guiding Conor to this acceptance, showing that facing the truth, however painful, is a necessary step in moving forward.

Symbolism and Imagery

• The Yew Tree: The yew tree, known for its longevity and associations with death and rebirth, is a powerful symbol throughout the novel. It represents the duality of life and death, healing and destruction. The tree’s presence in Conor’s life is both terrifying and comforting, reflecting the dual nature of his emotions.

• The Monster: The monster itself can be seen as a manifestation of Conor’s repressed emotions and fears. It is a figure that forces him to confront his true feelings, which he has buried deep inside.

• The Nightmare: Conor’s recurring nightmare is a symbol of his deepest fear—losing his mother—and his simultaneous fear of acknowledging that he might want her suffering to end, even if it means she will no longer be with him.

Literary Style

Patrick Ness’s writing in “A Monster Calls” is both lyrical and accessible, blending the straightforward perspective of a child with the deep, symbolic layers of the monster’s stories. The narrative seamlessly shifts between reality and the fantastical, creating a dream-like quality that mirrors Conor’s emotional state.

The illustrations by Jim Kay add another dimension to the story, with dark, swirling images that evoke the tumultuous emotions Conor is experiencing. These visuals complement the text, creating a haunting, immersive experience for the reader.

“A Monster Calls” is a deeply moving novel that tackles difficult themes with sensitivity and honesty. It is a story about the complexities of grief and the necessity of facing painful truths in order to heal. Through the character of Conor and his interactions with the monster, Patrick Ness creates a narrative that is both heartbreaking and hopeful, offering a profound meditation on the nature of loss and the power of acceptance. The novel resonates with readers of all ages, reminding us of the importance of confronting our emotions and the healing that can come from acknowledging even the darkest parts of ourselves.

What about the monster’s three stories? #

The monster’s three stories in “A Monster Calls” are crucial to the novel’s narrative structure and thematic depth. Each story is a parable that challenges simple moral judgments and reflects the complexity of life and human nature. These stories are not just tales for entertainment; they serve as vehicles to push Conor toward facing his own buried emotions and fears. Here’s a detailed look at each of the three stories told by the monster:

First Story: The Tale of the Prince and the Witch #

In the first story, the monster recounts the tale of a kingdom where a young prince lives with his stepmother, the queen, who is suspected of being a witch. The kingdom, once prosperous, has fallen on hard times. The prince is beloved by the people and is expected to marry a beautiful young farmer’s daughter. However, one morning, the prince and the young woman are found asleep under a yew tree, and when the prince wakes, he finds the girl murdered beside him. The prince accuses the queen of the murder, claiming that she has done this to maintain her grip on power. The people of the kingdom, already distrustful of the queen, rise up in anger and drive her away.

But the monster reveals a twist: the queen was innocent. It was the prince who killed the girl, seeking to create a reason to overthrow the queen. The monster assisted the prince by saving him from the vengeful mob but also allowed the queen to escape, ensuring that she could live her life in peace. The prince, having achieved his goal, became a ruler, but he was haunted by his actions.

Moral and Analysis

This story challenges the idea of straightforward heroes and villains. The prince, who is initially perceived as the protagonist, turns out to be morally ambiguous, while the queen, the supposed villain, is actually innocent. The lesson here is that humans are complex and that truth is not always simple or clear-cut. For Conor, who is grappling with feelings of anger and resentment, this story begins to chip away at his black-and-white understanding of morality, preparing him to face the more complex emotions he harbors about his mother’s illness.

Second Story: The Apothecary and the Parson #

The second story is about an apothecary and a parson who lived in the same town. The apothecary was a man of science who made his living selling medicines, but he was often shunned by the townspeople, who preferred to trust in God and the parson’s teachings rather than in the apothecary’s remedies. The parson, a respected and pious man, publicly denounced the apothecary, calling him a charlatan.

However, when the parson’s two daughters fell gravely ill, the parson begged the apothecary to save them, offering anything in return, including his faith and beliefs. The apothecary refused, stating that the parson had taken too much from him already. The parson’s daughters died, and the monster responded by destroying the parson’s house, uprooting it completely, as a punishment for the parson’s hypocrisy.

Moral and Analysis

The second story deals with themes of hypocrisy, integrity, and the consequences of one’s actions. The parson’s hypocrisy—denouncing the apothecary yet turning to him in desperation—leads to his downfall. The monster’s destruction of the parson’s house symbolizes the collapse of false piety and the price of hypocrisy. For Conor, this story resonates with his own internal conflicts, particularly his feelings of guilt and the contradiction between what he feels and what he thinks he should feel. It also speaks to the futility of trying to bargain with forces beyond one’s control, much like Conor’s futile hope that his mother will recover if he just wishes hard enough.

Third Story: The Invisible Man #

The third story is about a man who was invisible because people refused to see him. He was not literally invisible, but he felt unseen and ignored by those around him, and as a result, he became more and more invisible to the world. Eventually, the man decided that if no one would see him, he would make them see him. He committed acts of violence, forcing people to acknowledge his existence. Finally, the monster came and declared that the man had become too visible, too much of a monster, and so the monster made him truly invisible, ensuring that no one would ever see him again.

