EngLit

Teacher · Administrator Data inscrierii: 26/Mar/2008 Mesaje: 471

Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
by J.D. Salinger

WHEN the phone rang, the gray-haired man asked the girl, with quite some little deference, if she would rather for any reason he didn't answer it. The girl heard him as if from a distance, and turned her face toward him, one eye--on the side of the light--closed tight, her open eye very, however disingenuously, large, and so blue as to appear almost violet. The grayhaired man asked her to hurry up, and she raised up on her right forearm just quickly enough so that the movement didn't quite look perfunctory. She cleared her hair back from her forehead with her left hand and said, "God. I don't know. I mean what do you think?" The gray-haired man said he didn't see that it made a helluva lot of difference one way or the other, and slipped his left hand under the girl's supporting arm, above the elbow, working his fingers up, making room for them between the warm surfaces of her upper arm and chest wall. He reached for the phone with his right hand. To reach it without groping, he had to raise himself somewhat higher, which caused the back of his head to graze a comer of the lampshade. In that instant, the light was particularly, if rather vividly, flattering to his gray, mostly white, hair. Though in disarrangement at that moment, it had obviously been freshly cut-or, rather, freshly maintained. The neckline and temples had been trimmed conventionally close, but the sides and top had been left rather more than just longish, and were, in fact, a trifle "distinguished-looking." "Hello?" he said resonantly into the phone. The girl stayed propped up on her forearm and watched him. Her eyes, more just open than alert or speculative, reflected chiefly their own size and color.
A man's voice--stone dead, yet somehow rudely, almost obscenely quickened for the occasion--came through at the other end: "Lee? I wake you?"

The gray-haired man glanced briefly left, at the girl. "Who's that?" he asked. "Arthur?"

(...)
(last paragraph of the story:)

Again the girl immediately spoke to him, but he didn't answer her. He picked a burning cigarette--the girl's--out of the ashtray and started to bring it to his mouth, but it slipped out of his fingers. The girl tried to help him retrieve it before anything was burned, but he told her to just sit still, for Chrissake, and she pulled back her hand.

TASKS

7A. How much does tha narrator know about his characters? (Note the way he calls them throughout the short story).

7B. How deep is his narrative perspective? Is the narrator able to penetrate the minds of the characters? Or their motivations? Or learn about their past?

7C. Therefore, do the narratorial comments originate in the narrator's knowledge of the charactars, or in his suppositions and specualtions about them?

7D. Does the narrator appear to be emotionally involved in the life of the characters?

7E. What type of PoV do we have here according to Franz Stanzel?

7F. And according to Fuger?

Paula Bianca · Trimis: 08/02/2014 13:06 Titlul subiectului:

7A. The narrator knows as much as he should about his characters, meaning that he is not able to access their thoughts, but only to observe them and make suppositions about them. ("In that instant, the light was particularly, if rather vividly, flattering to his gray, mostly white, hair. Though in disarrangement at that moment, it had obviously been freshly cut-or, rather, freshly maintained.") Fuger calls this type of knowledge adequate knowledge.

7B. As mentioned above, the narrator is not able to penetrate the minds of the characters. He cannot know their motivations or learn about their past, unless the characters directly speak those. The narrator can only make assumptions about the thoughts and feelings of his characters.

7C. Because of his adequate knowledge, the narrator's comments originate in his suppositions and speculations about the characters and nothing more. He only observes their actions and behaviors and draws certain conclusions, which can be right or wrong.

7D. No, the narrator doesn't seem to be emotionally involved in the life of the characters. He observes and describes the characters' actions very vividly, but he doesn't penetrate their feelings and emotions, therefore he is not affected by them in any way. The narrator simply tells what he sees.

7E. The narrative perspective is external (the narrator has no access to the characters' minds), the relationship between the narrator and the characters is one of non-identity (the narrator is an observer and is not a part of the story) and the narrator mode is one of a reflector. According to Franz Stanzel, this point of view is a figural point of view.

7F. The narrative position is external, the level of narrative perspective is adequate and the grammatical form used is apersonal (3rd person). According to Wilhelm Fuger, this point of view is called Neutral Observational.
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(:

Dochita Bondea · Trimis: 09/02/2014 14:39 Titlul subiectului:

7 A. The narrator does not have superior knowledge about character's feeling and thoughts (he can't access to the character's mind) but he is omniscient and has adequate knowledge :" The gray-haired man said he didn't see that it made a helluva lot of difference one way or the other, and slipped his left hand under the girl's supporting arm....".

7 B. According to Wilhelm FÜger, the narrative position is external because the narrator isn't part of the world of the characters, the narrative perspective is adequate(he knows as much as he should knew but he isn't able to penetrate the minds of the characters) and appersonal (third person).He doesn't know their motivations or about their past, unless the characters presents their past but he can suppose or poză their past.

7 C. The narrator's comment originate in his supposition and speculation about the characters because he has adequate knowledge and he can't access their minds but he can judge their facts.

7 D. No, the narrator doesn't appear to be emotionally involved in characters's life because he presents only facts and actions which are related to characters, but he isn't personal and he doesn't penetrate the character's mind also he doesn't make any allusions or doesn't express his opinion about the characters and about their actions.

7 E. According to Franz Stanzel , the narrator doesn't belong to the world of the character, he is an observer (non-identity), he hasn't access to the charcater's mind (external) and he withdraws behind, becomes invisible (reflector).

7 F. Relating to Wilhelm FÜger, the narrative position is external (he isn't part of the world of the characters), the level of narrative perspectie is adequate (he knows as much as he should knew about his characters), and the grammatical form is apersonal (third person: "he", "she")

Teacher · Administrator Data inscrierii: 26/Mar/2008 Mesaje: 471

7A. -, -
I invite both of you to think it over. Consider this: the narrator never calls the girl other than "the gilr" and the man other than "the gray-haired man." Isn't this odd? Does this really appear to be omniscience? Or even adequate knmowledge.

7B. ++, +
Both of you are right, byt Paula Bianca gives a more focused and substantiated answer.

7C. + +
Yes, both of you, it's specualtion and guesswork. But doesn't this contradict your theory of `adequate knowledge?. Seems barely adequate...

7D + +
Good, both of you.

7E ++ +
OK, well followed. One extra plus to Paula for naming the type.

7F ~ ~
Because of the mis-identification of the `narrative perspective” the final type is slightly off...
All the rest is OK, though.