Various Narrations in English Literature

Various Narrations in English Literature. 

Name :- Himanshi Parmar

Paper :- 104, Literature of the Victorians.

Roll number :- 08

Enrollment number :- 4069206420210025

Email id :- himanshiparmar3004@gmail.com

Batch :- 2021 - 23 (M. A. Sem 1)

Submitted to :- S. B. Gardi, Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

                                      Introduction :-

Whenever we read a novel, short story, poem, or academic essay, we're looking at a form of narration. The art of storytelling (or academic writing) takes a lot of consideration. Choosing a topic isn't enough. We must also choose how to convey the topic to the reader. In a moment, we'll work through three types of narration: first person, second person, and third person. Each serves its own purpose.

 Difference between Narration and Narrative :-

Before I discuss various narrations in English Literature, it is very important to know the difference between narrative and narration. A narrative is a story. It recounts a series of events that have taken place. We see this a lot in narrative essays. These essays are telling a story in order to drive a point home. Narration, however, is the act of telling a story. Narration is like the voiceover.

  Types of Narration :-

1 - First Person - In this point of view, a character, typically the protagonist, is telling the story. There is a lot of use of "I" and "me" or "we" in first person narrations.

2 - Second Person - In this point of view, the author uses a narrator to speak to the reader. It includes a lot of "you," "your," and "yours" in second person narration.

3 - Third Person - In this point of view, an external narrator is telling the story. You'll notice a lot of "he," "she," "it," or "they" in this form of narration.

1] First person narration :-

First person narration allows you to "get personal" with your audience. It's as if one of the characters is speaking directly to his or her audience; we're able to listen in on their thoughts. The audience will understand how the narrator is feeling and how he or she interprets the events taking place around them. Let's take a look at a few samples of this form.

2] Second person narrations :-

Second person point of view isn't quite as popular in literature. It takes on more of an instructional tone. It uses a lot of "you should" or "you can." That said, it can forge a nice bond with the audience because it treats the reader like they're part of the story. Our first sample comes from a popular book that went on to become a movie and a play.

3] Third person narration :-

Third person narration is quite popular. It allows the author to open up the hearts and minds of several characters. With this form of narration, you could have two lovers, for example, who don't remain a mystery to the audience. Both of their thoughts and feelings are exposed to the reader and the reader is now able to take the journey to discovery or heartbreak.

 What is narrative? :-

 Narrative is writing that connects ideas, concepts or events. The definitions below show three important aspects of narration in storytelling:

1 ) It connects events, showing their patterns, relating them to each other or to specific ideas, themes or concepts.

2 )It is a practice and art in that when we tell a story, we shape the narrative – the connection between events.

3 ) Narrating a story involves shaping events around an overarching set of aims or effects (whether consciously or unconsciously). For example, in a comedic narrative, the overarching aim is to surprise/shock or otherwise lead the audience or reader to be amused.

Here are two definitions of narrative via the Oxford English Dictionary that illustrate the above ideas:

1 ) A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

The practice or art of telling stories.

2 ) A representation of a particular situation or process in such a way as to reflect or conform to an overarching set of aims or values.

 Now that we’ve clarified what narrative is, here are several types of narration,

               

  Common types of narrative :- 

1 ) Descriptive narrative

2 ) Viewpoint narrative

3 ) Historical narrative

4 ) Linear narrative

5 ) Non-linear narrative

1] Descriptive narrative :- 

Descriptive narrative connects imagery, ideas, and details to convey a sense of time and place.

1: To create a sense of setting, of time and place.

2: To convey the mood and tone of said time and place (e.g. threatening, peaceful, cheerful, chaotic).

When we describe a pastoral scene in a rural setting, for example, we might linger on specific images (such as a wide, empty field, an abandoned tractor) to build up an overarching mood (such as peaceful simplicity).

