When writing a book about a historical event, an author has two options, to either be a historian or to be a novelist. While the historian simply states facts about the event, the novelist has the liberty to tell the reader what occurred coincidently during the event. For instance, a historian would simply state that Cyrus the Great lived with his grandfather after the age of 12. The novelist would also tell the reader what Cyrus ate, drank, thought, and felt while he was there. When retelling a historical event as fiction, the author enables the readers to feel as though they are present through the perspective of the character in the novel. In Lewis Nordan’s novel Wolf Whistle, Nordan intends to go beyond his universally accepted view of historical fiction in his retelling of the Emmett Till murder. Nordan aims to give the reader a deeper understanding of why the young boy, Bobo, was killed in the first place. The novel aims to look at the result of the racism and violence that characterized the murder and how it might have affected those not directly involved in the actual crime. Simply retelling the story would not adequately allow the reader to fully grasp absurdity of racism present within the community. Nordan expands this story through the protagonist Alice, the incorporation of magic and other minor characters. …show more content…
Because of her disconnection with what the reader initially assumes the novel is about, the murder, her place in the novel is unclear. This lack of clarity causes the reader to question her character’s importance. By the end of the novel, Alice is clearly the protagonists as she leads the reader through the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. In a novel themed with racism and suffering, Alice becomes the novels beacon for hope and