BBL 3207

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BBL 3207

• Point of View

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Point of View in Conversation

• Consider the sentence below, said by one male
  student to another in a coffee bar. Whose
  viewpoint do the highlighted parts of the
  sentence express/take into account, and how do
  you know?

When I come to your place tomorrow, will your
sister be there?
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• When I come to your place tomorrow, will your
  sister be there?
• The discourse could be represented as below
• Addresser 1 Message Addressee 1
• The same discourse structure would appear to
  account for prototypical poems, like Wordsworth's
  'Daffodils'. The poet, Wordsworth, appears to
  write directly to the reader, and so he is the
  addresser. There is no specific person that the
  poem is addressed to, and so by default the
  reader appears to be the addressee. 
• Addresser 1 Message Addressees 1,2,3

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• When I met Sharon yesterday she told me that her
  sister was ill.
• How many levels of discourse this time? Who are
  the addressers and addressees?

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• When I met Sharon yesterday she told me that her
  sister was ill.
• How many levels of discourse this time? Who are
  the addressers and addressees?
• There are two levels of discourse here. Student A
  talks to student B, and in doing so, he reports
  what Sharon said to him on a previous occasion.
  Hence one discourse situation is reported, or
  embedded, inside another.

ADDRESSEE 1 (Current Discourse) STUDENT B
ADDRESSER 1
Message
ADDRESSEE 2 (Previous Discourse) STUDENT A
ADDRESSER 2
Message
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• The prototypical 'doubled' discourse structure of
  drama
• The one-level discoursal structure is typical of
  most poems, but the two-level discourse structure
  is more typical of drama.
• Playwrights write plays for audiences and
  readers, but they do not communicate directly
  with their addressees, as poets typically do.
  Instead, they communicate meanings indirectly to
  their audience by having their characters
  communicate with one another on stage.
• So the following diagram represents the discourse
  structure involved when one character says
  something to another character in a play

ADDRESSEE 1 (Audience / Reader)
ADDRESSER 1 (Playwright)
Message
ADDRESSEE 2 (Character B)
ADDRESSER 2 (Character A)
Message
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• Note that in a play which has just two
  characters, there are at least FOUR points of
  view to consider, the viewpoint of each of the
  two characters, that of the playwright and that
  of the reader.

ADDRESSEE 1 (Audience / Reader)
ADDRESSER 1 (Playwright)
Message
ADDRESSEE 2 (Character B)
ADDRESSER 2 (Character A)
Message
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Discourse structure of 1st and 3rd person novels

• Because novels always have narrators present, as
  well as authors, readers and characters, they
  prototypically need three discourse levels in
  their discourse architecture.

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Discourse structure of 1st and 3rd person novels
Note that the term usually used for the person
who the narrator addresses is the 'narratee'.
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Discourse structure of 1st and 3rd person novels

• The discourse architecture of 1st-person
  narration Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
• In Charlotte Brontë's  famous novel Jane Eyre,
  Jane tells the story of what happened in her life
  from when she was a small girl to her marriage to
  Mr Rochester at the end of the novel.
• She is thus a typical 1st-person narrator, a
  narrator who is a character in her own story.
• Readers also often feel that she is telling the
  story to them directly, and indeed at the end of
  the novel she actually says 'reader, I married
  him'.

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The discourse architecture of 1st-person
narration Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

• The following is the overall discourse
  architecture for this novel

ADDRESSEE 1 ( Reader)
ADDRESSER 1 (Charlotte Bronte)
Message
ADDRESSEE 2 (Narratee ReaderB)
ADDRESSER 2 (Jane Eyre narrator)
Message
ADDRESSEE 2 (Mr Rochester)
ADDRESSER 2 (Jane Eyre character)
Message
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The discourse architecture of 3rd-person narration

• 1st-person narrators tell their own tale, and so
  use the 1st-person pronoun when referring to
  themselves.
• But there is another very common form of
  narration where all the characters are referred
  to in the 3rd person.
• These narrations will seem much more 'objective'
  than 1st-person narrations because they are not
  automatically attached to the viewpoint of a
  particular character.

