COURSE :Introduction To Literature

DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH

PROFESSOR : OLMSTED

Lecture7 : Pov_Plot

View the Power Point Presentation of the Lecture

Today’s presentation is on point of view and plot. I’m basing the part about point of view on Janet Buraway’s text Writing Fiction. All of what she says goes along with what our text says about point of view. Buraway claims that point of view is the most complex element of fiction and that the best way to describe it or to understand it is to break it down to the following questions. Who speaks? To whom? In what form? At what distance from the action? With what limitations? Let’s take a look. Let’s see if we can get this all on the page. Yeah. Who speaks? An omniscient hold on didn’t like that one sorry we’re having cursor troubles okay an omniscient narrator can objectively report on what is happening, can go into the mind of a character, interpret for us the character’s appearance, speech, actions, and thoughts can move freely in time or space to give panoramic telescopic microscopic or historical view. Tell us what has happened elsewhere or in the past or in the future. An omniscient narrator can also provide reflections, judgments, and truth. Limited omniscience the second major form right there allows a author or narrator to do some of this usually granting access to the mind of one character usually the protagonist. E. M. Forrester in Aspects of the Novel wrote in daily life we never understand each other neither complete clairvoyance nor complete confessional exist we know each other approximately by external signs and these serve well enough as a basis for society and even for intimacy. The people in a short story can be understood completely by the reader if the writer wishes. Their inner as well as their outer life can be exposed and this is why they often seem more definite than characters in history or even our own friends. While first and third person narrators are the most common, first person being I third person being he, she, or they. Second person also exists. To whom second category so who is the writer talking to? Most fictionists tacitly address to the reader you may also have the narrator address another character or characters in which case we as readers overhear what they’re saying and thinking. A third audience is the self as when the narrator speaks to him or herself or writes in a diary or a journal. In what form Buraway notes that the form of the story may announce itself without justification as a generalized story either written or spoken or it may suggest reportage, confessional interior monologue. Stream of consciousness it may be overtly identified as monologue, oratory, journal, or diary. Form will affect language intimacy and honesty in the telling. At what distance authorial distance sometimes called psychic distance is the degree to which we as readers feel on the one hand intimacy and identification with or on the other hand detachment and alienation from the characters in the story. Buraway refers to two kinds of distance spatial and temporal. A story that begins there were once two little girls immediately sets the stage for a story that occurred in a distant past so that would be temporal distance. A story written in present tense is very close temporal distance because it’s happening right now. Distance can also be achieved by using abstract words not naming characters while increasing immediacy can be achieved by concrete words, knowing, and present tense. Distance also be intangible achieved through tone and attitude that is conveyed through language and finally the limitations have to do with the reliability of the narrator whether we can trust what the narrator says and what other possible limits limitations might exist like attitude or tone or diction that make the point of view change. Okay we’re going to look now at Freitag’s pyramid which introduces our section on plot. This was a Freitag was a German critic and he proposed a method for analyzing plots derived from Aristotle’s concept of unity of action and Freitag’s work became known Freitag’s pyramid or Freitag’s triangle probably a number of you have already met up with this. It’s a way to analyze the five elements of plot so for example the five are introduction, rising action or complication third is climax the turning point, fourth is the falling action, and fifth is denoument or the resolution. And another thing that happens is that characteristic of each of these let me see if I can do right on here if you’ll notice that on the rising side the beginning side the effects sorry this is that’s pretty bad the effects are heightened okay and the causes sorry this is awful are minimized I’m not gonna keep doing that you’ll have to use your imaginations by what that means is often in a story at the beginning we’ll know what the effect of what has happened is before we know why it’s happened. So at the beginning you’re going to have you’re gonna know what the effect of what has happened is before you know why at the climax both effects and causes tend to come together and then in the following action the causes now we understand everything’s starting to make sense so the causes of whatever is going on rise and the effects become minimized. As we read these stories you can see if that works. Alright that’s Freitag I have one more bit I would like to share with you and that is Aristotle’s elements of complex plot sorry hold on. Okay in addition to his theory about beginnings, middles, and endings Aristotle described a number of elements that he considered crucial to the creation of a complex fully developed plot. As we look at these let’s think about Hurston’s short story Sweat reversals is the first one. Characters should find themselves going from good fortune to bad and back again as both resolve and cause of their choices and actions. These reversals serve as climactic moments in the plot. You can see that Delia’s and Sykes’s fortunes do indeed reverse in the course of the story and these reversals are the result of their own choices and actions. Each is true to his or her character and the effect what happens to them by the end of the story is directly related to the cause of their actions. Second, discoveries Aristotle said that characters should discoveries especially about themselves. These discoveries may be about their past, their flaws, or even about their own motivation so self-understanding is really important. Delia does learn about herself in the story resulting in deeper understanding and consciousness. Any realization Sykes makes however does not change the way he blames others for what happens. He doesn’t recognize any flaws or feel any responsibility for bringing onto himself his own demise let alone Delia’s unhappiness. So the character who changes in this story is Delia and indeed she is the protagonist. Third, complications something should stand between the protagonist and his or her objective. For Delia the one thing standing in the way of her dreams for having a happy home are of course the one thing is of course Sykes himself. Catastrophe it needent be an earthquake or a mass murder it might an emotional catastrophe completely to the character’s psyche but no plot will be too interesting if things go smoothly. Bad things happen even to good people, it’s how the characters deal with catastrophe that produces plot. The catastrophe in Sweat is one we welcome since it leads Delia to greater understanding and ends up punishing the antagonist. There’s a wonderful irony in this story a kind of poetic justice as Sykes gets what he deserves. Finally the plot the resolution the plot should reach some satisfactory conclusion that continues logically from the events in the stories. In other words, it should not rely on coincidences what’s called deux ex machine device in which some new element gets introduced suddenly at the end to resolve a plot for instance a truck comes along and kills the bad guy that is the kind of coincidence that is not very believable. Sweat closes with the image of Sykes’ understanding this is satisfactory into according to Aristotle’s guidelines because the entire story has been built on his failure to understand. He is too self-centered to see outside himself he has taken Delia for granted and the lesson of the end of the story comes too late. This doesn’t mean that he has an epiphany about his guilt but he does understand he’s made a mistake in taking Delia for granted. Alright that’s it I’ll see you next time.