Who's Narrating our Media?

In English Class, we are currently reading the book "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. This book tells the story of a missionary named Nathan Price and his family as they travel to the Congo. Most of the story is told in first person, but it is interesting to note that it is not told in first person by the same person throughout the novel. There are five main narrators in the novel: the wife, Orleana, and the four daughters--Rachel, Adah, Ruth May, and Leah. Each narrator offers a very different perspective and each narrator documents their experiences much differently.

The author can play with these different narrators and thus manipulate the story by telling it a certain way. For example, Rachel, the oldest of the four daughters, is a very materialistic girly teenage girl. As a result, when Rachel is telling the story, we get a very detailed outlook on aesthetics and appearances. Rachel notices small details about the types of clothing the Congolese people wear, the color of their skin, and their hair. Rachel's perception of things is very appearance-oriented and she seems to pick up things that other characters may not. On the other hand, there is Leah, who is extremely faithful to her religion and to her father. When Leah is narrating, she is much more focused on religion and uses more biblical references. She also talks a lot about her father and how she admires him. Adah, who is "the quiet one", offers a very objective and honest opinion. She does focus on religion but in a somewhat sarcastic way because she does not believe in it the same way Leah. Ruth May, the youngest of the daughters, also offers a very honest and bluntly racist outlook. Her telling of events reflects the racist idea of her parents that her society has instilled upon her overtime. When she is narrating, we get a very simple and overtly honest version of the story.

Each character has something very different to offer, and the author can play with these characters to tell the story she wants. She can choose to have Rachel tell the story of one specific experience and have Ruth May tell the story of another. However we must be aware of these narrators when reading the story and ask ourselves these questions: who is narrating? what part of the story are we not getting?

This picking and choosing of narrators seems to resonate deeply with the American media. In our media, we need to ask ourselves the same questions. The media tells the people what they want to hear and often times leaves out key details in facts. The government can manipulate what we are reading by choosing what to tell the people and what to leave out, just like Kingsolver does in choosing different narrators. When we are reading the media, we must understand that although what we are getting may not be wrong, it may not be and probably is not the full truth.