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The discourse architecture of 3rd-person narration

• Indeed, with 3rd-person narrators there is a
  strong tendency for readers to collapse together
  levels 1 and 2 on the left-hand side of the
  discourse structure diagram and assume that the
  narrator and the author are really the same
  person.
• This leads to the idea that 3rd-person narrators
  are omniscient. They know everything and can take
  us inside the mind of any character if they so
  wish.

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Discourse Structure and Viewpoint
Addresser 1 Author
Addressee 1 Reader
Addresser 2 Narrator
Addressee 2 Narratee
Addresser 3 Character
Addressee 3 Character
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The discourse architecture of 3rd-person narration

• In other words, 3rd-person narrators ( authors)
  know everything and tell the truth, whereas
  1st-person narrators ( characters) are
  notoriously unreliable.
• The '3rd-person narrator author' equation
  appears to be a default reading assumption. But
  beware there are some well-known cases where the
  assumption does not hold. Not all authors invent
  narrators whose views and attitudes they share!

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The discourse architecture of 3rd-person narration

• Even with a 3rd-person narration, it is possible
  for the narrator to take up a viewpoint that
  coincides with that of a particular character or
  characters.
• Indeed, one if its strengths is that it is
  possible to adopt the viewpoint of more than one
  character at different points in a story, whereas
  the choice of a 1st-person narrator aligns us
  with that particular narrator-character
  throughout.

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Dialogue and Narration

• Dialogue when characters speak.
• Narration when the narrator speaks.
• Quotation marks separate narration from
  dialogue.
• Example
• Help my cousin Jack said.
• 1
  2

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Identifying Narrative Perspective

• It's about the narrator (who tells the story)
• We're not looking at dialogue.
• We don't care what characters say.
• Only the narrator's voice matters.

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Pronoun Case
We are trying to figure out the narrator's view
point on the story. Perspectives and Signal Words
First-Person I, me, my, mine, we, us, ours,
Second-Person you, your
Third-Person he, she, her, they, them (also character's names)
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Secret

• I am in the room
• I 1st Person
• You come in the room.
• You 2nd Person
• Then he or she came in the room.
• He or She 3rd Person

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POINT OF VIEW

• The term point of view describes the perspective
  from which an author chooses to present an essay,
  story, or other piece of writing.
• There are several points of view that the authors
  often use. They include
• 1st person narrator
• 3rd person limited
• 3rd person omniscient

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Objective Point of View

• In the objective point of view, the writer tells
  what happens without stating more than can be
  inferred from the storys action and dialogue.
• The narrator never tells the reader anything
  about what the character thinks or feels, and
  remains a detached observer of the story.

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First-Person

• Narrator is a part of the story (character).
• Used when one of the characters tells the story
  and speaks as I, an eyewitness
• Look for phrases or sentences with I, me, or my,
  that show the narrators thoughts and feelings.
• e.g.
• I went home. Tim came over. I couldn't play.

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First Person Point of View

• When reading stories in the first person, you
  need to realize that what the narrator is
  recounting might not be the objective truth.
• You should question the trustworthiness of the
  narrators account of the events of the story.

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Third-Person

• Narrator usually isnt involved.
• Tells other's stories.
• Lots of He, She, character names.
• Three Types of Third-Person Narration
• Does the narrator tell
• Thoughts and Feelings of Characters?

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Third Person Point of View

• The narrator does not participate in the action
  of the story as one of the characters, but lets
  us know exactly how the characters think and
  feel.
• There are two different types of point of view
  Limited and Omniscient.
• Third person limited - used when we see the story
  from only one characters point of view but not
  first-hand.
• knowledge is limited to one character, either
  major or minor, has a limited point of view. It
  is limited to the one character with whom the
  story is being told through.

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Third-Person Limited

• Narrator is limited to one character.
• Tells thoughts feelings of one character
• Example
• Tim was mad at Shay. He blamed her. Shay just
  left without saying anything. She left a note
  and then left him.

