Zenobia Fenrick, an English major with a concentration in language and literature, attends Bowie State University. She is an avid reader, thinker, and aspiring critic of film, plays, and various content. While attending Bowie State University, she managed to make the Dean’s List and was involved with various student organizations such as the Gay-Straight Alliance (Secretary from 2018 to 2019; President from 2019 to 2020) and Raíces Latino Students Association (Secretary from 2018 to 2020). During her presidency, she was able to vouch for the reopening of the LGBTQIA and Gender Resource Center on campus. She has a passion for analyzing classic cartoons during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation and learning about world history. Her favorite subjects while attending university were English classes. She plans to graduate in the spring of 2021 and publish her works on leitmotifs in classic Hollywood animation.
Linear vs Nonlinear Plot:
There are many different types of plots. However, the two main kinds are linear and nonlinear plots. A linear plot has a beginning, middle, and end and is constructed chronologically. A nonlinear plot contains the same components (beginning, middle, and end) but is not chronological. Toni Morrison’s A Mercy is a nonlinear plot narrative format. The events are sporadic and without any chronological order. For example, we begin with Florens telling us about how she must find the blacksmith and why she feels it’s important. But we aren’t introduced to the blacksmith until further in the novel. Additionally, the stories of characters Jakob Vaark, Rebekka Vaark, Lina, and Sorrow all occur before Florens story. However, the novel skips around from character to character instead of following in chronological order.
In order to understand a linear vs nonlinear plot better, a timeline has been provided using chapters 10-12 as a guide. The linear timeline shows important events as they would have happened in chronological order; the nonlinear timeline shows these events as they appear in the novel.
