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Impacts of Point of View in Fiction

  Impacts of Point of View in Fiction   In the previous article titled  Point of View in Fiction: Nature and Types ,  we have seen that point of view  is essentially a method of presentation. It is the particular voice (or narrator, speaker, teller or persona) selected by the author through which he conveys his story, defines a problem, or describes a state of mind. In writing a story, an author can choose one or more of the first-person, the second-person, or the third person to suit his intentions. Thus, to the readers, point of view is  the perspective  through  which they see the action, observe the characters, view the setting, hear the dialogues and even learn what a character thinks and feels by seeing inside his or her mind (if the author employs the omniscient viewpoint). Different points of view naturally impact the information sent. If you listen to five different persons who saw an accident, you will get five different versions of report, depending on where each of them w

Point of View in Fiction: Nature and Types

  What is a Point of View? To convey a story, an author purposively chooses the position, angle, or point from which the details (feelings, thoughts, motivations, and experiences, etc.) of the work are considered, observed, perceived, and described. As a literary device, such position is called the point of view which refers to the vantage point from which the events of a story seem to be observed and presented to the reader (Baldick, 2001) or "the outlook from which the events are related (Cuddon, 2013, p. 761). Since it is the angle through which details of the story are expressed, it determines how the reader understands, participates, and responds to the story. Point of view is essentially a method of presentation. It is the particular voice (or narrator, speaker, teller, or persona) selected by the author through which he tells his story, defines a problem, or describes a state of mind. Thus, it is created by the author by selecting who tells the story and how the informati

An Analysis of the Theme of Hemingway’s “Old Man at the Bridge”

  An Analysis of the Theme of Hemingway’s “Old Man at the Bridge” Introduction The theme is one of the most interesting elements of fiction, including a short story. It refers to the central idea or meaning that the author wants to convey to the readers. Some stories convey a single theme, but some other stories have several themes. Since short stories are related to human life, Alternbend and Lewis (1966, p. 78) define theme as “The general vision of life or the more explicit proposition about human experience that literature conveys”. In relation to this, one of the easiest ways to determine the theme of a short story is by asking ourselves, “What does the story say about life? The theme of fiction is generally presented through the other elements of fiction, particularly the plot and characterization. This article is a venture to analyze the theme of Hemingway’s Old Man at the Bridge . This story is interesting to analyze due to two reasons. First, it is based on Hemingway’s exp

Characters and Characterization Techniques in Gale’s “Bill”

  Characters and Characterization Techniques in Gale’s “Bill” Parlindungan Pardede parlpard2020@gmail.com Introduction In fiction, characters are defined as “anything (persons, animals, plants, or other creatures and things} representing people (Pardede, 2020). In fiction, characters play an important role because they are the performer who carries the events that establish the story illustrate and personify the themes. Cuddon (2013) stated that character refers to the person portrayed in a narrative or dramatic work. Thus, to get the meaning of a story, the reader should understand the characters’ psychological traits, personalities, and other attributes. To present a character, authors can use one or both of the expository and dramatic method of characterization. The expository method is conducted by describing a character using explicit statements either by the author or by another character in the same story. The dramatic method reveals the character to the readers through action.

Characterization in Fiction

  Characterization in Fiction Parlindungan Pardede parlpard2010@gmail.com    In the previous article titled The Nature and Types of Character in Fiction , characters, or people, animals, plants, things, or other creatures representing persons, are one of the most important elements of literary fictions, including a short story, because they push the plot forward and they illustrate and personify the themes. All stories would be nothing without the created characters within them. Consequently, to get a deeper meaning of a story, we should understand the characters’ psychological traits, personalities, and other attributes. To achieve it, we need to examine the literary device the authors use to present details to portray and develop them. In literature, that tool is called characterization. To avoid misunderstanding, character and characterization should be clearly differentiated. The term character has two different meanings. First, as it has been defined previously, character refe

The Nature and Types of Character in Fiction

  The Nature and Types of Character in Fiction Parlindungan Pardede parlpard2010@gmail.com    The Nature of Characters Characters are possibly the most important elements of literary works, including a short story. They are the elements that create and push the plot forward by performing the actions and speaking the dialogues to move the story along the plot line. It is through the characters’ interaction with their environment and how they view their environment that readers can experience the world created in a fiction. N o plot would be a story without characters to perform the action and dialogues.   In a fiction, characters are anything representing people. Characters are not always people. They can be animals, plants, or other creatures and things. Yet, whatever they are, they represent persons. They can act, behave, and talk like person. In Boccaro’s  A Long walk Home , the characters are Jackson and his father. In Aesop’s The Lion and the Mouse , the characters are the