For example :-

The Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a master of this type of narration. In Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), the third person narrator describes the unnamed seaside city in the Caribbean where much of the novel takes place. Marquez narrates the passage through the eyes of Dr. Urbino, one of the city’s most distinguished doctors:

2] Viewpoint narrative :-

Viewpoint narrative presents events or scenes to us so that we can understand them through narrators’ feelings, desires, beliefs or values.In omniscient narration, the narrator is able to share multiple characters’ private thoughts, even in a single scene. In limited narration, by contrast, we can only see events through a single person’s eyes at a time.

Viewpoint narrative has power. We might interpret story events the way the narrator does. Because we don’t have a different viewpoint for comparison, or because their voice is strong, self-assured.

For Example :-

Virginia Woolf is a master of filtering events via individual characters’ perceptions. She often switches between multiple characters’ viewpoints within a single page. This approach (called ‘stream of consciousness’) lets her reveal characters’ different fixations and personalities.Take, for example, this scene in Mrs Dalloway (1925). Septimus Smith is a World War I veteran whose mental health is crumbling. His Italian wife Rezia feels unease and longs for her home country. Woolf switches from paragraph to paragraph between Septimus and Rezia’s viewpoints, in third person. 

3] Historical Narrative :- 

One thing common to historical narrative in different genres is it shows historical process. It links causation from event to event, showing the chain reactions that lead to how things pan out.

This is why in historical narrative, such as narration sharing a character’s backstory, we often have words showing order of events. Arundhati Roy’s novel The God of Small Things (1997), about tragedies that strike twin siblings born in Ayemenem in India and their family, is full of rich historical narration.

4] Linear narrative :- 

Linear narrative is narration where you tell events in the order they happened, i.e. in sequence. This type of narrative is typical of realist fiction where the author wants to create the sense of a life unfolding as a character experiences day to day or year to year.

Linear narrative shows causation clearly. When we see what happened to a character yesterday, then today, then tomorrow, it's often easier to notice patterns and chains of cause and effect.

Stories told in a linear time-frame might be told mainly using past, present, or even future tense. Yet each event flows on simply from the previous incident described. Often this helps to create what Will Self calls ‘the texture of lived life’, as we see characters going through this, then that, then the next thing.

David Mitchell’s genre-bending Cloud Atlas (2004) spans multiple eras, settings and characters, and is nonlinear as a whole. Yet one section of his book, titled ‘Half-Lives - The First Luisa Rey Mystery’ is written as a mystery/thriller. This section in itself is a linear narrative, told in the present tense.

5 ] Nonlinear narrative :- 

Different types of narrative include narration that does not follow events in the order they happened.Chronological events (e.g. what happens in 1990 followed by what happens in 1991) don’t have to match up with the order of narrative events. The author might share key details from 1990 before going back to the events of 1987 in the story.

Non-linear narrative has various uses :- 

 1 ) It can represent the narrator’s emotional state or consciousness. For example, a severely traumatised narrator who has flashbacks might tell events in a jumble of chapters set in different years, out of sequence, as they try to piece together fragments and memories.

2 ) It can show stories with related arcs or themes unfolding in different places and times. In Michael Cunningham’s retelling (of a sort) of Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, characters living in different time periods have personal experiences and tragedies that echo events from Woolf’s book as well as Woolf’s own life.

3 ) It can build suspense. For example, Donna Tartt opens The Secret History by telling the reader about a murder. We next meet the murder victim alive, as the story jumps back to the events leading to his killing.

Example :-

Donna Tartt’s prologue to The Secret History (1992) is a masterful piece of non-linear narration. Within the first page, we know there’s been a murder and the first person narrator is somehow complicit. Tartt’s opening paragraph reveals a lot but still builds anticipation.

Conclusion :-

Thus to conclude, here we see various types of narration along with the meaning and definitions of narration and narrative in Literature. With examples of various writers.

Words :-

References :-

1] https://www.nownovel.com/blog/narrative-examples-strong-narration/

2] https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-narration.html