What kind of effect can the name of a place or character have on a reader?
My question is rather simple. In fact, it's in the title and requires almost no explanation.
We can see throughout literature the use of names and title. For example in Of Mice and Men we can observe that in the duration of the novel Curly's Wife is only referred to as Curly's Wife, clearly showing his ownership of her as well as a few other things. There are other examples (many that I can think of right now are from Of Mice and Men.
What can you achieve by naming your character in a way that implies a deeper meaning?
What are good ways to do this?
What will the readers response to this be? What kind of effect can it have on the reader if done well?
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I'm not sure that the phrase "Curley's wife" was intended to express possession. Be careful not to view things through a contemporary political lens. (Actually, two points here: don't let contemporary politics color your interpretation, and don't assume that literature was intended to be read in the intensely political way it is read today.) Rather, I think referring to "Curley's wife" was simply a way of distancing him from her and all that she represents: home and family. This is a story of migrant farm workers and as such it is a story of men separated from their families. Not naming Curly's wife expressed that separation. None of these men are ever going to meet Curly's wife. She belongs to a different world from which they are all alienated.
Names express relationships. The same person may be John, Mr Smith, dad, honey, grandpa, uncle John, Sir, Captian, son, or Mary's husband. Each one of those expresses a relationship. That is the principal effect of the names you choose in a story: to express the status and relationship of a charter relative to others. Some authors, Dickens and Rowling come to mind particularly, also used names to suggest character. Thus you know just from hearing their names that Mr. Gradgrind, or Uriah Heap are not going to be pleasant companions.
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Remember, names can also throw a reader out of the story if it is difficult to read or pronounce. You want the story to flow, and if you have a name that makes the reader slow down too much you may lose them. You can also end up with varying pronunciations by readers depending on the spelling. Which can cause arguments. Even so, name the characters, places what you like. But keep in mind that not everyone will share you opinion of a good name.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28710. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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