Different Types of Narration Essay

There ar a variety of directions to narrate a story, al ane essenti ally they can be broken down into two main groups starting time psyche narrative, and third mortal narrative.In the use of the first person vote counter, the story is told d ane the eyes of the I narrator. The first person narrator can lone(prenominal) relate incidents that he or she has witnessed, and only he or she can interpreted the situation, therefore in this respect the first person narrative is limited.We moldinessiness(prenominal) remember that a first person narrator in a novel is not the novelist entirely a character who sees things only in the light of his or her own point of vista and grim by his or her personality, therefore events are biased to the narrators opinion.This of course can be used to effect in books where the first person narrator is unreliable and therefore we are forced to see a false picture of events. For example in The Beach by Alex Garland, events are told by Richard, a backpacker in Bangkok. In the educe I pull in chosen, Richard recounts an encounter with Mister Duck, who, at the beginning of he book, commits suicide. In the extract below, it is only the second time that Richard meets Mister Duck, the first be when Richard was feverish. Therefore we can easily presume that Richard was hallucinating when he first met Mister Duck but in this extract, it is hard to tell, from the behavior Richard narrates it, that Mister Duck is imaginaryMister Duck sat in his dwell on the Khao San Road. Hed pulled back one of the newspapers that covered the window and was peering down to the street. Behind him, strewn across his bed, were coloured pencils, apparently the ones hed used to draw the map. The map was nowhere in sight so mayhap hed already tacked it to my door.I saw that his shoulders were shaking.Mister Duck? I said cautiously.He turn, scanned the room with a puzzled frown and, then spotted me through the strip of mosquito netting.Rich Hi.Of course, through first person narrative, we develop a to a greater extent intimate relationship with the narrator because we bugger off their character and way of thinking forced upon us, which in cases can make you sympathise more with this character, as you know their surreptitious emotions that they would not show openly. For example in The Remains of the Day the use of the first person narrator creates suspense and mystery over the intense relationship between Stevens and cast off Kenton. Also in this extract, we whole step Stevens character imposed on the story as his unquestioning faith and dedication to his melodic line cost him dearly his personal life. And finally Stevens unwavering smell of duty and re get along at all times leading him to deny his emotions eventually drive away the wo slice he loved. As demonstrate in the extract I have chosenAs I was bolting the door, I noticed Miss Kenton waiting for me, and saidI trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton.She made no reply, so I said again, as we were making our way across the unilluminatedened expanse of the kitchen floor I trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton.I did, thank you, Mr Stevens.Im beguiled to date that.Behind me, Miss Kentons footsteps came to a sudden stop and I heard her say be you not in the least interested in what took dumbfound tonight between my acquaintance and I Mr Stevens?I do not mean to be rude, Miss Kenton, But I really must return upstairs with come to the fore further delay. The fact is, events of a spheric significance are taking place in this house at this very effect.When are they not, Mr Stevens? Very well, if you must be rushing off, I shall just tell you that I accepted my acquaintances marriage offer.I beg your par wear off, Miss Kenton?His proposal of marriage.Ah, is that so, Miss Kenton? Then may I offer you my congratulations.Thank you, Mr Stevens. Of course, Ill be happy to serve fall out my notice. However, should it be that you are able to release me earlier, we would be very grateful. My acquaintance begins his new craft in the West Country in two weeks time.I will do my best to touch on a replacement at the earliest opportunity, Miss Kenton. Now if you will excuse me, I must return upstairs.I started to walk away again, but then when I had all but reached the doors out to the corridor, I heard Miss Kenton say Mr Stevens, and thus turned once more. She had not transmitd, and consequently she was cause to raise her voice slightly in minimal brain damageressing me, so that it resonated rather oddly in the cavernous spaces of the dark and empty kitchen.Am I to take it she said, that after the m both years of service I have given in this house, you have no more words to greet the news of my possible disagreement than those you have just uttered?Miss Kenton, you have my warmest congratulations. But I repeat, there are matters of global significance taking place upstairs and I must return to my post. Pages 2 18-219In this extract we are frustrated by Stevens reserve and lack of emotion, and without the story being told form his side we might have felt Stevens to be cold hearted and distance and therefore dislike him. But in fact we benevolence his actions and touch moved.An autobiographical persona such(prenominal) as Pip in dickens Great Expectations, are not to be taken as complete or even accurate portraits of their authors they are very much no more than stu clog ups in self criticismI was quite as dejected on the first functional-day of my apprenticeship as in that after-time but I am jocund to know that I never breathed a murmur to Joe while my indentures lasted. It is about(predicate) the only thing I am glad to know of myself in that connexion.For, though it includes what I proceed to add, all the merit of what I proceed to add was Joes. It was not because I was faithful, but because Joe was faithful, that I never ran away and went for a soldier or a sailor. It was not b ecause I had a strong moxie of the virtue of industry, but because Joe had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, that I worked with tolerable zeal against the grain. It is not possible to know how far the influence of whatsoever amiable honest-hearted duty-going man flies out into the world but it is very possible to know how it has affected ones self in going by, and I know slump well that any good that intermixed itself with my apprenticeship came of plain contented Joe, and not of restless aspiring discontented me.In the same way the innumerable portraits by artists of their friends, enemies or acquaintances are notoriously one sided, exaggerated and even on occasion, libellous.In a first person narrative, the use of interior soliloquy can be used where the ref is allowed inside the mind of the narrator and so we can hear their inner thought. For example in Ernest Hemingways A farewell to Arms, when Henry hears that his wife is gravely ill we receive an interior monologue The nurse went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hall. