After reading through chapter 1- “The Bride”- and the entire introduction, I think I can begin to conclude a few things about this text. Upon first look at the novel, I assumed that it would be very similar to the film adaptation which I have seen several times. So far, this has held true. The events of the story have been pretty much the same, however a few things have been left out of the film that I feel help in the development of the story. The countess is not in the movie, but she is very important to the text. She helps Buttercup to realize her love for Westley. The number of characters in the novel is almost overwhelming, so much so that it makes sense why they couldn’t include all of them. The first who we are introduced to is Buttercup, the main character. Based on the fact that she is the main character, I can only assume that the majority of events in the story will surround her. We also meet her parents. They are in charge of a farm which provides milk to their town. My prediction is that they will not be very important to the story. So far, they have not really developed in their characters and don’t seem to be of much importance to Buttercup herself. In this first chapter, we also meet the Count and Countess. The narrator spends a fair amount of time describing them, so they must be significant to the story, at least more so than Buttercup’s parents. My prediction is that they will come up later in the story, but will not be present throughout. Although we don’t meet him, the author alludes to Prince Humperdink. Although we don’t know much about him, it can be assumed that he will be important later in the story because he is mentioned seemingly unnecessarily in the first chapter. Finally, we meet Westley the farm boy, the love of Buttercup’s life. He is particularly important to the first chapter, but dies during it. It must be his absence that is significant to the story and to Buttercup. Based on the fact that there is a Count and a Countess of some significance to the story, the reader begins to assume that this takes place during a medieval time, probably in a kingdom. Specifically, the author mentions that Buttercup and her family live on a property with a barn and horses. Goldman doesn’t describe the physical setting much further. The author uses mildly sarcastic phrases to suggest a relative time period such as “they had acres then” or “this was before Europe.”
Figurative language is not used frequently in this text. It is most used in describing the love between Buttercup and Westley. Buttercup describes Westley’s eyes to be “like a storm” and Westley compares her love for him to his love for her by saying “If your love were a grain of sand mine would be a universe of beaches.” Buttercup and Westley’s relationship is the most important part of the first chapter, and so it makes sense that the author would use figurative language to describe it in great detail. Figurative language is almost exclusively used to describe characters, not setting. This makes the author’s writing style different from many others of this time. The lack of vivid setting makes the author’s tone more objective. However, the author’s tone changes to be almost condescending when he talks about those who are very fixated on one specific thing. His word choice makes it seem as though those who act in vain are not good people. This might create a somewhat lighthearted mood for the reader, who might feel that the narrator is being a bit sassy. This opinionated third-person point of view is important because it keeps the tale lighthearted and fun to read
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Based on the summary on the back cover, I expect this book to be the thrilling tale of a princess’ adventures. I expect the novel to be somewhat like the film, however I know that it will differ in some aspects. Upon first glance, it seems that the publishers wanted this book to appear as a classic medieval tale. They created this appearance using font and cover art.
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