Jane Eyre and Untouchable Comparative Essay Anonymous 12th Grade

Narrative techniques are a powerful tool that authors use to impart their themes and messages on their audience. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is the story of Jane Eyre, a girl growing up in 19th century England, and her battle to find a balance between passion and reason. Untouchable, by Mulk Raj Anand, is the story of a day in the life of Bakha, a lower caste teenager in the British Raj who is just beginning to realize the inescapability of his social position. Both Brontë and Anand use narrative techniques to reveal progression in their stories and characters, but for very different reasons. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë uses narrative techniques to reveal Jane’s progression towards a balance between passion and reason and a resolute identity and independence. In Untouchable, Anand uses narrative techniques to reveal the helplessness and inescapability of Bakha’s position, thus showing the importance for others to advocate for those who cannot stand up for themselves. While their purposes differ, and thus some of their use of narrative techniques, there are also similarities in their techniques that reveal the skill of both authors in revealing purpose through narrative technique.

Initially, in Jane Eyre, Brontë uses...