Never Elements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Never Elements - Essay Example Besides, this literary work can be considered as a temporary escape from the real world to an imaginary world under the earth. Thesis statement: In the literary work Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman makes use of strange and invisible characters and a fantastic location below the earth to prove the futility of materialistic life, and the scope of a different life. Most striking elements in the novel: This section is divided into three: Strange characters, Fantastic location, and Invisible characters. Strange characters The characters in the novel, like Door, Croup, Marquis, Hunter, etc., appear to be strange because they symbolize life in a magical context. One can easily identify the fact that the novelist portrays the protagonist (say, Richard Mayhew) as the representative of the mortal world. On the other side, Door represents the link between the mortal world and the imaginary world. In Neil Gaiman’s fiction, the narrator made clear that, â€Å"He looked to see where she had come f rom, but the wall was blank and brick and unbroken† (25). She appears to the protagonist as a mystery because she does not try to reveal her real identity. Besides, the strange characters never try to communicate with the human beings who are living in the mortal world. Once, Door seeks help from the protagonist and this incident breaks the secrecy of the underground world. The strange characters in the novel are not interested to lead normal lives because they are aware of the fact that the possibility of their survival is related to the secrecy of the underground world. To be specific, the underground dwellers are symbolic of the devil and his followers, who are forced to flee from the heaven. Within this context, some of the strange characters like Islington, and Lamia represent sin. On the other side, the characters like Door, Marquis and Hunter represent virtue. Still, this basic difference adds strangeness to the characters that are forced to live beneath the earth to co mplete their mission. Fantastic location The novelist makes use of the location to help the reader to find out the differences between the mortal world and the virtual real world. To be specific, the map of the London Subway, printed on Richard’s umbrella is symbolic of the virtual real world. The narrator made clear that, â€Å"Then a click, and it blossomed into a huge white map of the London Underground network, each line drawn in a different color, every station marked and named† (3-4). One can see that the novelist exploits the scope of commonplaces as locations. The dwellers of London Below, known as Rat-Speakers, never try to reveal their identity in the real world. Besides, they are not aware of the life beyond their area. The market place at the Floating Market is symbolic of an underdeveloped society, where barter system still prevails as an economic system. The people who live in the underworld depend upon this economic system. Still, the dwellers of the und erworld make use of urban transportation mode to travel. In the novel, the underground railway network leads to the Earl's Court. So, one can see that the abandoned transportation method under the earth’s surface is used by the dwellers of the underworld. In the novel, the character named as Hunter hesitates to enter the real world and decides to stay at an underground station, which is under a museum known as British Museum. So, the novelist makes use of the fantastic location (say, the world beneath the city of