Using Short Fiction to Teach the Basics: Point of View
Rebecca McFarlan
The AP Literature and Composition exam is a skills based exam that demands a
traditional, formal approach to interpreting texts and responding to them through timed
essays. While students might have been exposed to the elements of formalist criticism in
earlier grades, I have found they need practice to deepen their ability to apply literary
components to understanding texts and fashioning their essay responses. In particular, I
concentrate heavily on point of view. Five times over the past seven years, the free
responses prompts on the AP Literature exam have suggested that students consider
“elements such as point of view.” Many of the prompts provide a generic request to
analyze “how the author/poet uses literary devices.” In most, if not all, of these cases
students would have been well served to have practiced applying point of view
techniques to both poetry and prose. Short fiction provides a medium for teachers to
guide students through deep analysis.
Direct Instruction and Guided Practice: To help students apply concepts of point of
view to theme and tone, we start by reviewing first and third person narrators. I add the
term of focalization. I define focalization as the perspective from which the audience
receives the narrative. Adding this concept allows me to draw parallels between written
texts and film. We discuss the similarities between a landscape shot and the third person
narrator; we connect head shots with first person subjective narration. I then give then the
chart below to expand their understanding of narrative voices. Students apply these
narrative stances to video clips by filling in the “Examples” column. Movie trailers and
sites such as Youtube provide ready access to a variety of films.
Application: On the AP Literature exam students will encounter texts they have most
likely will not have read and studied. The “Remarkable Short-Stories” section of the
Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing provides excellent
literature for students to focus on analyze point of view. In addition, “Roselily” by Alice
Walker (pg.) and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid (pg.) are excellent short selections with
interesting narrative stances. It is important for students to understand that all definitions
on the chart are starting places and that interesting narratives will experiment with
shifting perspectives. I find that the anthology with its many selections offers students
the opportunity to choose works that engage them. I ask students to choose three of the
short story selections to analyze using the worksheet. I model the process using
“Roselily” and “Girl.”
“Roselily” offers a shifting 3rd person focalization. While technically the point of
view is 3rd person omniscient, the italicized fragments from the marriage ceremony
punctuate Roselily’s thought with the effect of a 3rd person observer. They are factual
and ground her thoughts in reality. Within the paragraphs that comprise her reflections,
the narrator layers the thoughts of the groom through Roselily’s perspective: “She knows
he blames Mississippi for the respectful way the men turn their heads up to the yard, the
women stand waiting and knowledgeable, their children held from mischief by teachings
from the wrong God.” Thus, we have the views of two major characters on the confining
southern society. The focus, however, remains on Roselily, as the narrator occasionally
breaks from the authoritative 3rd person omniscient diction and syntax to free indirect
discourse that mirrors her thought patterns: “Yes, open house. That is what country
black folks like,” or “Proposal. Promises. A new life? Respectable, reclaimed, renewed.
Free! In robe and veil.” Because of this intimate focalization, we feel the most sympathy
for Roselily, some for her husband, but none for the people “in the yard.”
Kincaid’s story “Girl” provides an interesting example of a 1st person, stream of
consciousness stance. The narrator replays in her mind advice that she has received from
an older female authority figure, perhaps her mother or grandmother. The speaker
catalogues strings of domestic advice such as “this is how you set a table for dinner” or
rules of etiquette “on Sundays try to walk like a lady.” While most of this short story
consists of the adult’s advice, twice the narrator interjects her rejoinders. Kincaid
indicates this shift by italicizing the girl’s response. While technically the story is told
from the 1st person objective point of view, this shift from what the girl remembers the
adult saying to her own thoughts gives the reader a glimpse at the girl’s spirit. I remind
students of the film clips we have watched. When a camera moves from a full body shot
to a head shot, the audience knows it will be privy to the character’s reflections. When
the stream of conscious narration moves from the adult’s advice to the girl’s responses,
we see her processing the edicts being thrown at her.
Assessment: Finally, I give students a list of previous AP free response prompts from
the prose free response question. These are available at
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Controller.jpf. To help familiarize students with
the types of prompts they will encounter on the exam, I have them rewrite the instruction
to reflect the stories they analyzed. They then write an essay in response to one of the
prompts.
Point of View or Focalization – Beyond 1st and 3rd Person Terms
Term
How to Recognize
1st Person Subjective
Participant in the
story; uses “I” or
“We”; narrates during
or close to the time of
action; therefore,
present tense
predominates
Participant in the
story; uses “I” or
“We.”; narrates the
story after the action
has concluded;
therefore, past tense
predominates
1st Person Objective
3rd Person Omniscient
Or
Psychonarration
Nonparticipant;
Knows thoughts of all
characters; can move
locations within
seconds; has God-like
abilities; usually
summarizes not in the
diction and syntax of
the characters, but of
the narrator
3rd Person Limited
Omniscient
Or
Psychonarration
Nonparticipant;
Knows thoughts of
one character; reports
dialogue
and actions of
remaining characters
but not their thoughts.
Nonparticipant;
observes the action or
retells a it from
accounts of others
3rd Person Objective
Possible Impact on
Theme and Tone
(Other possibilities
exist)
May intensify action
and suspense, but
might be unreliable as
s/he has not had time
to reflect on the
conflict.
May lose some of the
excitement associated
with a 1st person
subjective narrative,
but the narrator often
gains some reliability
over subjective
narrators
Reliable speaker
knows thoughts of
characters; therefore,
knows motivations
and agendas; Less
opportunity or need
for reader to draw
inferences; can slow
narrative pace; can
distant the readers
from the characters.
Reliable speaker, but
less so than a 3rd
person omniscient;
reader distance is
lessened for the
chosen character.
Cannot report
thoughts so loses
some reliability
associated with
omniscient narrators;
more objective than a
1st person narrator, but
often not as
passionate; style may
be journalistic
Examples
Direct Discourse
Identified by
quotation marks;
reproduces actual
speech
Indirect Discourse
Grammatical structure
of reported speech;
narrator reports what
was said, not how it
was said.
3rd person narrator,
but a stylistic
departure from pure
3rd person omniscient
or limited omniscient
narrators. Instead of
reporting thoughts of
characters solely in
the style of the
narrator, the narrator
reports the thoughts in
the style of the
character.
Can be either a 1st or
3rd person narrator,
but the characters’
thoughts are
replicated using 1st
person pronouns;
resembles natural
thought patterns that
do not follow spoken
or written syntax;
often dependent on
symbols and motifs
Free Indirect
Discourse
Stream of Conscious
or Interior Monologue
Allows reader to draw
inferences about
characters; supports or
refutes narrative
commentary; often
quickens the narrative
pace
Interposes the
narrator’s voice with
the characters; a good
place to analyze tone
Mixes in to the 3rd
person narrative a
degree of intimacy
found in a first person
narration or stream of
conscious monologue.
Passages of free
indirect discourse are
good spots to look for
tone and theme.
. If the overall point
of view is 3rd person,
the stream of
conscious portions
resemble a 1st person
narrative; reflects the
order or chaos of the
character’s state of
mind; demands more
involvement of the
reader in discerning
character’s traits and
motivation