The language of literary representation The fictional world is represented with reference to the notion of perspective, looking in particular how language is used to express the subjective perspective of 1 st person narrator. Language is used in literature to achieve other modes of representation: 3 rd person narrator indicating non- participant role of observer and so adopts an objective point of view.

. In Lawrence 's novel Women in Love: 1.He went into her boudoir, remote and very cushiony place. 2.She was sitting at her table writing letters. 3.She left her face abstractly when he entered, watched him go to the sofa, and sit down. 4.Then she looked down at her paper again. 5.He took up a large volume which he had been reading before, and became minutely attentive to his author. 6. His back was towards Herminone. 7. She could not go on with her writing.

8. Her whole mind was a chaos; darkness breaking in upon it, and herself struggling to gain control with her will, as a swimmer struggles with the swirling water. 9. But in spite of her efforts she was borne down, darkness seemed to break over her, she felt as if her heart was bursting. 10. The terrible tension grew stronger and stronger, it was most fearful agony, like being walled up.

The first six sentences report observable events from a 3 rd person perspective in a conventional way. But with (7) there is a transition to a different perspective:' She could not go on with her writing.' Expresses a state of mind which is inaccessible to observation and which only she herself can be aware of. Sentences (8) to (10) express the personal experience of the character. The narrator has moved inside the character's mind. There is a convergence of distinct perspectives: 3 rd person expression of 1 st experience.

As the perspective changes so does the use of language: The sentences differ in their syntax: The first part of the discourse describes a sequence of events n an orderly linear way: He went …, She was sitting… She left … he entered… After the transition, the syntax becomes disordered, phrases do not fit together with neat linearity, but accumulate without clear structural connections. What is expressed is not a series of events but a sudden outbreak of sensations all happening at the same time.

In Thackeray's novel 'Vanity Fair' : No more firing was heard at Brussels- the pursuit rolled miles away. Darkness came down on the field and city; and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face, dead,with a bullet through his heart. The omnipresent narrator can be in different contexts at the same time: 'at Brussels' ' miles away' 'on the field and city' He is also omniscient: he knows what is going on there. 'No more firing …', 'the pursuit', ' Darkness…'

He has exact information about the contemporaneous situations of the different characters: ' and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face...‘ Two kinds of verbal structure occur in the description: The simple past ('was heard' …, 'rolled', 'came down') expresses complete action at a point in time. They serve as ground.

The past progressive (' was praying', 'was lying' ) expresses the more particular events relating to the individual characters. They are more prominent as the figure. The relative clause 'who was lying on his face ' The reader is not prepared for George's death. It is not expected such news to appear in a subordinate clause. It is used as if it is added on as an afterthought.

Speech and thought representation The shifting of the perspectives (1 ST person pronoun, 3 rd person pronoun) makes the reader perceive event and character. Sometimes the narrator delegates perspective to the characters and leaves them to speak for themselves. In this case we are presented with a record of direct speech (DS).

For example in the poem by * John Berjeman 's poem She puts her finger on his as, loving and silly. At long-past Kensington dances she used to do 'It 's cheaper to take the tube to Piccadilly And then we can catch a nineteen or a twenty-two' In the 1 st two lines, the writer is an omniscient but then he keeps himself away giving the character the freedom to talk. In her actual words,direct speech (DS), she talks about her daily life and this shows her character ; how simple she is.

No hope. And the iron NOB of this palisade So cold to the touch, is luckier now than he. 'Oh merciless, hurrying Londoners!.Why was I made. For the long and painful deathbed coming to me?' This quoted speech does not express what the character actually says but what is going in his mind, direct thought (DT). The absence of the narrator intervention has significant effect. It adopts the mode of objective reporting.

Another example is from the extract taken from Ernest Hemingway's short story 'Hills like White Elephants': * 'The beer's nice and cool,' the man said. 'It is lovely,' the girl said. 'It is really an awfully simple operation, Jig,' the man said. ' It's not really an operation at all.' The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on. ' I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It is really not anything. It is just to let the air in.'

In the case of indirect speech (IS), the narrator reports only the content of what the character has said,but not its exact wording, sense, reporting not recording. * This allows the narrator to intervene and to interpret the character's original words, thereby, shifting perspective: The man commented on how nice and cool the beer was. The man said, appreciatively, that the beer was nice and cool

* The representation of indirect thought (IT) presupposes an even greater degree of narrator initiative: The man thought that the beer was nice and cool. The man drank the beer. ‘Goodness’, how nice and cool it was. The expression 'Goodness', suggests a direct record of what was said or thought ( 'Goodness', how nice and cool it is' ) but the past tense 'was' suggests that this is an indirect report ('He said/ thought how nice and cool it was'). It is a blend of both.

This has been referred to as free indirect speech (FIS) or free indirect thought (FIT). * When the (FIS) and (FIT) are rolled into one, the umbrella term free indirect discourse (FID) is used.

* An extract taken from the novel Ulysses by James Joyce: What is that flying about? Swallow? Bat probably. Thinks I'm a tree, so blind. Have birds no smell? Metempsycholosis. They believed you could be changed into a tree from grief. Weeping willow. Ba. There he goes. Funny little beggar. Wonder where he lives. Belfry up there. Very likely. Hanging by his heels. Bell scared him out, I supposed. Mass seems to be over. Could hear them at all it. Pray for us. And Pray for. And Pray for. Good idea the repetition. Same thing with ads. Buy from us. And buy from us.

* This piece of 1 st - person discourse takes us right into the mind of Mr. Bloom, the central figure in the novel. * There is no sign of the FID : We do not get ' What was that flying about? but ' What is that flying about? * The fragmented syntax, the distinct phrases, the use of the present tense, all create a style which dramatizes the unedited thoughts and impressions of the character as they occur.

* The narrator designs a style which allows, without his or her interference, readers to have direct access to the mental processes of the characters, i.e. to the inner points of view. This is known as the stream of consciousness technique. * It is the style of the Interior monologue through which the reader is enabled to get into the stream of consciousness of the character without being hampered by the presence of the narrator.

. 1 ST person 3 rd person direct indirect free free Stream Pronoun pronoun speech speech indirect indirect of consciousness Thought Thought speech discourse Thought Concluding remarks: A perspective is achieved through different modes of speech and thought representation. Perspective representation Speech and thought representation.