Moral and Analysis

This story reflects Conor’s feelings of invisibility and his growing rage at being ignored by the world—particularly by his peers, his teachers, and even by his own family, who are more focused on his mother’s illness than on his suffering. Conor is desperate for someone to acknowledge his pain, but he also feels immense guilt for these feelings, especially because he knows his mother is the one truly suffering. This story serves as a catalyst for Conor’s ultimate confrontation with his own emotions. The theme of becoming “invisible” because of unexpressed pain resonates deeply with Conor’s experience, leading him to the realization that he must express his true feelings, no matter how dark or shameful they seem.

The Fourth Story: Conor’s Truth #

While the monster initially promises to tell three stories, the narrative ultimately builds toward the moment when Conor must tell the fourth story—his own truth. After the monster’s three stories, Conor is compelled to face his nightmare, the one in which he is trying to save his mother from falling into an abyss but ultimately lets her go. His deepest fear is that he secretly wishes for his mother’s suffering to end, even though it means losing her. This truth is agonizing for Conor to admit, as it embodies both his love for his mother and his desire for the pain to stop.

Significance of the Fourth Story

Conor’s own story, his truth, is the culmination of his journey. The monster’s role throughout the novel has been to guide Conor toward this moment of self-realization. By acknowledging his feelings, Conor can begin the process of healing. The monster, in this context, represents not only Conor’s fears but also the possibility of redemption and emotional release through honesty and acceptance.

The monster’s three stories, combined with the final, fourth story that Conor must tell, form the heart of “A Monster Calls.” They serve as metaphors for the complex emotions Conor is experiencing and challenge him—and the reader—to move beyond simple narratives of good and evil, right and wrong. The stories are deeply interwoven with the novel’s themes of grief, guilt, and the painful journey toward acceptance. Each story pushes Conor closer to the moment when he can face his deepest fears and ultimately come to terms with the reality of his mother’s illness and the impending loss.

List postmodern aspects of this novel? #

“A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness is a novel that intricately weaves postmodern elements into its narrative, blending genres, playing with narrative structures, and challenging traditional notions of storytelling. Below are the key postmodern aspects of the novel:

1. Metafiction and Self-Referentiality

The story is deeply aware of its status as a narrative. The monster that visits Conor tells him stories that challenge the conventional expectations of narrative resolution. These stories within the story draw attention to the process of storytelling itself, highlighting how stories are constructed and how meaning is not always straightforward or easily digestible.

2. Fragmentation

The novel’s structure is fragmented, reflecting the psychological turmoil of the protagonist, Conor. This fragmentation is seen in the alternating between the “real world” and the fantastical elements brought by the monster. The disjointed structure mirrors Conor’s fractured sense of reality as he grapples with his mother’s terminal illness.

3. Intertextuality

Ness’s novel engages with multiple texts and myths, particularly through the stories told by the monster. These tales are reminiscent of folk tales and moral parables, yet they subvert traditional endings, forcing Conor—and the reader—to confront the complexity and ambiguity inherent in real life. The monster itself can be seen as a nod to mythological creatures in literature, blending the monstrous with the comforting.

4. Blurring of Reality and Fantasy

A hallmark of postmodern literature is the blurring of lines between reality and fantasy. In “A Monster Calls,” the reader is never entirely sure whether the monster is a figment of Conor’s imagination, a real entity, or a manifestation of his subconscious. This ambiguity forces readers to question the nature of reality within the narrative, a key postmodern concern.

5. Non-Linear Narrative

The novel does not follow a straightforward, chronological timeline. The narrative often jumps between different times and perspectives, particularly during the monster’s stories and Conor’s memories. This non-linear approach reflects the complexity of time in Conor’s experience, where past, present, and future blur as he confronts his grief.

6. Play with Genre Conventions

While “A Monster Calls” can be categorized as a fantasy or young adult novel, it subverts the expectations of these genres. The fantasy elements are not used as mere escapism but instead delve into heavy, real-world themes like grief, loss, and coming to terms with harsh truths. The novel also blends elements of psychological realism with fantasy, challenging the boundaries of genre.

7. Pastiche

Ness employs pastiche by blending different styles and narratives within the book. The monster’s stories draw on traditional storytelling tropes but are delivered in a way that mixes them with contemporary issues and concerns. This pastiche effect allows the novel to simultaneously evoke a sense of timelessness and present-day relevance.

8. Unreliable Narrator

Conor, as the protagonist and primary viewpoint character, is not entirely reliable. His perception of events is clouded by his intense emotions and psychological distress. The reader is left to piece together the truth from his perspective, which is often skewed by his fears, desires, and guilt. This unreliable narration reflects postmodernism’s skepticism about objective truth.

9. Themes of Paradox and Ambiguity

The novel is steeped in paradoxes and ambiguities. The monster is both terrifying and comforting; the stories it tells are both true and false. These contradictions reflect the postmodern suspicion of binary oppositions and emphasize the complexity and multifaceted nature of reality.

10. Exploration of Existential Themes

The novel explores existential themes such as the nature of truth, the inevitability of death, and the search for meaning in the face of suffering. These themes are handled in a way that refuses simple answers or moral clarity, characteristic of postmodern literature’s focus on complexity and ambiguity.

In sum, “A Monster Calls” utilizes a range of postmodern techniques and themes to craft a narrative that is as much about the nature of storytelling and perception as it is about the protagonist’s journey through grief. These aspects make the novel a rich text for examining the interplay between form, content, and the act of reading itself.