Ethos, Morality, and Narrative Structure: Theory and Response

Theorists such as Wayne Booth suggest that ethos (of narrating voice or implied author), complexity of narrative structure, and moral response will be fairly closely linked. Readers will tend to prefer the "better company" offered by a writer who pays more attention to craft and will benefit, ethically, from "traveling with" that writer. Theorists of moral development suggest that individuals progress from a more simplistic, dualistic level to a level at which they can value and respond to complex situations; thus a link between narrative complexity and moral complexity seems plausible. However, analyzing a sample of reviews posted by readers on Amazon.com of The Archivist (by Martha Cooley) and The Reader (by Bernard Schlink), one sees that no simple connection exists: readers may tend to value a narrative with a complex perspective but may also tend to react more strongly to morally objectionable situations.