《英语短篇小说选读》讲义(第三周)

motionless; stonily; silent; statue;
Exposition & complication: part II— flashback/retrospect a Federal scout Falling action & Resolution: part III—unreliable narrative & surprising
Omniscient point of view
• Definition: a narrator knows everything about all the characters. (all-knowing) • Such a narrator is free to move and to comment at will, and can tell us what characters say and do as well as their thoughts and feelings. • E.g. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
First-person point-of-view
• Definition: The narrators who participate in the action tell their stories in their own voices with their particular knowledge or vision of the action. • Depending on the involvement with the events of the plot, the first-person narrator can be either a major or minor character of a story.
• A point of view is a standpoint from which the narrator sees the story and how he intends the reader to see the story. • Narrator: A narrator is the one who tells the story, often called the storyteller. (The narrator is not necessary the novelist.)
Instructor: Esther Lv
26th September, 2014
Week 3
Photo by Zitona - Creative Commons Attribution License /photos/zitona
Created with Haiku Deck
Categories of point of view
What are the factors determining the categories of point of view?
1 2
By the narrator’s relationship with the character
By the extent of the narrator’s knowledge of the events
Story 2 Discussion
Story 2 Discussion
Plot summary Who: Peyton Farquhar —a plantation owner of the South; a slave master Where: Owl Creek Bridge
When: during the Civil War
• “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon.” • “Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort.” • “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.” • “I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down.”
Chapter 2 Point of View
Definition of point of view Functions of point of view Categories of point of view Ways to analyze the point of view
Definition:
First Person Narrator
Benefits: • Readers see events from the perspective of
an important character • Readers often understand the main character better
What: a hanging execution of a south civilian on the bridge —part I: the man was going to be executed
—part II: who is the man & why has he been put to death
Story 2 Discussion
Analysis on the plot unreliable narrative —paradox —exaggeration —unconventionality
—actual v.s. imagination
Story 2 Discussion
Analysis on the plot stages of the plot Crisis: part I—inverted order preparation for the execution
• Third-person narrator does not appear as a character in a story. • Third-person narrator may see into the minds of all characters, a single character, or none of the characters but merely describes events from the outside. • A) omniscient point of view • B) limited omniscient point of view • C) objective or dramatic point of view
Story 2 Discussion
Close-reading Part II How did the man come to be caught by the Federalist army?
Story 2 Discussion
Close-reading Part III Did he really experience floating down the stream pursued by his enemies and their shootings? Why do you say so?
By the narrator’s relationship with the character:
the first-person narrator & the third-person narrator
• In the first-person narrative, the narrator appears in the novel as “I” or “me”. • In the third-person narrative, the narrator does not actually appear and all the characters are referred to as “he” or “they”.
Detriments: • The narration is tightly controlled and
limited in its access to information. • Readers see only one perspective
Third person point of view
Functions of point of view
The person who tells a story, the narrator, inevitably influences our understanding of the characters’ actions by filtering what is told through his/her own perspective. By choosing a particular point of view, an author may decide how much the reader should know at any given moment about what is happening.
—part III: the “escape”: free from the noose; sharp senses; dodge bullets; landed in a forest
Story 2 Discussion
Close-reading Part I What was going to happen? Who was the man to be executed? And how was he to be executed?