Narrative Point of View

How Much Do You Know About … ?  Narrative Point of View  Definition  Types  Functions  Important factors

What Do You Think … ?  All techniques of the novel are bound to be adjusted by point of view. (Percy Lubbock)  Point of view (1) is a prescribed characteristics of narrative; (2)it refers to all the aspects concerning the relationship between the narrator and the reader; (3)it creates interest, conflict, suspense, and even plot itself in modern narrative works, and (4) constitutes a person ’ s attitude towards, opinion about, and concern for the world. (Wallace Martin)

Narrator and point of view The narrator is the speaker or the voice of the literary text, the agent who does the narration. The narrator is the speaker or the voice of the literary text, the agent who does the narration. The point of view of the story is the way in which the reader is presented with the material of the story, and the vantage point from which the author presents the actions of the story. The point of view of the story is the way in which the reader is presented with the material of the story, and the vantage point from which the author presents the actions of the story.

Various Points of View (attitude) (important or not) (knowing everything or not) (participating or not) (commenting or not) Narrative point of view First person narrator Major character Minor character EditorialImpartial Third person narrator Omniscient point of view Limited point of view InnocentUnreliable Ironic point of view, etc.

Various Points of View First-Person Narrators (use I or we)  Major character telling his or her own story “ Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. ” (James Joyce, “ Araby ” )  Minor character as witness “ And so she died … We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get information …” (William Faulkner, “ A Rose for Emily ” )

Third-Person Narrators (use he, she and they)  Omniscient — able to move at will from character to character and comment about them “ In a house, in a suburb, in a city, there were a man and his wife who loved each other very much …. ” (Nadine Gordimer, “ Once upon a Time ” )  Limited Omniscient — restricts focus to a single character “ The wagon went on. He did not know where they were going. ” (William Faulkner, “ Barn Burning ” )  Objective (Dramatic) — simply reports the dialogue and the actions of characters “’ You ’ ll be drunk, ’ the waiter said. The old man looked at him. The waiter went away. ” (Ernest Hemingway, “ A Clean, Well-Lighted Place ” )

What is the Point of View in the Story?  They were always the same woods, she thought sleepily as they drove through the early morning darkness — deep and immense, covered with yesterday ’ s snowfall, which had frozen overnight. They were the same woods that lay behind her house, and they stretch all the way to here, she thought, for miles and miles, longer than I could walk in a day, or a week even, but they are still the same woods. The thought made her feel good: it was like thinking of God; it was like thinking of the space between here and the moon; it was like thinking of all people were going to bed, while they — she and her father and Charlie Spoon and Mac, Charlie ’ s eleven-year-old son — were driving deeper into the Pennsylvania countryside, to go hunting.

What ’ s the Difference?  “ I like woods, ” I thought. “ They ’ re big and scary. I wonder if they ’ re the same woods that are behind my house. They go on for miles. They ’ re bigger than I could walk in a day, or a week even. ” It was neat to think that while we were driving into the woods people were going to bed in other countries.

 “ They are always the same woods, ” I thought sleepily as we drove through the early morning darkness — deep and immense, covered with yesterday ’ s snowfall, which had frozen overnight. “ They ’ re the same woods that lie behind my house, and they stretch all the way to here, ” I thought. I knew that they stretched for miles and miles, longer than I could walk in a day, or even in a week but that they were still the same woods. Knowing this made me feel good: … (adapted from David Michael Kaplan ’ s “ Doe Season ” ) What ’ s the Difference?

Functions of a narrator Narrating Narrating Directing Directing Communication Communication Testimonial Testimonial Ideological (Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse, 1980) Ideological (Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse, 1980)

Checklist: Writing about Point of View  What is the dominant point of view from which the story is told?  Is the narrator a character in the story? If so, is he or she a participant in the story ’ s events or just a witness?  Does the story ’ s point of view create irony?  If the story has a first-person narrator, is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Are there any inconsistencies in the narrator ’ s presentation of the story?

 If the story has a third-person narrator, is he or she omniscient? Does he or she have limited omniscience? Is the narrator objective?  What are the advantages of the story ’ s point of view? How does the point of view accomplish the author ’ s purpose?  Does the point of view remain consistent throughout the story, or does it shift?  How might a different point of view change the story? Checklist: Writing about Point of View

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe What is the narrative point of view of the story? What is the narrative point of view of the story? Is the point of view ironic? Is the point of view ironic? Why did Poe write about a man like that? Why did Poe write about a man like that? (audio file:

Assignment Please read James Joyce’s Araby with the checklist for point of view and prepare for the “one-sentence comment” on its narrative point of view. Please read James Joyce’s Araby with the checklist for point of view and prepare for the “one-sentence comment” on its narrative point of view.