Narrative Criticism of McPhee :: Monopoly New Jersey Essays

Narrative Criticism of McPhee Do non pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Weve alone heard these phrasesfromthe board game Monopoly. Monopoly, however, isnt merely a game.It wasbased on an actual city. The Search for Marvin Gardens tells of Monopolys relation to Atlantic City, NJ. In this hi news report criticism I will examine several main characteristics of the piece. In doing so, I will try to answer the question, How has Atlantic City changed overdue to a greedy, capitalistic attitude? I believe that this question makes a good connection to thepieces description of the changes in the features of the city. The Search forMarvin Gardens is a section of the book Pieces of the Frame byJohn McPhee. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux published the piece in 1975. Thecomposition itself is cardinal pages long. It tells of Monopolys connectionsto a realworld location, Atlantic City, NJ. In order to write a narrative criticism of McPhees The Search for Marvin Gardens,I firstrea d and gave a comprehensive exam of the narrative. To dothis,I looked at several characteristics of the piece. I decided that thesetting,the characters, and the theme were the most principal(prenominal) characteristicstothis piece. Other characteristics such as the narrator, events, temporalrelations, casual relations, and audience argon not quite as important inmycriticism of this piece. To look at the important characteristics, youmustask yourself questions nearly the piece. How does the setting changethroughoutthe piece? How does the setting relate to the plot and characters?How isthe setting created? Who ar the main characters? What are the somatogenicandmental traits of the characters? What is the major theme of the narrative?There are several other questions you may ask, but they do not mount asrelevantto this piece. The aforementioned questions are significant becausethey helpanswer the research question. A participant in a game of Monopoly narrates the piece. He not only pictures the game board. He sees the corresponding locations in Atlantic City. The plot line ofthe story follows the narrator in search of Marvin Gardens. Along the trackhe sees the difference between the way things were, and the way they usedto be. In The Search for Marvin Gardens, there are basically four physical settings the Monopoly tournament, Marvin Gardens, Atlantic City of the past, and Atlantic Cityin the 1970s. McPhee alternates between the settings with great regularity,and the tempo of the story is constantly changing.