Narrative Techniques in Full Moon
1. Narrative Techniques
1.1. Actions and History
Full Moon tells the story of a policeman with 14 years of experience in the Basque Country. Haunted by constant pain and a broken marriage, he relocates to a small city in the south with the mission of finding the murderer of a 9-year-old girl. There, he encounters a reincarnated teacher who brings joy back into his life.
1.2. Characters
- Rounded Characters: Dynamic characters with complex personalities. Examples include the inspector, Susan Gray, Fatima, and the murderer.
- Partners of the Protagonists: Padre Orduña, Ferrer, and Paula.
- Minor Characters: The woman who saw the murderer and the girl, the inspector’s wife, Susan Gray’s son, and the prostitute.
2. Narrative Structure
The novel is structured into 33 chapters and begins in medias res, introducing the inspector as he pursues the murderer of a young girl. The narrative then reconstructs the murder, delving into the past and present lives of the police, the murderer, and other characters. The plot focuses more on the victims than the murderer, who doesn’t appear until Chapter 12. The structure is open, leaving the reader to imagine the outcome. The inspector’s fate remains uncertain due to a terrorist attack, and it’s unclear whether he will continue his relationship with Susan or return to his wife.
3. The Narrator
The narrator delves into the minds of each character, revealing their fears, passions, and darkest secrets. We gain insight into the inspector’s thoughts and experiences. The story is predominantly told in the third person, with occasional shifts to the first person. The narrator is omniscient.
4. Perspectivism
The characters are presented through the perspectives of other characters, offering a multifaceted view of their personalities and motivations.
5. Time
The narrative follows a chronological order, with the action taking place over less than a year. The inspector arrives in the summer and concludes his investigation eight months after the child’s death, primarily focusing on October and November before the year 2000. However, the temporal linearity is frequently disrupted by flashbacks, blending the past and present of the characters.
6. Space
The story unfolds in an urban space, an unnamed Andalusian city. The author emphasizes the importance of experiences over the specific location, but clues suggest that the city is Úbeda, which also appears in other novels by the same author.
7. Narrative Forms
The narrative incorporates dialogue, descriptions, and narration, with a notable emphasis on interior monologues. The language is rich and lexically diverse, featuring long sentences interspersed with present events that intertwine with the past. The syntactic periods are extended, creating a fast-paced yet dense prose style. This style reflects the characters’ reflections on themselves. The vocabulary is precise and efficient, occasionally becoming rich and complex. Descriptions are precise and abundant in enumerations, highlighting the murderer’s district, the modern city he frequents, and the haunting description of his hands.
4. Time and Space-Time in the Narrative
The story unfolds in chronological order, spanning from the inspector’s arrival in the summer until June, eight months after Fatima’s death. However, the narrative is not strictly linear, with frequent temporal shifts. Flashbacks reveal the inspector’s past in Bilbao, his strained relationship with his wife, the importance of his work, his sleepless nights, and his affection for the teacher. The narrative also delves into the murderer’s past and Fatima’s life before her death. The past and present are interwoven throughout the story.
The narrative features varying temporal levels, with scenes where speech time equals story time and others where speech time is shorter than story time. These temporal mixtures are skillfully interwoven.
The story takes place in a small, unnamed town in southern Spain. Clues, such as the mention of two churches, a Renaissance jewel, olive groves, a mountain, cottages, a wall, and the proximity to Bailen (90 km), suggest that the town is Úbeda. The city itself plays a role in the narrative, its streets frequented by the inspector as he searches for the murderer. Specific locations in Úbeda, such as the San Lorenzo district, the murderer’s neighborhood, grocery stores, knick-knack shops, the bookstore where Fatima bought cardboard before her death, and the Cava gardens, are mentioned. The place where Fatima’s body was found is particularly significant. While exterior spaces are mentioned, interior spaces are more prominent.
5. Point of View
The narrative is primarily in the third person, with occasional shifts to the first person, particularly in Chapters 18 and 26. The narrator is omniscient, controlling the story from above and possessing knowledge of the characters’ thoughts and past experiences. The inspector’s past in Bilbao, his relationship with his wife, his dedication to work, his insomnia, and his feelings for the teacher are revealed. The narrator also provides insights into the murderer’s thoughts and actions, as well as Fatima’s personality, her love for books, and her encounter with the murderer. The third-person narration is dominant, but the narrator occasionally switches to the first person, particularly in sections featuring Full Moon.
Interior monologue is another technique used by the narrator to reproduce the characters’ thought processes, particularly the murderer’s. This technique is also used for Susan Gray in Chapter 16, the inspector, and Paula. The narrator also employs a multiple narrative approach, where different characters recount the same events from their perspectives. For example, Fatima is seen through the eyes of her father, her teacher, and the narrator. This perspectivism also applies to the murderer, who is perceived through the eyes of the narrator, Paula, and the prostitute. This multifaceted perspective provides a comprehensive understanding of the murderer’s character. In conclusion, the narrator is omniscient, occasionally allowing the characters to speak for themselves.