Behind the Scenes at the Muesum

Kate Atkinson uses the treatment of time very effectively in her novel Behind the scenes at the museum. Her Main Character Ruby narrates us through the story using an omniscient voice of a child. She tells us of her past but at the same time, she questions the truth about her family and her self-identity. This essay seeks to discover how Atkinson uses the past, footnotes, setting and her post modernist style as a technique in the treatment of time.

The narrative is a common first person narrative, but at the same time, it is very unusual. Ruby speaks in the present tense but knows the future and what people are thinking. This technique gives Ruby a more “knowing” voice that can see ahead of us but is still unable to share with us the withdrawn knowledge that she is trying to find out herself. This is shown from the very first lines of the novel; “I exist! I am conceived to the chimes of midnight on the clock on the mantelpiece in the room across the hall.” This is where Ruby talks about her own conception which is very unusual as it seems impossible to be able talk about your own birth while being conceived. At the same time Atkinson is able

The setting also plays a very important role in this story. The town Yorkshire, where Ruby is brought up in consisted of many famous people such as Laurence Stern, Guy Fawkes, Dick Turpin and Robinson Crusoe. Ruby is unclear from the beginning about her past. “Who is to say which of these is real and which a fiction” Also the household ghosts add to the sense of history. Ruby senses these from the beginning “our ghosts are particularly thick on the stair cases, of which there are many. They have much to gossip about. You can hear them if you listen hard” Here opinions form about the history of the town itself and its deeds, because it is also here, where Pearl dies and it is in this city that Ruby feels most uncomfortable in. When Ruby leaves Scotland and comes back to York, she knows the truth “I am about to retrace my journey, take in reverse the train, plane and two boats that brought me to York. I have a life to go back to”

Some topics in this essay:
Character Ruby, Crusoe Ruby, Using Ruby’s, Thirty-six Patricia, Pearl Ruby, Pearl Atkinson, Kate Atkinson, Yorkshire Ruby, Authors Treatment, atkinson able, post modernist style, mother bunty, scenes museum, sister pearl, footnotes able, post modernist, modernist style, ruby’s past, past footnotes, ruby talks,