NARRATIVE THEORY Flashcards
Narrative Theory
The techniques used to interpret a text.
Why we use narrative theory?
Because, the way a text is constructed can influence how certain ideas believes and values are promoted or discourage. The text can influence the reader to see things from the text’s point of view, creating attitudes towards what happen in the text. (who we like, who we don’t like)
Reader positioning: prefer a particular character more than others , to hope events turn out certain ways, admire or disapprove behaviours.
Narrative strategies:
language, images, plot, closure (produce emotions)
Types of Narrators
First person: address himself or herself as I (makes the reader feel closer to the protagonist). We are limited by his or her perceptions
Third person: the narrator is not part of the story that is being told. Refers to characters as (he, she, it, they). Two types of third person narrators.
Omniscient: not limitation on what can be known and told (access to all characters thoughts)
Limited third person narrator: limited knowledge, only describes what character do or say and how they behave and interact with each other, not what they think or feel.
FOCALISATION
refers to who sees? The focaliser may or not be the same narrator, especially when it comes to third person narrator.
For seeing through characters eyes it means that it has been focalised.
How do we know who a text is focalised through? Person who sees. E;g the character smells, sees this.
In films, camara shot voice-over.
Real reader:
Person who holds the text and reads the books.
Implied reader
: the reader the author is targeting./ the reader the text aims to reach . has particular attitudes (moral, cultural, etc)
Narratee:
The imagined person the whom the narrator is assumed to be addressing.
Narrator:
is the person that tells the story.
Real author:
The person that thinks and write the words.
Implies author:
person standing behaving the work
IDEOLOGY:
a system of ideas that define a culture (cultural, political and economic).
SURFACE IDEOLOGY:
The obvious message in the text. The ideas or values the writer wants to recommend.
PASSIVE IDEOLOGY:
The hidden message of the text.
Values that the writer takes for granted. They often contradict the surface ideology.
Diction:
Author’s choice of words. ( formal, informal, colloquial)have an impact of what we think about the character.
