Harold Crick Stranger Than Fiction Sparknotes

In the film Stranger than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster, IRS agent Harold Crick attempts to save his life from his narrator Karen Eiffel after discovering that he is the ill-fated protagonist of her upcoming novel. In this film, Harold’s nature is revealed by his response to various events including initially hearing a voice in his head and later finding out that he is going to die.

The first reveal about the character of Harold Crick is made when he hears a mysterious, all-knowing voice in his head. Close up and mid shots show Harold confused, pausing and looking around for the source of the voice. As this continues throughout the day, he becomes more and more distressed as he cannot determine why he is hearing his innermost thoughts
Karen’s narration imparts that Harold has been living the same life, completing his precisely timed routine “every weekday for 12 years”. This suggests to the audience that Harold would be uncomfortable with change, as his routine is all he knows. The constant beeping sounds in the opening sequence show Harold relying a lot on his wristwatch and getting comfort from knowing that he is doing exactly what he needs to be doing at any given point. When he is torn from his obsessively routined, monotonous lifestyle and dropped in a new environment, one where he is at the mercy of his narrator, Harold becomes stressed and anxious. To the audience, this presents Harold as particular and organised in every aspect of his life. It suggests that he does not like unpredictability, preferring to know what is going to happen and when but mostly it shows that he is just a normal guy. It reveals that he is questioning of himself and his own mind when under pressure, as he is unsure as to how he should proceed when faced with a new situation. He has become so accustomed to his life that he has lost the ability to react quickly to challenges outside