Monday, July 25, 2016

The Educational Novel: The Intended



The Intended can be described as a retrospective piece of work. One in which the narrator takes a look back at his life with both candor and embarrassment.  It is a novel of imbrications in which the past overlaps with the past, the present, and also with what is supposed to be future, but which now within the temporally unallocated fictional present, becomes also the past. The narrator recalls his past with shame but intends to change the darkness that characterizes his past with the new found light; education.

 
The novel can be described as education. First, the narrator is abandoned ending up in a state-run home. This situation is discouraging but he does not allow it to ruin his future ambitions. He decides to use education as a means of breaking free from his coon condition. Education is also presented as an opportunity in changing status quo and bringing success. In the case of the narrator, it is a way of winning some measure of acceptance by the white British society.
As a result, the boy studies hard in school. He even wins a scholarship to the University of Oxford. In this context, the boy’s life is used to present the role and significance of education. Education is presented as a tool in transforming people’s lives from being desperate to a hero. It is a tool for people to realize themselves.
Narrator’s Childhood in Guyana
The narrator’s childhood in Guyana is described as a shameful. He grew up partly in Guyana where his parents divorced while he was still young and the father was living and living in London. As a result, he had to live with the mother and his maternal grandparents. To him, this kind of life is a shameful one.
The narrator journey back to his own is represented by the present fulfilment and the promise of future realization. He realizes a good measure of his plans and potentialities. Nevertheless, beyond certain realized intentions lie others may be to be realized in his lifelong quest for achievement.
Similar link: Flowers for algernon