Narrative Conventions

Short stories often develop a theme in a short time frame. Their authors must do this with limited settings and characters. The short story Killer, written by Paula Goslings, contains many themes with the main one being deception. One of the ways the author expresses this is through the narrative convention of style or mood. In this piece the convention of plot is also utilised by the author to develop this idea. Characterisation is another narrative convention successfully utilised to explore this theme. By themselves these elements are nothing, but when together, they effectively portray the theme of deception in the fantastic short story Killer.

The narrative convention of style or mood is a major component which represents the theme of deception. This refers to the way the text is written, which is one of the main features that informs the reader as to what kind of person the main character is. If written in third person, style or mood gives the reader a sense of what the narrator is like. Often, this convention influences the story, for example; if the mood is dark, the plot cannot have the main character riding on a unicorn, it would not make sense. The style or mood of Killer is very dark and gruesome. This is because the main character is a cat that murders rats and eventually kills a neighbour’s budgie. An example from the text which tells the reader about the style or mood is, “she twisted and turned and struggled but he got her, he finished her.” Another sentence which expresses this is, “he kept himself to himself and so did his women”. Without this crucial element, the story wouldn’t be the same as this is the foundation to the text.

The most crucial element which expresses the theme of deception in the text is the narrative convention of plot. This is the most important component of the story, as it is exactly that, the story. Everything that happens is part of the plot, from the introduction to the climax to the resolution. Basically