Student Question
Is the title of the novel relevant to its plot?
Quick answer:
The title of a novel is typically more relevant to its themes, characters, and motifs rather than explicitly to its plot and action. For instance, titles like The Great Gatsby or "Mrs. Dalloway" highlight central characters, while others like White Noise and For Whom the Bell Tolls relate to broader themes. Some titles, such as To the Lighthouse or Catcher in the Rye, refer to symbols within the text, enhancing their thematic depth.
The title of a novel is most often poetically related to the content of the book.
This means that in most cases the title is not explicitly relevant to the plot and action of a novel. The more likely situation is for the title to relate to themes, characters, and motifs from the novel.
A few examples:
- The Great Gatsby, as a title refers to the central figure of the story, but not to the story itself. Other titles like this: Mrs. Dallloway; Othello; Don Quixote; Moby Dick.
- A short list of books with titles releting to themes could include White-Noise, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Disgrace.
- To the Ligthhouse and Catcher in the Rye are two books whose titles refer to a symbol within the text.
There are novels with titles that refer to events, locations, and other technical plot elements appearing in the book, yet these can often be construed as lending a symbolic meaning to those events and locations. Catch-22, Humbolt's Gift, and The Running Man are a few like this.
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