As we learned last year in AP Lang (juniors, your time will come), the normal frame narrative structure is not always the best structure for a novel to be as effective, easy to understand, and griping to a reader as possible Neil Postman once told us. Bronte is no exception in Wuthering Heights, as the structure is very experimental yet easy to follow. Often overlooked is the work it takes to make a highly successful and comprehensible experimental fiction novel, just ask any AP Lang student who was there for Josh Kuiper's "House of Leaves" PowerPoint last year. But Bronte through the diary entry-esque layout and use of flashbacks and double narratives, similar to in Tale of Two Cities, makes it look easy and more importantly the structure is what makes this book so noteworthy. The chronological structure beginning with the primary narrator Nelly's birth in 1758 and ending in the early 1800s is extremely unique as it is not until Nelly's stories catch up with the present that the reader realizes that they themselves are reading an experience that is still essentially playing itself out.
Although the structure is both unique and highly effective, there are some drawbacks to the point of view Bronte establishes. One main cause for ruckus is that Nelly herself is not a character heavily involved in the situation. She is simply one retelling her version and possibly what she has just heard from others. In addition, since Nelly herself wasn't present in many of these scenarios the actual feel for the setting could very well just be made up. Or, Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship being compared to Earth's natural elements may not be accurate at all. However, the language and diction used, especially in which the way Bronte personifies nature, are what to me take this novel to the next level.
Despite potential point of view drawbacks, the experimental structure and diction of Bronte's Wuthering Heights is extremely remarkable and was easily one of my favorite books from either of our two AP English classes.
