Believability

For a story to be accepted in our current society an author must write to evoke believability in the novel. If one does not feel that the characters and story are realistic and believable, the reader will find it exceedingly difficult to even consider the work to be serious or have any meaning whatsoever. Believability is the key to make a story accepted by its audience. By means of flawlessly applied stylistic devices, creating remarkably detailed settings and developing life like, three dimensional characters one can achieve the vital quality of believability and then eventual success of ones story.

The novel Flying Colours by C.S Forester was a very popular story in the 1950’s however much has changed in the past sixty years. In the fifties the public needed a strong heroic “perfect” figure to rally around. Today one will find it hard to take a “hero” who is “perfect” seriously therefore the public demands a character who is flawed and more human. The flawed character, possibly an anti-hero, is what we desire so that we can believe the story.

A piece of literature would be incredibly boring without the proper usage of stylistic devices and one would likely find themselves disregarding the book entirely. Imagery, a common stylistic device, is applied liberally to many stories and sometimes ineffectively so, but if utilized accordingly the story can seem very real and life like by painting a vivid image in your mind. “With a face which might have been rough-hewn from a solid block of wood” (Forester 74) This is a stellar quote that provides the reader with an exemplary image of a rugged mans face that has been severely weathered. One immediately gains an image that is certainly believable. “Moved about his tasks in a misty unreality which matched the misty darkness of the sea” (Forester 124) The reader can see that Forester has administered believability by composing imagery that makes you feel as if you can see and feel what he is saying. If this is achieved then the audience immediately believes in the story because one can feel as if they are there, living and acting with the story. If one feels a part of the story through the sterling effect of notably used words to create a real image in your mind, one can’t ignore such vivid realistic illustrations that make it believable. Although Forester has added these excellent devices into his story he doesn’t use them often enough to induce the images of reality. As a result the story bounces back and forth from seeming quite realistic to not so realistic attributes. Therefore Flying Colours doesn’t obtain the attention it could get if it had more believability convincing stylistic devices like imagery.

The setting may seem like a crude and trivial aspect of a novel but it is quite the contrary. The setting of course describes place and time but it does much more than that as well. It develops the story, the characters and of course comes back to the all important aspect of believability. The setting, like the stylistic device of imagery, creates images that portray believability making any story credible.

Overhead shone the bright autumn sun of the Mediterranean, hanging in

a blue Mediterranean sky shining on the Mediterranean blue of Rosas

Bay – the blue water fringed with white where the little waves broke

against the shore of golden sand and grey-green cliff (Forester 9)

This setting is not the most well designed and one can see that this is not one of the settings that develop character and set up the story. The setting is trivial and fairly blank and as a result it does not provide the story with the important believability attribute. The improbable repetition of the word Mediterranean backfires and administers a negative effect on the story. This doesn’t directly affect the believability of the story but since it is quite annoying it makes the reader not even want to attempt to analyze or determine its realistic importance. An excerpt from Charles Dickens classic novel Great Expectations demonstrates what is considered a great setting.

I entered, therefore, and found myself in a pretty large room, well

lighted with wax candles.   No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it.

 It was a dressing-room, as I supposed from the furniture, though much of

it was of forms and uses then quite unknown to me.   But prominent in it

was a draped table with a gilded looking-glass, and that I made out at first

sight to be a fine lady’s dressing-table. (Dickens Ch.

This is a great example to be compared to Foresters quote because of its much superior quality. This quote paints an incredibly picture that not only deals with setting but deals with the development of character which is the true mark of a great setting. The believability is what it all comes back to and of course this quote is exceptional in its portraying of images and its incomparable ability to render believability.

Finally the most influential device to create believability is the development of characters. It is the pinnacle to the success and believability of any novel. If characters were not life like and three dimensional then the audience would not take the piece of literature seriously or respect it as a novel. Today’s society only accepts literature if the characters are life like and real. When a character is three dimensional the reader can relate to the experiences of the character and what that character is feeling. When one achieves this miraculous marriage of reader and character then the story is taken to a whole new level and becomes incredibly believable and tangible. Flying Colours does apply certain amounts of character development.

There was a strange duality in his mind; the Hornblower for

whom he could plan so coolly, and whose chances of life he could

estimate so closely, was a puppet of the imagination compared with

the living, flesh-and-blood Hornblower whose face he had shaved that

morning (Forester 77)

This development of character is very appreciable in its ability to delve into the mind of the character Hornblower and believe what he is going through. One may be able to directly relate to these thoughts by having experienced the feelings that Hornblower is going though. This bestows the ability to believe in the story and grant the story with credibility. “It was a novel experience for him to prepare for bed in sight of Bush and Brown, and he was ridiculously self-conscious about it” (Forester 33) One can immediately relate to the feeling of self-consciousness because one can imagine most readers have experienced at least one embarrassing moment in there life that has produced an incredible feeling of self-consciousness. This relationship is definitely the most essential characteristic to obtain the believability of a novel because it bonds the reader directly to the novel so one can account personal experiences with the story.

Any great writer can take a seemingly unbelievable story idea and add texture and feeling to obtain the believability that our society requires. It is amazing how our communities once needed the “hero” that is maintained in Flying Colours and now requires stories that are believable and realistic. Stylistic Devices, setting and development of characters are three crucial qualities that make a story believable and believability is the key.