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Third-Person Omniscient

• Narrator is all knowing.
• Narrator tells thoughts and feelings of more than
  one character.
• Omni All Scient Knowing
• Example
• Tim was mad at Shay. He blamed her. Shay knew
  Tim would be mad, but she wanted to live her life.

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Third-Person Omniscient

• Look for phrases and sentences that describe the
  emotions, feelings, and reactions of the
  characters.
• You will be able to see if the point of view is
  limited or omniscient by the range of viewpoints
  presented.

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Third-Person Objective

• Narrator does not reveal any characters thoughts
  or feelings.
• Only characters dialogue and actions are
  narrated.
• Example
• Tim slammed the door. He walked upstairs read
  a note from Shay. He kicked her trash can
  started crying.

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Tips on Identifying

• Check 1st or 2nd-person before worrying about
  objective, limited, or omniscient.
• Ask, Whos story is the narrator telling his,
  mine, or someone elses?
• Focus on narration not dialogue.

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Practice

1. Read the following passages.
2. Determine the narrators perspective.
3. Write down your answer.

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1

• When I was four months old, my mother died
  suddenly and my father was left to look after me
  all by himself I had no brothers or sisters. So
  through boyhood, from the age of four months
  onward, there was just us two, my father and me.
  We lived in an old gypsy caravan behind a filling
  station

First-Person
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2

• The huge man dropped his blankets and flung
  himself down and drank from the surface of the
  green pool. The small man stepped behind him.
  "Lennie!" he said sharply. "Lennie, for God"
  sakes dont drink so much." Lennie continued to
  snort into the pool. The small man leaned over
  and shook him by the shoulder. "Lennie you gonna
  be sick like you was last night." Lennie dipped
  his whole head under, hat and all "Thas good,"
  he said. "You drink some, George." He smiled
  happily

Third-Person Objective
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4

• Harold Davis took a deep breath and slowly
  started to peel the gauze from the wound on his
  grandmothers leg. Hold on, Grandma. Im
  almost done, He said quietly. Dont worry,
  baby. It doesnt hurt too much, she quietly
  replied. Just take your time. Harold glanced
  up at his grandmother lying on the couch. He
  could tell she was in pain from the way she
  gripped the cushions, but still she managed to
  smile back at him.

Third-Person Limited
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5

• They were standing under a tree, each with an
  arm round the other's neck, and Alice knew which
  was which in a moment, because one of them had
  "DUM" embroidered on his collar, and the other
  "DEE." "I suppose they've each got "TWEEDLE"
  round at the back of the collar," she said to
  herself. They stood so still that she quite
  forgot they were alive, and she was just looking
  round to see if the word "TWEEDLE" was written at
  the back of each collar, when she was startled by
  a voice coming from the one marked "DUM."

Third-Person Limited
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Different kinds of point of view

• 1. Spatial viewpointThe most basic manifestation
  of viewpoint has to do with our position in
  space.
• Looking at something from one position is
  different from looking at it from another
  position. Compare
• 'The tiger disappeared into the distance'
• 'The tiger got larger and larger
• Sentence (i) represents a viewing position
  behind the tiger, with the tiger moving away, and
  sentence (ii) is from a position in front of the
  tiger with it moving nearer and nearer to the
  viewing position.
• Spatial viewpoint encodes distance
  (nearer/farther) as well as position in relation
  to other objects.

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Different kinds of point of view

• 2. Temporal viewpoint
• Refers to the presentation of events in a
  fictional world from a particular position in
  time.
• 'Yesterday, the exam' and 'Tomorrow, the exam'
  position us 'behind' and 'in front of' the exam.
• The notion of distance and proximity that pertain
  in spatial point of view apply metaphorically to
  temporal view point.
• Time points can also be nearer or further away
  from the 'time viewing' position, as well as
  being on one side or the other of that position.
  All these spatial metaphors for time indicate
  that spatial viewpoint is the most basic.

