In reference to the context and concepts mentioned above, I’m aware this unit investigates how authors convey personal and cultural expressions in their literary content. ‘Connections’ will serve an important role, learning how narrative elements collectively convey a purpose or theme. Thus, these ideas are compressed into the statement of inquiry being focused on - “Authors link the elements of a novel to achieve a specific purpose.” I can apply this statement to the novel I’m studying, questioning what elements are present, why these choices could have been made or how changing the elemental selection could have affected the achievement of the author’s purpose.
My project aims to illustrate how characters are impacted by the choice of different narrative elements, allowing the audience to learn how these link to deliver the author’s purpose. In my group, we’ve decided to do so by pictorially portraying themes of subjectivity in my novel (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TIme) by assembling a collage with a series of photographs. Therefore, this goal involved identifying not only the prevalent elements and exploring how characters, specifically the protagonist, developed and drove action in the narrative but also translating intangible ideas into a visual format.
A combination of both unedited and edited photos were added. I took the initiative to help edit photos using applications I had access to on my phone and purchase the required materials (such as the poster board) with my own money. Every member contributed to taking or bringing photos which could have been from past travels and events yet held significance, approximately receiving three to five from each person. The finalised photos were sent to one of the teammates email to be printed on photo paper and brought to school when necessary. To ensure we all could effectively communicate with one another conveniently, a role was assigned to open a group chat, an outlet to update everyone’s progress, possible concerns and encouraging better decision making. Additionally, the final member contributed through providing a location to work on the college to meet the time constraints, visiting her house to further deliberate on arrangements of the product and supplying tools to adhere or trim photos.
For the background design of the college, we decided to use paper and watercolour as the mediums. As acrylic paint may not provide the a smooth texture and takes long to fully dry, paper was a suitable option because it would be easy to cut out the outline of the drawings adhered. Watercolour could quickly dry and provide a light gradient effect in the transition between colours, possibly visual incorporating the idea of ‘connections’.
A dual silhouette of a boy was made too, emphasising the importance of the protagonist’s (Christopher) autistic personality and unique views. The author utilizes first person narration as a method to question discrimination, experiencing Christopher’s world as a key part of understanding his perspective on societal judgements. , facing inner conflicts with himself and therefore being a literal representation of facing his ‘fears’, a white figure looking directly at a black figure. Black generally associates with darkness and the unknown, similarly, Christopher unknowingly changes for the better only with struggles. I suggested the limited use of colour or decoration (e.g ribbons, glitter) to prevent being distracted from the features and symbolism of the photographs, ensuring every decision was carefully made with reason.
Choosing the layout of the photos was another step taken as an attempt to complete our goal. A variation of ideas were first brainstormed, finding inspiration online and making adjustments to simplify highly complex pieces or suit it to our abilities. For example, colleges having many miniscule photos that formed a larger portrait depicted how narratives are ‘more than a sum of the parts’. However, I argued this would defeat the purpose of photoshopping photos as they can’t clearly be seen and it’s too difficult as it requires hundreds or more photos of very specific colours to create shadows or light. Therefore, alternatively we decided on pasting the photos in a random sequence, floating above the background at different heights. Instead of placing them neatly in a grid, they surround the silhouette background with some popping out more than others. Creating the illusion of images circling the figure, representing how the elements are identified based on his understandings.
Overall, this project has improved my understanding of this unit because of numerous reasons. The statement of inquiry was initially was difficult to follow and I experienced some confusion trying to grasp the idea of how elements such as conflict and setting linked to delivering themes in a narrative. Prior to this, I had some knowledge on the basics on how content is structured in a novel but never questioned how or why such choices were made by the author. Whilst looking for photos on my phone and laptop, I had to go beyond just looking for pleasing aesthetics and think about how it could represent an idea or characteristic of the protagonist. Along with this, participating in discussions with my group about how some elements overlap or impact the execution of each other made me more aware of the careful planning done in novels, organizing more than the plot itself. Once completing the finished product, I felt a sense of accomplishment in being able to transfer a similar skills in an arrangement for a purpose, specifically my stated goal. I was able to become more familiar with the character and almost built a personal relationship, ignoring fictitious aspects as a lot of time was dedicated towards tailoring the collection of photos. Furthermore, this was influenced by knowing his thought processes and state of mind in-depth. Switching between my own and the character’s thoughts proved the successful delivery of the author’s purpose, often making me feel sympathetic and re-evaluate judgements of those labeled by society. Ultimately, I was strongly convinced by the ideas highlighted in the statement of inquiry after going through the processes of this interesting project.