BBL 3207

POINT OF VIEW

Viewpoint in narration

• Identifying the viewpoint presented in a text can range from being relatively straightforward, e.g. 1st-person character-narrator, to being more complex, e.g. frequent shifts in perspective, or ambiguities i.e. whose point of view is being presented.

Point of view on the psychological plane

• References to the reflector’s senses, thoughts and feelings a more internalised psychological perspective had been adopted.

• The authorial point of view relies on an individual consciousness (or perception)

Psychological point of view

• The choices an author makes with regard to the various ways in which a story might be narrated

• It is concerned with whose perspective events are presented from, whether character(s) or narrator(s) and the linguistic indicators that can be used to identify this point of view.

• 2 categories of narration:i. Internal narrationii. External narration

Internal and External Narration

• Uspensky (1973):

i. Internal Narration – ‘subjective viewpoint’ of a particular character(s)

ii.External Narration – omniscient narration, ‘objective’, includes narratorial comment on the characters and actions described

Internal Narration

• Of course, businesses took some time to get established –Mma Ramotswe understood this – but how long could one go on at a loss? She had a certain amount of money left over from her father’s estate but she could not live on that forever. She should have listened to her father; he had wanted her to buy a butchery, and that would have been so much safer. What was the expression they used? A blue-chip investment, that was it. But where was the excitement in that?(Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, p. 86)

External Narration

• [. . .]Morris Zapp has just discovered what it is that’s bugging him about his flight. The realization is a delayed consequence of walking the length of the aircraft to the toilet, and strikes him, like a slow-burn gag in a movie-comedy, just as he is concluding his business there.

(David Lodge, Changing Places, p. 29)

• Internal - the reader is likely to feel that the point of view is more restricted

• External - the point of view expressed seems to belong more to the narrator than to the character (e.g. the simile)

Internal Narration

• The narration of events from within a particular character’s consciousness, either with that character taking on the role of narrator, or by a narrator assuming an omniscient viewpoint, able to access the internal states of the character

• Type A• Type B

NARRATION

• Category A: – narrated in the first person by a participating

character in the story– Homodiegetic narration (p. 28)– Internal to the narrative

Internal Narration

• the narration of events from within a particular character’s consciousness, either with that character taking on the role of narrator, or by a narrator assuming an omniscient viewpoint, able to access the internal states of the character

Internal Narration

• narration from a point of view within a character’s consciousness, manifesting his or her feelings about, and evaluations of, the events and characters of the story

• written either in the first person or in the third person with clear indicators of the character’s “world-view” or presentation of their thoughts being evident.

• the most subjective form of narration 1st person narrator

Internal Narration

• “I jumped on Sinbad's bottle. Nothing happened. I didn't do it again. Sometimes when nothing happened it was really getting ready to happen” ― Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

• “Did I write Ballsbridge on the envelope I took to cover when she disturbed me writing to Martha?” (107). (Leonard Bloom, Ulysses)

NARRATION

• Category B:– Third person narrative– Narrators who are not participants in the story– Heterodiegetic– Can be subdivided further:

• Narratorial mode - Events in the story related from outside the consciousness of any character

• Reflector mode – 3rd person narrator moves into the consciousness of a character; character is the reflector of the fiction

Internal Narration – Type B

• The point of view of someone who is not a participating character but who has knowledge of the feelings of the characters - a narrator, or the so-called ‘omniscient author’

• takes the form of third-person omniscient narration • to a greater or lesser degree, the author gives an

account of the mental processes, feelings and perceptions of the characters

Internal Narration – Type B• Dr Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of

his patients had died or got any worse. He had attended a surprisingly easy calving, lanced one abscess, extracted a molar, dosed one lady of easy virtue with Salvarsan, performed an unpleasant but spectacularly fruitful enema, and produced a miracle by a feat of medical prestidigitation.

(Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, p. 1; my underlining)

• Underlined parts do not necessarily reflect Dr Iannis’s feelings about his day but seem instead to be the narrator’s evaluations of events.

