Nicole

Specialist Study -‘The Comfort of Strangers’
By Nicole Grantham

On holiday Colin and Maria meet a strange man who has an unusual story to tell. The significance of the novel is not immediately obvious however the significance of the title ‘The comfort of strangers’ becomes clear as their holiday unfolds into a fantasy of aggressiveness as they are drawn into the trap. This study will examine how Ian McEwan uses narrative structure and the significance of the title.

‘The Comfort of Strangers’ was written by the author Ian McEwan which centres around the criminal mind of a stranger. The significance of the title and the narrative structure plays an important part which will be studied in more detail throughout the essay.

The choice of the title is not immediately obvious at the beginning of the novel so makes the reader question themselves as to what happens? And who is the stranger? By providing this odd title this questions the readers mind from the start making an interesting development of the plot. By having the words ‘comfort’ and ‘stranger’ in the same phrase, this indicates an extraordinary and unfamiliar setting as people are usually not at ease with strangers who they have never met before.

The title is highly personally to the protagonist as the protagonist is a stranger however he is also a stranger to the other characters. The protagonist is a stranger and murders and drugs the other characters. ‘‘He whispered he was going to kill me, but he’d said that many times before.’’ The title begins to gain a deeper meaning of the characters, setting and plot. This makes the title become more significant as Colin and Maria start to become suspicious of Robert and his wife ‘‘At breakfast Maria had repeated her story about the photograph, she did so without speculation, simply the facts in order they had presented themselves to her’’ this shows that Colin and Maria are not starting to speculate if Robert has been taking pictures of them.

The first impression of the title is that it is about people who are unfamiliar to each other but seem at ease as the title says ‘The Comfort of Strangers’ which suggests this idea of calmness however we later learn that there is a lot of violence ‘‘I blocked out with the pain. My back was broken and I was in hospital for months.’’ so the title suggesting something different from the actual story. This gives further support of the choice of the title and how significant it is to the overall impact of the novel.

The specificity in the title and the main focus of the novel allows progress of the characters and meaning of the title. The reader becomes aware of the relevance of the title as events are revealed in bits which keep the reader hooked. Dramatic effect is created by the title however the meaning is introduced more suddenly than the reinforcement for the initial beginning of the title presented at the end of the novel.

Characters lives in the novel give an initial meaning by the title as Robert tells the characters about his early life were he was brought to fear his father, ‘‘I believed he knew everything like god’’ suggesting that Robert murders Colin due to his childhood experience. The relationship between the title and the story becomes clear upon examination of the novel.

The text is told by the author using the third person and is written in a chronological structure. The word ‘stranger’ used in the title is symbolic to Robert as he meets Colin and Maria unplanned and persuades them to visit his flat even though they are complete strangers to each other. The novel is apparently set in Venice but is not named throughout the whole novel. This is symbolic as the landscape is full of tourists such as Colin and Maria; it is fee from traffic suggesting no signs of modern living and instead an older world. Roberts stories about his early life of fear and violence ‘‘My sisters! They hated me’’ help to convey the narrative as he is basically doing the same as his father and following in his footsteps. The only description of any of the characters in great detail is Colin. This suggests that he will be the main victim later on in the book. This results in Colin being murdered and Maria drugged.

The end of the book becomes significant to the title because as the narrative builds up it relates to the irony of the title as it is not calm and at ease when you first meet a new person who you do not know. The novel ends with Maria wondering why all of this has happened and leaves the reader slightly confused however overall the title adds to the impact of narrative structure and becomes clear to the reader why this is the title.