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Dont let her die. Oh, God, please dont let her die. Ill do anything for you if you wont let her die Please, please, please dear God, dont let her die. Dear God, dont let her die. Pleas, please, please dont let her die, God, please make her not die. Ill do anything you say if you dont let her die. You took the baby but dont let her die that was all right but dont let her die. Please, please, dear God, dont let her die.Here we feel that the character is deeply involved in his surroundings and what is happening, the events he is recounting are extremely wound up and moving, but this is not always the case. In Nausea by Jean-Paul Satre, it is the story of an observer of life in a small caf, and here the narrator is totally withdrawn from his surrounding, as though watching it on tel evision. The narrator is distanced from events and the book is almost like a third person narrative in the sense that he is telling the story of the lives of those sitting around him, but of course true to first person record he is interpreting the situation into how he sees itIt is half past one. I am at the Caf Mably, eating a sandwich, and everything is more or less normal. In any case, everything is always normal in cafs and especially in Caf Mably, because of the manager, Monsieur Fasquelle, who has a vulgar expression in his eyes which is very innocent and reassuring. It will soon be time for his afternoon nap and his eyes are already pink, but his manner is still lively and decisive. He is walking among the tables and speaking confidentially to all the customersIs everything all right, Monsieur?I smile at seeing him so lively when his establishment empties, his coping empties too. Between two and intravenous feeding the caf is deserted, and then Monsieur Fasquelle takes a few dazed steps, the waiter turn out the lights, and he slips into unconsciousness when this man is alone, he falls asleep.The second type of narrative is third person narration. The narrator is omniscient, that is, able to move between characters, situations, and locations at any point, and granted full access to characters thoughts, feelings, and motivation. This is the advantage that third person narration has over first person, yet a sense of intimacy with the characters is harder to achieve. Some narrators might comment on the events taking place in the novel as they unfold, and even interpose their own views the Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens were adept at this manner of intervention, for example in A Christmas Carol, Dickens talks directly to the reader to convey his thoughts and ideasMarley was jobless, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooges pull in was good upon Change for anything he chose to put his hand to.Old Marley was dead as a door-nail. header I dont mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of out ancestors is in the simile and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the countrys done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.Alternatively, the author might limit the narrators overt presence, and recount the narratives events as directly as possible. A third-person narrator might have a limited point of view, check to only one or a few characters, as in much of Emily Bronts Wuthering heights, where the author is wholly absent and uses the characters to tell the story. Therefore she never directly interrupts the story to make a direct comm ent or moral judgement on the action of the characters.We notice that Emily Bront in Wuthering highschool uses narrators that are involved in the proceedings and therefore these people try to inflict their point of view on the reader. In this case it is to emphasise the point that the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is unique and not something that Nelly, or Lockwood (Wuthering Heights two main narrators) will never fully comprehend as only Heathcliff and Cathy can explain their love for each other.She rung the bell till it broke with a sound I entered leisurely. It was enough to try the temper of a saint, such senseless, wicked rages There she lay debonaire her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splintersMr Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and fear. He told me to fetch some water. She had no breath for speaking.I brought a glass full and, as she would not drink, I sprinkled it on he r face. In a few seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up her eyes, while her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the aspect of death.Linton looked terrified.There is zilch in the world the matter, I whispered. I did not want him to yield, though I could not inspection and repair being afraid in my heart.She has blood on her lips he said, shuddering.Never mind I answered tartly. And I told him how she had resolved previous to his coming, on exhibiting a fit of frenzy.In some cases the events of the story are told through an impersonal narrative. This impersonal narrator then relates the story through the senses of different character, presenting the reader with a more rounded picture. For example in The Tesseract by Alex Garland, the story is told from many points of view, quickly changing between one characters perspective to another, each time the story being told from that characters sense and feeling. In the extract below we witness the situation from thr ee of the character point of viewThe telephone made for an orthogonal witness. But Seans reflection in the bathroom mirror, making contact as he turned away from the vent, was less detached. Even under pressure, the sight was arresting.His face seemed to be in a deposit of flux. Unable to resolve itself, like a cheap hologram or a bucket of snakes, the lips force back while the jaw relaxed, the stare softened while the frown hardened. Fear, Sean thought distantly. Rare that one got to see what it actually looked like. Other peoples, sure, but not your own. Intrigued, he leaned close to the mirror, ignoring the footsteps that were already working their way up the stairs.Aaaah, were going to be late, said Don Pepe, breaking the tense secrecy of the last five minutes.Jojo nodded and nervously pushed his thumbs into the padding around the steering wheel. Yes, sir, we are. Im sorry.Jojo paused a moment before saying Yes, sir again. He was leaving time for Teroy to add his own apology. After all, hed been the one who had suggested Hotel Patay in the first place. But Teroy, sitting in the passenger seat, wasnt saying a word. No sense diverting Don Pepes irritation on to him, when he could keep his head down and his mouth shut and let Jojo take all the abuse. Fair enough. Jojo would have been doing the same if their roles had been reversed.The narrator is very important in a story as the narrator is responsible for the way a story is conveyed to its reader, or its point of view. The variety of ways that the author can manipulate the narrator and his or her point of view in order to gain maximum control over the work as a whole is often the essence of whether the reader gained the desired effect set by the author.