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Different kinds of point of view

• 2. Temporal viewpoint
• Refers to the presentation of events in a
  fictional world from a particular position in
  time.
• 'Yesterday, the exam' and 'Tomorrow, the exam'
  position us 'behind' and 'in front of' the exam.
• The notion of distance and proximity that pertain
  in spatial point of view apply metaphorically to
  temporal view point.
• Time points can also be nearer or further away
  from the 'time viewing' position, as well as
  being on one side or the other of that position.
  All these spatial metaphors for time indicate
  that spatial viewpoint is the most basic.

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Different kinds of point of view

• 3. Social viewpoint
• We can also talk of social viewpoint. We can talk
  refer to people as being above or below us in
  status (note the use of spatial metaphors again),
  and as being close or distant from us (cf.
  'sister' and 'step-sister', or 'mother' and
  'mother-in-law').

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Different kinds of point of view

• 4. Personal / ideological viewpoint
• Whatever their social status, we can look down
  on, or up to the opinions of others (cf. the
  spatial metaphors again!), depending upon whether
  we agree or disagree with their personal or
  socio-political views.
• If someone in an organisation makes public what
  they see as some wrongdoing, they might be seen
  as a dreadful 'traitor' or a benign 'whistle
  blower', which likens them to a referee in a
  football match.

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Different kinds of point of view

• 5. Conceptual viewpoint
• Sometimes the representation of a viewpoint can
  be so different from ours that it represents a
  different way of conceptualising the world we
  live in.
• If a small child calls all male adults 'daddy',
  it is because he has not yet properly made the
  conceptual distinction between his father and
  other male adults.
• In other words, his conceptual viewpoint is
  different from ours.
• A good example of conceptual viewpoint in a poem
  is Craig Raine's 'A Martian Sends a Postcard
  Home', where a Martian visiting Earth refers to
  what are ordinary objects for us in very
  different terms. So books, for example, are
  described as 'mechanical birds'. For us the
  Martian has completely misunderstood what books
  are because of his conceptual viewpoint. We can
  see how he has done it, because half-open books
  do look a bit like large birds in flight, but we
  can also see that he has a completely different
  conceptualisation of the world from us.

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Different kinds of point of view

• 5. Attitudinal viewpoint
• Someone's viewpoint can also apply to how they
  feel about something, or what their attitude to
  it is.
• Consider the quotation below from a short story
  by D. H. Lawrence. Fanny is an educated woman who
  had left her village and the working class man
  she would otherwise have had to marry, in order
  to become a governess. Now her job has come to an
  end because her charge has now grown up, she is
  forced to return to the village to marry Harry,
  something which she appears very unwilling to do.
• She opened the door of her grimy branch-line
  carriage, and began to get down her bags (1). The
  porter was nowhere, of course, but there was
  Harry (2). There, on the sordid little
  station under the furnaces, she stood, tall and
  distinguished, in her well-made coat and skirt
  and her broad grey velour hat (3).

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Different kinds of point of view

• 5. Attitudinal viewpoint
• She opened the door of her grimy branch-line
  carriage, and began to get down her bags (1). The
  porter was nowhere, of course, but there was
  Harry (2). There, on the sordid little
  station under the furnaces, she stood, tall and
  distinguished, in her well-made coat and skirt
  and her broad grey velour hat (3).
•  The adjectives concerning the carriage of the
  train and the railway station are not just
  descriptive.
• They also have connotations which suggest
  disapproval on the part of the narrator and the
  character Fanny, from whose viewpoint the scene
  is surveyed.
• The external description of Fanny herself is, by
  contrast, approving in terms of the adjectives
  used. She appears to be a cut above her
  surroundings. The use of the distal deictic
  'there' being used not just to suggest physical
  apartness from the perceiver, but also an
  analogical attitudinal distance. Harry is being
  coded in the same was as the unpleasant
  surroundings.

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Different kinds of point of view

• Find out about psychological viewpoint.
• You will present/discuss this tomorrow
• Please read 26-30, 77-80, 123-130