Student Question
What is the function of the letters between Naomi and Neil in The Power, and how do they contribute to the narrative or the metanarrative?
Quick answer:
The letters between Naomi and Neil in The Power lead readers to a deeper appreciation of the narrative, especially because of their after-the-fact perspective and the irony that fills them. They also provide a metanarrative that encourages readers to reflect on the process of writing and the interactions between authors and between author and reader.
The letters between Naomi and Neil in Naomi Alderman's novel The Power are important both for the story itself and as a metanarrative that overlies the main story.
The first exchange of letters lets readers know that Naomi and Neil are living in a society that exists after the events of the novel. Their milieu is one in which women dominate society, and Neil is attempting to recreate the events that led up to such a circumstance. He claims that his narrative is "not quite history, not quite a novel." Naomi writes back to say that she is enthralled by the tale but has trouble believing that the world was once ruled by men, although she thinks such a society would be better. Already, then, just in these letters, we readers get a peek at the ideas of people who live in the society that results from what we are...
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about to read. We should keep these ideas in mind, for they are much different from our own, and to us, they seem quite ironic (which is, of course, the whole point).
The letters between Naomi and Neil resume in the novel's last chapter. Naomi now comments on some of the specifics of Neil's book, encouraging us to think about our own reactions to the story. Again, she takes the perspective of someone who lives quite a while after the events take place, and her surprise at some parts of the story and her questions allow us to think more deeply about the characters and their actions. She is still shocked that men once dominated society, and she still believes that such a world would be "more kind, more gentle, more loving and naturally nurturing." Again, the letter practically drips with irony from our perspective, and we are encouraged to think deeply about our own society. Neil responds that men should indeed be at the top, because they "place less value on the capacity for violence." We are left smiling and shaking our heads.
These letters also construct a metanarrative, drawing our attention to the ideas of storytelling and novel writing. We get a glimpse of an author's work in these letters between two authors and see how they struggle, the advice and criticism they give to one another, the questions they ask, and the ideas they explore. Authors do this in real life, too, of course, but most people probably rarely think about the writing process that goes into their favorite books. These letters give us the opportunity to think about that and to reflect on the value of storytelling in our lives and our own interactions with our favorite authors.