External Narration

• The events of a story are presented from a position outside any particular character’s consciousness, therefore excluding any thoughts or feelings that character may experience.

• the “objective” presentation of events as they happened, without comment or evaluation from the narrator

External Narration

• characterised through the use of non-factive expressions (words of estrangement), metaphors and comparisons.

External Narration

• The events of a story are presented from a position outside any particular character’s consciousness, therefore excluding any thoughts or feelings that character may experience.

• Type C• Type D

External Narration – Type C

• The “objective” presentation of events as they happened, without comment or evaluation from the narrator.

• Not offering to report what an ordinary unprivileged observer could not see.

• It is impersonal in relation to the author or narrator, declining to offer judgements on the characters’ actions;

External Narration – Type C • This claimed authorial objectivity is indicated by

avoidance of evaluative modalities (adjectives, adverbs)

• ‘the most neutral, impersonal, type of third person narration’ (Fowler 1996: 177).

• There is no insight into the internal states of the characters but simply a description of their actions.

• It is this type of narration that is perhaps most commonly associated with stage directions in drama.

External Narration – Type C Two other people had been in the lunchroom. Once George had gone out to the kitchen and made a ham-and-egg sandwich “to go” that a man wanted to take with him. Inside the kitchen he saw Al, his derby hat tipped back, sitting on a stool beside the wicket with the muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun resting on the ledge. Nick and the cook were back to back in the corner, a towel tied in each of their mouths. George had cooked the sandwich, wrapped it up in oiled paper, put it in a bag, brought it in, and the man had paid for it and gone out. “Bright boy can do everything,” Max said. “He can cook and everything. You’d make some girl a nice wife, bright boy.”

(E. Hemingway, The Killer)

External Narration – Type D • Takes into account the opinion and the impressions of the

narrator. • The author pretends to have no access to the internal states

of characters and establishes this pretence by the use of, characterised through the use of non-factive expressions (words of estrangement)o I {believe, guess, think, agree, doubt, fear, imagine} that it is

rainingo It {appears, seems, is likely, is certain, is probable} that it is

raining

• more generally be seen as indicators of a limited viewpoint, whether of character or narrator.

MODALITIES

• Modality “covers linguistic constructions [that] … express speakers’ and writers’ attitudes towards themselves, towards their interlocutors, and towards their subject-matter; their social and economic relationships with the people they address; and the actions which are performed via language (ordering, accusing, promising, pleading)” (Fowler & Kress, 1979: p. 200);

MODALITIES

• Modalities are a class of items concerned with judgments or assessments of events or people (evaluative modality), (ii) degrees of commitment of the speaker to the truth of what is being uttered (e.g. possibility and prediction) (epistemic modality), and (iii) different degrees of authoritative control of others (e.g. obligation and permission) (deontic modality);

• Every utterance carries traces of a basic modal investment in the proposition uttered;

Epistemic modality

Epistemic certitude• Epistemic certitude is expressed: 1. By means of modal auxiliaries such as must, etc. (The light

is on; Eric must be in his room);2. By means of semi-auxiliaries: the speaker's present

certitude about a future happening can be expressed by a semi-auxiliary such as “to be bound to”;

3. By means of modal adverbs such as certainly, undoubtedly, evidently, obviously, etc.;

4. By means of frequency adverbs such as always, frequently, often, etc.;

5. By means of assertion such as in The experiment is a failure vs. Is the experiment a failure?) (The assertion is the highest degree of certitude, Lyons, 1977: pp. 808-9);

6. By means of verb choice (The experiment is a failure vs. The experiment seems to be a failure);

Epistemic lack of certitudeEpistemic lack of certitude is expressed:•By modal auxiliaries: may/might provide a range of perspectives as to what kind of possibility the speaker has in mind;•By attitudinal disjuncts: never, perhaps, maybe;•By hedges: sort of suggests that the speaker is unable to definitely categorize the object of perception. Moreover, uncertainty can be suggested by the "either... or" construction; •By particular modalizing verbs: I suppose / presume/think undermine the strength of a full assertion. Lack of certainty could also be indicated by seem; •By means of conjunction: as if/though

Degrees of epistemic commitment

– Companies that are successful on the web OPERATE differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web are bound to OPERATE differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web OFTEN operate differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web MAY operate differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web SEEM TO operate differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web MAY not operate differently from their laggard counterparts.

