63 pages • 2 hours read
French Braid
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Literary Devices
Alternating Protagonists in Omniscient Narration
Chief among the literary devices Tyler employs in French Braid is the use of alternating protagonists. Each of the eight chapters, though necessarily told through the words of an omniscient narrator, relates the incidents that occur during a specific time period, always in a different decade. Each of the recurring characters ages appropriately, and Tyler captures the ambiance of the changing culture as she moves the Garretts through 60 years. The use of different protagonists allows the author to reveal to readers how the family appears through the eyes of each individual protagonist. While the family is rife with disharmony and disapproval, the differing worldviews make clear Tyler’s view that none of the characters has the single correct perception.
While Tyler tells the story from the viewpoint of different protagonists, often the real main character of a chapter is not the protagonist but another family member upon whom the protagonist focuses. For example, when Tyler writes of the family’s one vacation through the perspective of Alice, the real drama in the chapter centers on the romantic entanglement of Lily. While the author looks at the Easter luncheon of April 1982 through the eyes of Lily, the main character of the chapter is David and his surprising relationship with Greta. Though Robin is the protagonist of Chapter 5, and much is devoted to his triumphant, emotional surprise anniversary party, the heart of the chapter is Mercy and the question of how she will respond to Robin’s entreaty for her to move back home. The use of varying protagonists who focus on other members of the family gives the author the opportunity to grasp the hopes and fears of all the Garretts equally.
Sequential Short Story Chapters
Tyler is known equally as a novelist and an author of short fiction. Just so, French Braid could be classified either as a novel or as a collection of linked short stories, in that any of the eight chapters, with little adaption, could stand alone as a coherent short story. The main element that makes the chapters, each confined to a unique year, form a novel rather than a short-story collection is the presence of consistent themes in each chapter: A disaffected family, intent on drifting apart, comes together when needed. The disparate members, much as they attempt to escape their common heritage, repeat the practices and adopt the emotions of previous generations. The longing for shared interests that Robin felt toward David is then felt by David toward Benny. The novelization of the chapters also comes in the form of character development. Readers observe the playful David of 1959 morph into the angry college student of 1970, the lovestruck husband of 1982, and the lonely grandfather of 2020. Tyler’s presentation of the events, though years pass between the chapters, follows realistic, natural depictions of the characters as they change—and in some cases do not change.
Conversational Tone
Tyler also uses a subtle literary device to bind together the widely varying two dozen unique characters and the 60-year chronology of the narrative. As the omniscient narrator, she uses a casual, conversational tone—much like gossiping with a friend—to keep the reader up to speed on what has happened during the intervals between the chapters. This device creates an atmosphere much like sitting with Mercy in her studio during afternoon tea and listening to her explain the happenings and idiosyncrasies of her family members with complete candor and acceptance. An example of this comes at the beginning of Chapter 7, where the author explains what has occurred since Mercy’s death, which seems to have loosed the family to abandon the Baltimore area completely. Though the characters universally find fault with one another, the author refuses to elevate or condemn any of the players. Tyler allows readers to make their own judgments. She hints at her opinions of the family through the inclusion of subtle ironies. One instance of this comes at the end of Chapter 7, when Eddie recognizes that the Garretts, so known for being hypercritical of one another, have known and protected a truth he desperately wanted to keep secret. It is easy to focus on the disharmony of the family, Tyler implies, yet all have prospered and many have seen their dreams fulfilled.
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By Anne Tyler
