When asked about the importance and role of the footnotes in his book, author Junot Diaz said that he first wanted to create a double narrative, meaning two stories carried on simultaneously. The main text is considered the higher narrative, and the footnotes are considered the lower narrative; the footnotes challenge and inform the main text. They also provide a bit of historical and cultural background to help the reader understand the legacy of pain and suffering that was left to the Dominican people as a result of the dictatorship. The footnotes provide a platform for the character of the "jester," a humorous voice created by Diaz which contests the statements made by the king. Diaz claims that his purpose for doing this was to use a literary device to prove his assertions about the dangers of not only dictatorships, but of presenting a single voice, a single viewpoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment