Literature - Claudia Doroholschi
1st year, 1st semester 2014-2015
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4: Point of view II
LECTURE 4: POINT OF VIEW II
First person narratives
First person narratives are given from the perspective e of one character who is speaking
(using "I"). They are generally assumed to be more subjective and make the reader more
involved in the story, because we tend to identify with first person narrators, sympathise
with them, and believe them. Thus, we get very close to them because we know their most
intimate thoughts and feelings, and we tend to share their views of the events and of the
other characters.
However, sometimes the writers exploit this implicit assumption that readers have, and use
this involvement for different effects - e.g. Porphyria's Lover, where we get access to events
through the eyes of the murderer, and we are made to understand closely how he feels which makes the shock effect of his act even stronger.
Terms to remember (see also seminars)
Intradiegetic vs extradiegetic narrators (diegesis = narrative, story): some first person
narrators are important characters in the story and are involved directly in the events
(intradiegetic). Others, although still in the first person, are just exterior observers. They
may relate what they have heard from main characters, or can be minor characters who
witness the events but are not active parts in them (extradiegetic). For example, in
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, the core story which involves the main characters
Heathcliff and Catherine is rendered in the first person from the perspective of other
characters. The first of these, Lockwood, arrives at Wuthering Heights long after the events
and learns about them from other characters. He therefore qualifies as an extradiegetic
narrator. On the other hand, Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens narrates the
events of his own life, and is therefore an intradiegetic narrator.
This distinction is useful because it influences our degree of involvement with the events. An
intradiegetic narrator like Pip usually involves the reader and makes him identify with his
perspective. We get full access to the events the way they are experienced by the narrator.
When he wants something, we want it with him. When he is wrong, we are wrong with him.
We also identify with Lockwood’s perspective as a first person narrator, which means that,
just like him, we are curious about the story of Catherine and Heathcliff and we find out
about them together with Lockwood. However, we don’t have access to their thoughts and
feelings directly, and therefore the details and the ultimate truth remain a mystery to
Lockwood – and consequently to us as readers. This use of the first person extradiegetic
narrator here turns us into curious outsiders, distant from the events narrated.
Reliable vs. unreliable narrators: an unreliable narrator (the term was famously defined
by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction) is one whose narrative the reader cannot trust
– for example because he is a compulsive liar, or because he has a mental handicap, like in
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, or because he obviously distorts events in his favour.
We are made to understand that a narrator is unreliable by certain textual clues, or markers
– for example, there are inconsistencies in his or her narrative, or it somehow contradicts
what we know to be true.
When we speak of the reliability of the narrator, this refers to the way in which the events
inside the world of the story are presented to the reader, not about how credible the events in
the story world are in relation to the real world. For example, a story about imaginary events
that take place on a different planet can be rendered in the first person by a reliable narrator
– and a realistic story about contemporary England can be rendered by an unreliable
narrator.
Literature - Claudia Doroholschi
1st year, 1st semester 2014-2015
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4: Point of view II
For instance, in the following fragment from Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions, the
narrator seems to have a merely fragmentary memory of the scene he is reporting, which
makes us doubt the accuracy of his report:
I can remember everything up to that point, everything up to the moment when I spoke those
words and a little bit beyond, but after that the sequence becomes rather murky to me. I know
that I shouted at her, pounding on my chest and daring her to pull the trigger, but whether I
did that before she started to cry or after is not something I can remember. Nor can I
remember anything she said. That must mean that I did most of the talking, but the words
were rushing out of me so fast by then that I scarcely knew what I was saying. What matters
most is that she was frightened. She hadn’t expected me to turn the tables on her, and when I
glanced up from the gun and looked into her eyes again, I knew that she didn’t have the nerve
to kill me.
Think
Is the narrator in Porphyria’s Lover by Browning reliable or unreliable?
Innocent narrator: a naive narrator; the reader is made to see or understand more than the
narrator. This is often the case with narrators who are children. For instance, in the
following fragment from Great Expectations, the escaped convict threatens to eat Pip:
‘You young dog,’ said the man, licking his lips, ‘what fat cheeks you ha’ got.’
I believe they were fat, though I was at that time undersized for my years, and not strong.
‘Darn Me if I couldn’t eat em,’ said the man, with a threatening shake of his head, ‘and if I
han’t half a mind to’t!’
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn't, and held tighter to the tombstone on which
he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
From Pip’s reaction, we realize he is frightened because he believes the man might indeed eat
him – a possibility which to us, as readers, seems very improbable. We understand what Pip
doesn’t, namely that the man is probably only trying to intimidate him, and get him to help
without telling anyone. In this particular case, the effect is humorous. We do sympathize
with Pip, but we also find his exaggerated fear amusing.
