Judith Judith Belonging Analysis

This extract opens with an imperative “let the darkness enter”, this immerses the reader into the narrative, without giving a setting or narrative voice. Since the voice of the protagonist is absent from the opening it brings into question who the imperative is addressing, and could suggests a possible disassociation of Berg (the protagonist) from himself, or the narrative. The use of adjectives “embalmed” “mummified” before clarifying what the object of these adjectives is, creates a foreboding undertone, , and mystifies the narrative. This choice of adjectives also suggests sterility and the ancient; these words imply keeping something dead preserved, both detached and entirely connected with death. This could be an allusion to Berg and his father’s relationship; since they had been separated ever since he left Berg as a child. …show more content…
Her appearance is sudden; this is clear as her name interjects the sentence unnaturally. Perhaps, it is the “odour” of the hair tonic that triggered the hallucination. Certainly, themes of beauty and danger are often associated with Judith elsewhere in the narrative. Here, Judith is also presented as dangerous as she is called an “amazon” meaning a female warrior, it is the juxtaposition of womanhood and fighter that is similar to the beauty/danger problem, and could be seen as oxymoronic. So too, Judith is “framed in the doorway” the doorway as a liminal space that could symbolise the exterior and interior being breached for Berg and his paranoia that his is under attack. The use of an indirect question in free indirect discourse from Judith in “did he know where Mr Berg might be” is further evidence that this is hallucinated by Berg. Perhaps, it is through his paranoia that his father is missing that he imagines his own innocence to ease his mind. This can be clear from the repetition of “nothing to do with