Mark Stutzman, 2008
The flexibility that historical fiction offers in contrast to historical non-fiction allows the authors to use more versatile and adaptive tools for creating their plots. The resulting stories become more inclusive versions of history. This phenomenon/property is evident in Philip Pullman’s “The Ruby in the Smoke”.
For instance, it is often the case that characters in historical-fiction novels represent a common pattern: there’s a bad character/villain and a good character. It is easy for every reader to differentiate one from the other and thus build better understanding of the story. Amongst some of the ‘good characters’ in “The Ruby In The Smoke” are Sally, Rosa, Frederick and Jim, while Mrs. Holland and Mr. Berry can be described as villains. None of them are factual characters. They are all products of Pullman’s imagination. He was able to mould them exactly how he wanted. They represent remotely different values and attitudes. This opportunity to create fictional characters gave Pullman a chance to decide for whom the readers would evoke sympathy and, in relation to whom, hatred. Certain characters such as Sally, Jim and Adelaide are close to our hearts while Mrs Holland is universally hated by all. A historian could never adjust his characters because that would be unambiguous to misguiding readers or shifting onto historical-fiction.
At times while reading historical-fiction we might feel submerged into the action as if we were there, on scene with the book’s characters. The descriptions are so detailed that we can smell the poisonous stench and feel the damp of East End’s lodgings. Writers of historical-fiction can let their imagination drift and paint specific, vivid images of places. This makes the story more approachable and easier to relate to. A historical non-fiction writer doesn’t always have the specific account of what the location where an event took place looked like and can’t just make it up. This makes the story more distant and less inclusive.
One other aspect that historians have trouble with are the characters’ emotions. No historian can go back in time and ask how one felt in a particular moment. Most such information has to be backed up by written accounts of those people, for example: diaries. Historical fiction writers, on the other hand, can attribute any emotion they want to any character at any given time. This can be seen throughout the entirety of “The Ruby in the Smoke”. We know how Matthew Bedwell felt during his opium visions, how scared Sally was when Mrs Holland chased her and how excited Nicholas Bedwell was when he heard his brother was alive. The character’s emotions, even if they are fictional, give us a better feel of the situation. Their unique traits and behaviour start to unfold. We get a more all-around view on what these characters are like.
But in the end, what we remember from the novels are the conclusions and morals. In many cases all the storylines, plots and motives align perfectly to form a clear, strong ending. In “The Ruby in the Smoke” all the mysteries and intrigues end almost at the same time. Sally meets Mrs. Holland on the bridge, she learns the truth about what happened in Agrapur and throws the ruby into the river, Mrs. Holland dives in and dies. Then just minutes after, she meets the mysterious Ah Ling, learns some more about her father’s past and then ends Ah Ling’s life. A week later she finds out that her father hid something away for her. She goes on to find what was her father’s last letter to her and money that he had left her. In reality this effect of climax doesn’t always occur. Some plots may be discontinued, others not. That’s were another advantage of historical fiction emerges: its elements like the plots and motives can be adjusted to suggest a clear moral. It makes the story more comprehensive and structured.
To sum up, historical fiction does create different, more inclusive versions of history. This phenomenon can be observed in the outcome of Philip Pullman’s stylistic treatments performed on his fictional characters, events descriptions, the conveyed feelings and the resulting moral of “The Ruby in the Smoke”.
Bruno Bugla
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