《英语短篇小说选读》讲义(第三周)

Omniscient point of view
• Advantage: all-knowing narrator retains full control over the narrative and directs the readers to where he leads them. • Disadvantage: not lifelike; narrator knows and tells all;
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:
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
First Person Narrator
Benefits: • Readers see events from the perspective of
an important character • Readers often understand the main character better
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?
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.
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”.
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.
• 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
Created with Haiku Deck
story 2 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
—Ambrose Bierce —Plot
Adapted film 猫头鹰桥事件 La Rivière du hibou (1962) 导演: 罗伯特· 安利可 编剧: Ambrose Bierce 制片国家/地区: 法国 语言: 英语 上映日期: 1962 片长: 28分钟
ຫໍສະໝຸດ Baiduimited omniscient point of view
• Definition: The knowledge is restricted to one character. • What the reader learns about the events in a story is always restricted to what the narrator can see or know. • We have no direct knowledge of what other characters are thinking or feeling or doing, except for what she knows or can infer about them.
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
Today’s Agenda
—Continued study on story 2
—Free discussion —Unit 2 point of view (I)
Photo by 55Laney69 - Creative Commons Attribution License https://www.flickr.com/photos/42875184@N08
• “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.”
motionless; stonily; silent; statue;
Exposition & complication: part II— flashback/retrospect a Federal scout Falling action & Resolution: part III—unreliable narrative & surprising
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
—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?
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”
• 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.)
Detriments: • The narration is tightly controlled and
limited in its access to information. • Readers see only one perspective
Third person point of view
Instructor: Esther Lv
26th September, 2014
Week 3
Photo by Zitona - Creative Commons Attribution License http://www.flickr.com/photos/zitona
Created with Haiku Deck
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