The innocent narrator often has this double effect of getting us to sympathize with the young
or helpless character, while at the same time detaching us from his understanding of the
events. This can also be a source of comic effect, like in the fragment above, or of tension (for
instance, when the innocent narrator does not understand he or she is in danger, but the
readers do).
Narrative voice
In the case of the first person narrator, the way in which the character speaks is often
important. The narrative voice can be impersonal, unobtrusive – i.e. it is regular standard
English, so we do not notice anything particular about it, and it is not used to achieve any
particular effect. Sometimes, however, it can be individualised by characteristics of speech
which say a lot about the character-narrator. Here are some of the ways in which it can differ
from standard English:
- dialect (speech characteristic to a certain region; qualifies the speaker as coming from that
region, and also possibly as uneducated)
- sociolect (speech characteristics of a social group)
- idiolect (singular or idiosyncratic style, i.e. a style which is only the narrator’s - e.g. The
Sound and the Fury)
Literature - Claudia Doroholschi
1st year, 1st semester 2014-2015
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4: Point of view II
Think
What can you say about the narrator and the narrative voice in what follows?
131. These are some of the reasons why I hate yellow and brown
YELLOW
1. Custard
2. Bananas (bananas also turn brown)
3. Double Yellow Lines
4. Yellow Fever (which is a disease from tropical America and West Africa which causes a
high fever, acute nephritis, jaundice and hemorrhages, and it is caused by a virus
transmitted by the bite of a mosquito called Aedes aegypti, which used to be
called Stegomyia fasciata; and nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys)
5. Yellow Flowers (because I get hay fever from flower pollen, which is one of 3 sorts of hay
fever, and the others are from grass pollen and fungus pollen, and it makes me feel ill)
6. Sweet Corn (because it comes out in your poo and you don't digest it so you are not really
meant to eat it, like grass or leaves)
BROWN
1. Dirt
2. Gravy
3. Poo
4. Wood (because people used to make machines and vehicles out of wood, but they don't
anymore because wood breaks and goes rotten and has worms in it sometimes, and now
people make machines and vehicles out of metal and plastic, which are much better and
more modern)
5. Melissa Brown (who is a girl at school, who is not actually brown like Anil or Mohammed,
it's just her name, but she tore my big astronaut painting into two pieces and I threw it away
even after Mrs. Peters sellotaped it together again because it looked broken)
Mrs. Forbes said that hating yellow and brown is just being silly. And Siobhan said that she
shouldn't say things like that and everyone has favorite colors. And Siobhan was right. But Mrs.
Forbes was a bit right, too. Because it is sort of being silly. But in life you have to take lots of
decisions and if you don't take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend
all your time choosing between things you could do. So it is good to have a reason why you hate
some things and you like others.. (Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime)
The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the
telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt. He was bringing me doon. Ah tried tae keep ma attention oan
the Jean-Claude Van Damme video.
As happens in such movies, they started oaf wi an obligatory dramatic opening. Then the next
phase ay the picture involved building up the tension through introducing the dastardly villain
and sticking the weak plot thegither. Any minute now, though, auld Jean-Claude's ready tae git
doon tae some serious swedgin. (Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting)
Focalization and voice
Instead the term "point of view," some narratologists prefer to make the distinction between
who sees the events (the focalizer) and who speaks (the narrative voice) - because not
always who relates the events is actually the character who perceives them. For example, in
the third person limited, the events can be narrated by an impersonal narrative voice, but
seen through the eyes of one character (e.g. "He felt insecure about his chances to win, but he
could see that the other contestants weren't confident either").
EXTRA: Here is Gerard Genette's typology of focalization, which some of the above
discussion on point of view is based on:
A. Nonfocalization/zero-focalization ("vision from behind"): events are presented from
a wholly unrestricted or omniscient point of view
Literature - Claudia Doroholschi
1st year, 1st semester 2014-2015
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4: Point of view II
B. Internal focalization ("vision with"): presentation of events restricted to the point of view
of one or more focal characters
1. Fixed: focalization restricted to a single focal character (most first person
narratives; selective omniscience)
2. Variable: focalization alternates between several focal characters
3. Multiple: presentation of the same event(s) as seen through several focal
characters
C. External focalization ("vision from without"): presentation restricted to behaviour and
outside views
Some special cases
Second person narratives
This is a very rarely used instance of point of view, occurring in few experimental texts only.
The narrator uses ‘you’ and either establishes a kind of dialogue with the
Think
This is the opening of the short story The spaces in houses by the contemporary writer
Vivienne Vermes. What effect may she be trying to achieve by using the second person?