– Companies that are successful on the web never OPERATE differently from their laggard counterparts.

Psychological effects of epistemic commitment

• The degree of epistemic commitment tends to influence our view of “reality” which is represented on a scale of certitude-lack of certitude;

• The degree of epistemic commitment tells us what sort of person the speaker is (careful, responsible, self-confident, over-confident, arrogant, etc.;

• If the speaker is believed, the degree of epistemic commitment that is adopted tends to bring persuasion in the reader/hearer;

Deontic modality: authoritative control

Deontic modality

• Modality which expresses desire and obligation • Deontic modality is the qualitative commitment of the

speaker to a harmonious or disharmonious interpersonal relation in the represented reality

• Deontic modality could be expressed:– By means of modal auxiliaries such as may, must, should,

etc.– By means of the imperative mood such as Open the window

• You should work quicker.

• You MUST go now (I order you to leave now)

Power and language

• Utterances are “signs of authority, intended to be

believed and obeyed;”

• What gives people authority is not their linguistic

competence but the social structure present in

each of their utterances;

• Thus, holders of power are those “authorized to

speak with authority;”

Psychological effect of deontic modality

• An authoritative person is perceived either as an undemocratic and despotic person, or as having strong personality;

• The victim of authority and power attracts a lot of sympathy, pity, etc. or disrespect on the part of observers;

• Depending on personality, the reader identifies either with the authoritative person or the victim of authority;

• Category A and category B narratives can also be subdivided on the basis of the patterns of modality that they reveal, and Simpson refers to the three possible subdivisions as positive, negative and neutral ‘shading’.

• In texts with positive shading the deontic (expression of duty/obligation) and boulomaic systems of modality (desire) are foregrounded.

• Negatively shaded texts, on the other hand, are those in which the epistemic (confidence / lack of confidence: ‘could’, ‘might’) and perception (‘clear’, ‘obvious’, ‘apparently’, ‘evidently’) systems of modality are foregrounded.

Positive & negative shading

• Usually 3rd person narration.• The narrator does not reveal all that he or she knows

about the characters, and where the reader is not given access to the characters’ thoughts and feelings.

Neutral shading

Two other people had been in the lunchroom. Once George had gone out to the kitchen and made a ham-and-egg sandwich "to go" that a man wanted to take with him. Inside the kitchen he saw Al, his derby hat tipped back, sitting on a stool beside the wicket with the muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun resting on the ledge. Nick and the cook were back to back in the corner, a towel tied in each of their mouths. George had cooked the sandwich, wrapped it up in oiled paper, put it in a bag, brought it in, and the man had paid for it and gone out.

HOMEWORK

• Go to Note: POINT OF VIEW2• Identify the modal shading in the passages in

pg 128-129.• Write a written report of your analysis submit

by 18th Nov 2014.

Checklist of modalities• Determine which type of modality is dominant in the text

(evaluative, epistemic and/or deontic), mentioning representative examples and using statistical skills, if need be;

• Determine the linguistic instruments of expressing modality (modals, semi-auxiliaries, mood, modal adverbs, assertion, tense, attitudinal disjuncts, hedges, modalizing verbs, conjunction, etc.);

• Determine the psychological effects modalities have created in the text (such as feelings of intrusion in liberty, lack of democracy, strong personality, sympathy, pity, disrespect, inferiority/superiority, authority, carefulness, responsibility, self-confidence, over-confidence, arrogance,, etc.)