Literature-Comprehension and Interpretation Learncard 1144671602

Question

5.8 Literature – Comprehension and Interpretation

The Narrative Perspective

Why are the narrative perspective and the narrator so important in analyzing a narrative text?

Narrative Perspective

Narrator and narrative perspective

When writing a novel, an author creates a narrator, the person who narrates the story and thus the person from whose point of view or from whose perspective the story is told. Naturally the perception of the narrator affects the perception of the reader who is influenced by what he is told. So in interpreting a narrative, it is important to distinguish between a first-person narrator, whose account is bound to be subjective, and a third-person narrator, who might even be omniscient.

An author may even choose to introduce various narrators, presenting events from different perspectives.

First-person narrator

The first-person narrator is a character within the story, so when talking about himself, he uses I. Since he cannot look into other people’s heads, he can only speculate about the thoughts and motives of the other characters. His knowledge is limited and so is his point of view since he naturally presents the story as he sees it. Thus, he is not necessarily reliable.

Third-person narrator

The third-person narrator is not involved in the story, he stands outside, so when talking about the other characters he uses he or she. Consequently his point of view is not necessarily restricted to one character, it may be unlimited, and since he is not part of the story, he may adopt the role of a detached observer. And yet a third-person narrator may also focus on one character, and in doing so concentrate on his/her perspective and his/her sensations.

The omniscient narrator

Third-person narrators are often omniscient, which means they know everything: they are even able to enter into the minds of all the characters in the story.

Additional Information

Example A: a first-person narrator

In fact, during my first days under Mr Farraday, I was once or twice quite astounded by some of the things he would say to me. For instance, I once had occasion to ask him if a certain gentleman at the house was likely to be accompanied by his wife.

“God help us if she does come,” Mr Farraday replied. […]

For a moment or two, I had not an idea whatmy employer was saying. Then I realized he was making some sort of joke and endeavoured to smile appropriately, […].

Over the following days, however, I came to learn not to be surprised by such remarks from my employer, and would smile in the correct manner whenever I detected the bantering tone in his voice.

Nevertheless, I could never be sure exactly what was required of me on these occasions.

(From: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, London: Faber and Faber, 1989, p. 15)

The first-person narrator, who refers to himself as “I”, has a limited perspective: he relates events as he experienced them without pretending to understand what the other characters, for instance his employer Mr Farraday, were thinking.
In fact the narrative perspective reveals his insecurity since he finds himself now in a new situation and does not know how to respond.
Thus the narrative perspective reflects the protagonist’s difficulty to adapt in a rapidly changing society in which all his previous patterns of behaviour are constantly challenged.

Example B: a detached third-person narrator

No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine. […] She was fond of all boys’ plays, and greatly preferred cricket not merely to dolls, but to the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary bird, or watering a rosebush. Indeed she had no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief – at least so it was conjectured from her always preferring those which she was forbidden to take. – Such were her propensities – her abilities were quite as extraordinary. She never could learn or understand any thing before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.

(From: Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, p. 37)

The narrator refers to the heroine with “she” or her name.
In using this narrative perspective the author creates a certain distance: with cool detachment the narrator describes the various shortcomings of Catherine Morland, who seems to lack all the important qualities the reader has come expect in the romantic heroine of that time. Instead, she is almost exactly the opposite of this stereotype.
The narrative perspective enforces the obvious irony with which the author satirises the over-sentimental descriptions of this literary genre.

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Literature-Comprehension and Interpretation Learncard 1144671602