You know there is a rat in the house because you have heard it at night, somewhere between the roof
and the bedroom ceiling. Its persistent burrowing makes you think it is trying to bore its way through
to your living quarters. He says it is a mouse, or a bird. You know it is something bigger than a mouse,
and you know that birds do not burrow, they rustle. But, because he says these things in his drowsy,
light-hearted voice, you curl up next to him and go back to sleep in the dawn. You are happy enough
because your skins – his and yours – are the same temperature. As if you have the same skin,
indistinguishable. Both pink and white and cool.
First person plural narratives
Think
What effect do you think is achieved by the first person plural narrative in the following
fragment?
The Lisbon girls were thirteen (Cecilia), and fourteen (Lux), and fifteen (Bonnie), and sixteen (Mary),
and seventeen (Therese). They were short, with roundish cheeks. Whenever we got a glimpse, their
faces looked indecently revealed, as though we were used to seeing women in veils. No one could
understand how Mr and Mrs Lisbon had produced such beautiful children. Mr Lisbon taught highschool math. He was thin, boyish, stunned by his own gray hair. He had a high voice, and when Joe
Larson told us how Mr Lisbon had cried when Lux was later rushed to the hospital during her own
suicide scare, we could easily imagine the sound of his girlish weeping.
Whenever we saw Mrs. Lisbon we looked in vain for some sign of the beauty that must have once been
hers. But the plump arms, the brutally cut steel-wool hair, and the librarian's glasses foiled us every
time. We saw her only rarely, in the morning, fully dressed though the sun hadn't come up, stepping
out to snatch up the dewy milk cartons, or on Sundays when the family drove in their paneled station
wagon to St. Paul's Catholic Church on the Lake. On those mornings Mrs. Lisbon assumed a queenly
iciness. Clutching her good purse, she checked each daughter for signs of makeup before allowing her
to get in the car, and it was not unusual for her to send Lux back inside to put on a less revealing top.
None of us went to church, so we had a lot of time to watch them, the two parents leached of color, like
photographic negatives, and then the five glittering daughters in their homemade dresses, all lace and
ruffle, bursting with their fructifying flesh. (Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides)
Observations:
A writer does not necessarily stick to one point of view throughout a novel or short story.
There are sometimes subtle switches from internal to external third person, or from
Literature - Claudia Doroholschi
1st year, 1st semester 2014-2015
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4: Point of view II
omniscient to selective omniscient, depending on the perspective that the writer is trying
to offer and the desired effect on the reader.
Shifts between first person and third person are more rare, and are usually clearly
marked in the text, for example through different fonts, or by using different narrative
perspectives in different chapters
Remember that the term is used to denote the perspective from which the plot is
narrated – not every change in personal pronouns means a change in point of view; “I”
can be used in a third person narrative, for example when there is dialogue – but the
story is still in the third person (e.g. “Mary was outraged. She said, turning towards John:
'I can't believe you did it again'”); or a first person narrator can use 'he/she' when he talks
about other characters, but that doesn't mean the point of view shifts – we still get the
events from the perspective of the “I”. E.g. “When I came into the room with the
sandwich, Sam was already packing his suitcases, throwing everything in at random. He
was whistling an aria from 'La Traviata'.”
Like with many of the terms in this course, you will find that different books / critics /
narratologists choose to use them in slightly different ways. However, the definitions
given here are some of the most widely recognised.
What to look at when you analyse point of view
Identifying what point of view is used is only the first step. Besides identifying the point of
view and the particular variety used ( (3rd/1st person / internal/external/reliable/unreliable
etc.- see above), here are a few things that you can look at:
- How does the point of view affect the reader’s involvement in the text?
- Is the use of point of view unusual in any way? - e.g. are we really made to identify
with the first person narrator, or is our tendency to identify used for a different
effect? (Porphyria's Lover)
-
-
Is the same point of view used throughout the story, or are there variations of point
of view / variations in how the same point of view functions? How do these variations
affect our perception of the events? E.g. are we made to identify/sympathise more
with one character up to a certain point and then are forced to become more
detached? (Porphyria's Lover)
Is there anything unusual about the narrative voice? What is unusual, and to what
effect?
How does the choice of a certain point of view contribute to the effect of
the story? Does it influence/intensify/manipulate the attitude towards certain
characters/events? Does it contribute to the tone (irony, comedy etc.)? Does it help to
underscore/emphasize any features?
Vocabulary box
narrator = who tells a story
author = who wrote the story
The narrator is the voice in the text; this voice is different from the real person of the author,
so normally you would refer to the narrator when you speak of who tells the story in a
literary text.
reliable narrator = refers to how truthfully the narrator presents the events in the story. It is
typically associated with first person narratives. You cannot say ‘reliable character’ or
‘reliable author’, because the term does not refer to how believable the events are, or how
trustworthy people are, but to how accurate the narrator’s report of the events is.