The novel ‘Brat Farrar’ was written by Josephine Tey. The story was about an English country-squared family called the Ashbys. The family contains an old spinster Aunt Bee, Simon, Eleanor, Jane and Ruth. The four children were left by her brother Bill who was dead. Since Bill and his wife died, the Ashby's have suffered from poverty. Aunt Bee then used the family stable to produce profits, which kept the estate going. Simon had an older brother called Patrick, he disappeared after the death of Bill. When Simon reached 21, he could inherit Latchetts and a large trust fund left by his mother. Brat Farrar came from America to England, he once worked at ranches and stables in America, but he injured his leg. In London, a stranger greeted Brat as Simon, his identity was Alec, an actor. He asked Brat to impersonate Patick and claim the legacy, and Brat needs to give him a share of money. Brat agreed, he followed the plan of Alec, and led the truth that Simon was who murdered Patrick. Simon died in the last fight, and Brat went into the hospital.
This novel lets the reader know all the truth and background throughout the whole story, which was a useful writing skill called letting the audience play the role of god. In this novel, the author not only explained the background of the Ashbys and the characters, but also wrote the crime motive of Patrick’s case and the truth of Patrick’s death. That information can all be found in the novel by the readers, which means that the only people who know all the things were the readers, so it was called ‘the role of god’. Different from other stories who gradually show the readers the truth when they know nothing, ‘Brat Farrar’ gradually shows how the truth was revealed in the condition that the readers already know all the things. By letting the readers play the role of god, the author could make the story look more interesting and intrigues the readers, the readers will then be eager to see how the story works and how the truth gradually appears.
Brat Farrar was a novel with a lot of practical writing skills, and the use of revealing the character’s personality made a connection between characters and the readers. In ‘Brat Farrar’, we can find that the personality of the main characters had been shown obviously. For example, Simon Pat was clever, but also cold blooded, he was the one who killed his own brother. He didn’t accept his destiny of being a younger brother and received nothing, but his way of changing his destiny was cruel and irrational. For Brat Farrar, he was hard working, but he was faked by destiny and had a miserable life. He felt guilty, because he didn’t want to hurt the family who were loving him all the time, and this was his conscience of being a person. Patrick Pat, the poor brother of Simon, was strong and optimistic, the other characters missed him very much and the readers didn’t want him to die because of his good appearance and personality. Their personality can be found through the events in the story and the appraises from other characters. The use of this was to connect the readers with characters, letting the readers to feel about the characters, which would make the story seem intriguing.
The inspiration of the fake stories came from reality. The prototype of this novel ‘Brat Farrar’ was a well known case called the Tichborne case. A man named Roger Tichborne was the heir to the family's title and fortunes; he died in a shipwreck in 1854 at age 25. Roger’s mother believed that her son was still alive; she advertised extensively in Australian newspapers, offering a reward for information. In 1866, a butcher known as Thomas Castro claimed that he was Roger. Lady Tichborne accepted him as her son, but the other family members tried to prove that he was an imposter. During protracted enquiries, they found Thomas Castro was Arthur Orton, a butcher’s son in London. In 1874, Arthur was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The story of Brat Farrar was similar to the real case. Patrick was dead, and Brat was the one who pretended to be Patrick and take the properties. All of the real events formed a great example to the fiction stories, because only real events can provide the authors a series of brilliant details and themes that the author might want to present.
In conclusion, ‘Brat Farrar’ lets the reader know all the truth and background throughout the whole story, which was a useful writing skill called letting the audience play the role of god. By letting the readers play the role of god, the author could make the story look more interesting and intrigues the readers, the readers will then be eager to see how the story works and how the truth gradually appears. The use of revealing the character’s personality made a connection between characters and the readers. Their personality can be found through the events in the story and the appraises from other characters. The use of this was to connect the readers with characters, letting the readers to feel about the characters, which would make the story seem intriguing. The inspiration of the fake stories came from reality. The prototype of this novel ‘Brat Farrar’ was a well known case called the Tichborne case. All of the real events formed a great example to the fiction stories, because only real events can provide the authors a series of brilliant details and themes that the author might want to present.
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