Merimee aims above all to control and gratify his reader. At all times he has in mind the effects of his composition' Discuss with reference to Mateo Falcone and Tamango

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Most authors have a clear idea of how they want the reader to respond the works of literature produced by them, and how this response may be elicited most effectively. Mérimée uses various literary devices, such as language, narrative technique and characterization in order to control and gratify his reader. Through these devices he holds the reader's absolute concentration and attention and thereby succeeds in controlling them. There will also be times where Mérimée, like all other authors, must have some elements in their works which will satisfy the reader.

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[...] At all times he has in mind the effects of his composition' Discuss with reference to Mateo Falcone and Tamango In all works of literature, the author knows how s/he wants the reader to respond and how this can be achieved most effectively. Mérimée uses various literary devices, such as language, narrative technique and characterisation, in order to control and gratify his reader. Through these devices he has the reader's absolute concentration and attention and therefore has succeeded in controlling them. [...]

[...] However, the gratifying element is that he has now had to experience what he has helped to put so many men, women and children through, he can now suffer as he made them. Mérimée does aim to control and gratify his readers, as the situations he writes about are not really anything to which one can easily relate. Therefore, he does need to steer the reader in the right direction with regards to the lifestyle and hardships endured by the characters in Mateo Falcone and Tamango and must control his readers. [...]

[...] These literary techniques control the reader because whether the pace is speeding up or slowing down, the reader is controlled as to how quickly s/he can read depending on the above mentioned things: how easy/hard the words are to pronounce, how many commas there are and the length of the words is also a key component. Therefore Mérimée uses language effectively to control his readers in order to achieve maximum effect. Mérimée perhaps gratifies the reader by the death of Fortunato and Tamango's fate. Fortunato was a traitor and was overcome by greed and this could be seen as justice. [...]

[...] Mérimée creates the effect as easily in words as visually and this is all controlling the reader's reactions and responses; just as Fortunato is mesmerised by the watch, so is the reader in trying to find out what is going to happen next. In Tamango, when Ledoux and Tamango are fighting, the pace is quickened: ;mais Tamango était aussi agile que les panthères de son pays. Il s'élança dans les bras de son adversaire, et lui saisit la main dont il tenait son sabre (94). Mérimée speeds up the pace because this is the key moment of the struggle and it heightens dramatic tension. [...]

[...] Mérimée, I do not feel, deliberately tries to gratify the reader as much as he tries to control them. I feel that this is because he is telling the reader about things that actually happened and that these two stories are not something that should please the reader to learn about. I feel that Mérimée is rather trying to expose the cruelty and frailty of mankind, rather than satisfy the reader with a “happy ending”, which he is very successful in doing. Bibliography Mérimée, P. “Mateo Falcone, Tamango et autres nouvelles”, GF Flammarion, 1993. [...]